The Book in Three Sentences
- Rich Dad Poor Dad is about Robert Kiyosaki and his two dads—his real father (poor dad) and the father of his best friend (rich dad)—and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing.
- You don’t need to earn a high income to be rich.
- Rich people make money work for them.
The Five Big Ideas
- The poor and the middle-class work for money. The rich have money work for them.
- It’s not how much money you make that matters. It’s how much money you keep.
- Rich people acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities that they think are assets.
- Financial aptitude is what you do with money once you make it, how you keep people from taking it from you, how to keep it longer, and how you make money work hard for you.
- The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind.
Rich Dad Poor Dad Lessons
- Lesson 1: The Rich Don’t Work for Money
- Lesson 2: Why Teach Financial Literacy?
- Lesson 3: Mind Your Own Business
- Lesson 4: The History of Taxes and The Power of Corporations
- Lesson 5: The Rich Invent Money
- Lesson 6: Work to Learn—Don’t Work for Money
Rich Dad Poor Dad Summary
“There is a difference between being poor and being broke. Broke is temporary. Poor is eternal.”
“Money comes and goes, but if you have the education about how money works, you gain power over it and can begin building wealth.”
“People’s lives are forever controlled by two emotions: fear and greed.”
“So many people say, ‘Oh, I’m not interested in money.’ Yet they’ll work at a job for eight hours a day.”
“Thinking that a job makes you secure is lying to yourself.”
“Intelligence solves problems and produces money.”
“You must know the difference between an asset and a liability, and buy assets.”
An asset puts money in your pocket. A liability takes money out of your pocket.
“Illiteracy, both in words and numbers, is the foundation of financial struggle.”
“Money often makes obvious our tragic human flaws, putting a spotlight on what we don’t know.”
“Cash flow tells the story of how a person handles money.”
“Most people don’t understand why they struggle financially because they don’t understand cash flow.”
“The number-one expense for most people is taxes.”
Higher incomes cause higher taxes. This is known as “bracket creep.”
“More money seldom solves someone’s money problems.”
“The fear of being different prevents most people from seeking new ways to solve their problems.”
“A person can be highly educated, professionally successful, and financially illiterate.”
“Many financial problems are caused by trying to keep up with the Joneses.”
Once you understand the difference between assets and liabilities, concentrate your efforts on buying income-generating assets.
“The problem with simply working harder is that each of these three levels takes a greater share of your increased efforts. You need to learn how to have your increased efforts benefit you and your family directly.”
“Wealth is a person’s ability to survive so many number of days forward—