Misinterpretations of Rich Dad Poor Dad Books

I picked up Robert Kiyosaki's first book at the age of 18. That book changed my viewpoint of life almost instantly. I have read most of the Rich Dad's series, and have almost the whole collection of his books. So basically, I am in the right position to state my viewpoints.

Robert's books are MISLEADING.

Most people are misinterpreting his books, especially those who are still studying.

Here are some of his philosophies:

1. Schools don't train us to be rich, they train us to be employees. And we cannot be rich by simply being employees.
2. We have to create our own path, our own business in order to create our own wealth. We must not be afraid of failures.
3. The government tax us for what we've earned. Why giving them our hard-earned money?
4. Why use your own money to build a business? We can always seek financial aid if our business idea is good enough. We can obtain money from banks (governments are always supporting SMEs', so there's always a fund allocated for that) or even people we know who simply have money but do not know what to do with them.
5. NEVER invest in FDs, insurance, mutual funds and all those financial instruments because they do not generate returns good enough.
6. Never be afraid to work for free. Find a mentor to help you.

There are many more but I am just listing a few. If you're a student or a fresh graduate, you have to read this. Just as any excited young individual, the passion and fire is wild and fierce, I headed to Rich Dad's Advice. As I explained the following points above, I will also include my personal experience.

Schools don't train us to be rich, they train us to be employees. And we cannot be rich by simply being employees. There is a certain level of truth in that. But you have to bear in mind that, (if you know MBTI) there are many different types of people out there. Some are meant to lead, some are meant to follow and some are meant to create. What does the above sentence tells you? To not place too much importance or emphasize on your studies? To start a new business immediately? Do not listen to your parents or teachers, because if they are so good, they would be rich. True enough that our education system do not provide us financial education and we must go out there, test the waters, be practical and embark on your journey of entrepreneurship.

As mentioned, I was 18 when I read the book. The idea that I interpreted is that I need to learn as much as possible. So I picked up property books, forex books, stock books, whatever financial books I can get my hands on out there.

I skipped class because I have to work. I earned more than sufficient income from my home tutoring, more than a fresh graduate's salary. But I wanted more. So I worked on weekends and whichever projects that my company gave me. (I was working as a promoter, due to good relationships with my supervisor, I was able to get higher paying jobs than other promoters, from Rm100-RM150 per day)

I completed my foundation course in May 2009, with CGPA of 3.09.

"Not bad," I thought, despite skipping classes and studying last minute.

In late 2009, I was offered a job as a loan consultant. My job basically requires me to get customer to sign up for Standard Chartered Bank's loan packages, whether it is a commercial property or a residential property. The commission scheme was attractive.

From there, that's when my real journey started.

I learned that there are certain requirements for loans to be approved. And no doubt, out of the 10 loans I submitted, only 2 gets approved.

With the little money I obtained, although I was being discouraged by my friends and family that I was wasting my time, I continued working. Because rich dad said that you must learn to work for free for long-term benefits. I was learning sales and financing. I thought I was on the right track. I took up another job as an insurance agent, to learn about more about personal financial education.

Over the one year and half, my grades were between 2.8-3.0. I didn't care because my studies will not interfere with my future plans. My plan is to earn as much money and learn as much as I can so I can start investing in properties and start my own business and be a millionaire by 25. I skipped class so often and I hardly touched my tutorials. I was amused and amazed with myself, being able to manage so many things.

Until last year September results were out. My GPA was 1.9, below par. My PTPTN loan was pulled back by the government and I had to pay for my own fees on the next semester. With the addition of the subject I failed, the bill amounted to RM5250. The money I earned from the property project I was working on was used to fund that semester's bill.

Not only my CGPA has dropped to 2.4, so was my confidence. During internship application, I could not get accepted to investment banks such as OSK and CIMB. Even MAS wouldn't accept me.

That's when I stopped and start to wonder.

Have my thirst and hunger for success have defeated me instead of putting me ahead of others?

Will a university education really able to get me that far?

I watched my friends, those on their entrepreneur journey, having failures after failures.

End of the day, not only they lost money and time, they lost trusts and friendships.

During my course of work with the bank, I have an edge over other bankers because I was able to write better proposals with the simple addition of financial ratios which manage to get loans approved. Of course, I was also helped by my manager. I was selling investment-linked funds and was able to sell because of my knowledge and understanding of the equity market.

The point here is, with the knowledge you obtain from your course, if you know how to use it, it will be extremely valuable. Why do people that when they graduate, they tend to switch fields?

Not everybody is blessed being able to know what they want to do, what interests and is suitable for them at early age.

Let me make this a little more clear for you. No doubt Robert's books have really good concepts, that can be applied but you have to know that the market will always change.

Our parents asked us to study hard and get a job because they were from the industrial and post-war age where stability matters most.

Since we are on the information age now, that advice do not apply. And since there are so many people with a degree nowadays and the job market is extremely competitive, being an entrepreneur is the way to go, since many are looking for jobs nowadays.

At first I thought entrepreneur youths are rare and admired them greatly, but when I widen my horizon a little bit, there are many of them, most of them struggling and failing to see something obvious. They refused to see that being an entrepreneur is more than having balls and taking

risk. They do not recognize risks and fail to manage them, making the same mistake over and over again, failing again and again. Starting a new business again and again, thinking the previous fail because the idea weren't good enough. I mean sure, Robert asked us to never give up and never be afraid of failures. But there's one thing you are missing out; you forgotten and do not know what is your true value, since you diversify so much.

Few years ago, I attended this seminar organized by MoneyMastery. They called it a wealth coaching programme. I attended it because I thought it would be Robert Kiyosaki giving a talk, but it happened to be his student, Mr. K.C. See. His speech is alright with the quotes he got from the book. He was trying to promote a course, a wealth mentoring course at a price of RM10k +. In this course, you will be put into a group, brainstorm a business idea then bring it out. They will promise to mentor you with the various expertise but for the first rm10 000 you earn, you must contribute it to MoneyMastery.

Sounds like a good deal right, if they are able to help you to achieve wealth?

Think about this. You are being placed in the group. As a student or a fresh graduate, you may think your youth and creative ideas will be an asset to the group. In that group, there may be uncles or aunties with money(if they have money, then why are they there?), maybe some professional accountant or some legal assistant, engineer...they may all have something to offer.

What do you have to offer?

If you say your brilliant creative ideas would be your best contribution, then these people in the group would not want you. Because ideas are just ideas, unless you patent it. Forget about patenting, you wouldn't want to spend money on that intellectual property yet to claim its yours. Easily these people in the group, who would be your partners, can kick you out.

They do not rely on your expertise.

Or your capital.

To get the business going.

If you say school is useless, then you are just no different from any other uneducated lost people on the street.

School is where we get to sharpen and to be an expert at a certain field.

Then later, after being a master at our field, we form a business to generate more wealth for us.

Why is Bill Gates rich?

He was an expert at computers.

Why is Warren Buffet rich?

He was an expert at investing.

Why is Donald Trump rich?

He was an expert at real estates.

In order to be successful, we must be focused.

Especially if you wish to be an entrepreneur.

From one of Robert's books, "Before you quit your job"

He said there is 5 major segments of a business.

1. Product

2. Finance.

3. System

4. Legal

5. Communication.

Which would you choose to specialize?

(This post will be continued in the future.....)

*Don't give me the crap of Bill Gates didn't complete his education at Harvard so even the best school may not help you to generate wealth. Bill Gates was a genius in computer, what about you?

*Warren has no professional investing qualifications but he has the passion in investment. What is your passion? -Besides, with the complication of financial instruments nowadays, higher education is getting more important. During his time, he invested in good stocks which carried the value until now, which explains his wealth.

*Donald Trump was very proud that his son did well academically.