The poor dad mentioned in the book is the author, Robert Kiyosaki's biological father. He was intelligent, very well-read, and a hard-working college professor. The rich dad mentioned in the book is his mentor, his best friend's father, who was a small business owner.
Taking the academic details of the two dads into consideration, one would question why the highly educated and well-read person is being referred to as the 'poor' dad. On the other hand, the person with very little education and schooling is being referred to as the 'rich' one. His two dads are exemplars of different lifestyles and different approaches to money.
His poor dad taught him to go to school, get good grades, obtain a job, and work hard. Whereas, his rich dad taught him a lot about money. He gave him lessons in financial wisdom that his school and poor dad failed to teach. The poor dad's mentality was to spend a lifetime, working to generate a cash flow that will hopefully cover all his expenses. But, the rich dad's mentality was a whole lot different. He believed in buying assets that could generate enough cash to live a financially independent life without having to work a traditional job.
Often in schools, we are only taught the subjects that will help us procure a job. Study hard and you will get a good job, they say. But they never teach us the lessons on making money. This is the main reason why most people, even the highly educated and talented ones, fail at their jobs miserably and end up in debt. Why does this happen? Why do even the most talented people end up going bankrupt?
It's because they weren't taught Financial Intelligence. Financial intelligence is a comprehensive topic for financial subjects like accounting, saving, and investing. When children are not taught the basic important topics like saving and investing, there is a high chance that they will end up not knowing anything about the subject.
Though it is extremely crucial for both personal and societal prosperity, the topic of financial techniques is never taught. It's only up to the individual to know the method of making money and work on it, if he wants to lead a financially independent and wealthy life. Formal education does not teach us what is necessary for building wealth. It is important to learn financial literacy through self-education.
Only with a firm, ambitious mindset, and a strong financial IQ to support it, we are likely to become rich and financially independent.
Explore a world of insights and wisdom at your fingertips with the Wizdom app.
- Emotions are what make us human.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- You're only poor if you give up.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- You’re only poor if you give up. The most important thing is that you did something. Most people only talk and dream of getting rich. You’ve done something.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- If you’re the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you. If you’re that kind of person, you’ll live all your life playing it safe, doing the right things, saving yourself for something that never happens. Then, you die a boring old man.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- Emotions are what make us human. Make us real. The word 'emotion' stands for energy in motion. Be truthful about your emotions, and use your mind and emotions in your favor, not against yourself.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The love of money is the root of all evil." The lack of money is the root of all evil.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth in what seems to be an instant.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- As I said, I wish I could say it was easy. It wasn't, but it wasn't hard either. But without a strong reason or purpose, anything in life is hard.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- Financial freedom is not a retirement plan. It’s a way of life.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The rich don’t work for money. They make money work for them.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- Money is not the goal. Money has no value. The value comes from the dreams money helps achieve.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The difference between the rich and the poor is how they manage fear.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- The biggest challenge you have is to challenge your own self-doubt and your laziness. It is your self-doubt and your laziness that defines and limit who you are.
-Robert Kiyosaki
- Sight is what you see with your eyes, vision is what you see with your mind.
-Robert Kiyosaki
In the summary of Rich Dad Poor Dad book, there are 8 key lessons. These lessons include: