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Rich Dad

InvestorInvestor
edited May 2013 in Fund Discussions
Do you remember Robert Kiyosaki? He was quite popular pre-2007. He peddled real estate as investment strategy and pushed numerous books with anectods, broad generalizations and few actionable stuff. There was even allegation that his rich dad did not actually exist. It was imaginary.

He still does all that but the popularity apparently waned since then. I came across with the following in which one of his companies declared bankruptcy. I guess he is demonstrating how to get out of debt a la his book buddy Trump did.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=17463158

Here is a link to remind who Kiyosaki really is: http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

Comments

  • DlphcOracl
    Snake oil comes in an infinite variety of viscosities. P.T. Barnum is more of a visionary than he ever imagined. Ultimately, it is OUR responsibility to raise a skeptical eye toward all of these get-rich-quick hucksters with improbable schemes to obtain fabulous wealth in minimal time. As Bernie Madoff demonstrated, greed can trump the common sense and intelligence of even the most astute and well-educated investors.

    If it sounds too good to be true......
  • beebee
    edited May 2013
    Everytime I come across a book peddling financial guru it reminds me I need to stop worrying about my investments and invest in writing a book. More money seems to be made coaching (through lectures,books and CDs) than actually performing on the financial gridiron.

    Interested in adding Susie Orman to your coaching staff? Or maybe as a Rich Mom?
  • AKAFlack
    In 2005, PBS presented Kiyosaki with the "Excellence in Education" Award
    at the Los Angeles convention center "...to the applause of 15,00 people...".
    Evidently, PBS believes that anyone with a good story is an educator.
  • AndyJ
    edited May 2013
    Reply to @AKAFlack: PBS isn't known for its economy/investment smarts. Witness the years of superficial Nightly Biz Report journalism; the new, equally mediocre, CNBC clone; the repeated appearances of Suze Orman during the dreadful pledge week programming; and the consistent featuring of Judy Woodruff as the lead on econ news stories on the Newshour ... where she habitually fumbles her way through some of the shallowest interviews ever conducted.

    This critique, by the way, comes from a PBS donor and huge fan of many of their other endeavors. Aside from the good investigative reporting on Frontline, this part of the PBS package, IMHO, underperforms the rest of the lineup like a D- underperforms an A-. (Can you tell it's a pet peeve around this house?)
  • Hogan
    Reply to @bee: I like that term financial gridiron.
  • MikeMMikeM
    Reply to @AndyJ: Not really sticking up for the PBS shows, but is PBS unique in bad financial and economic reporting? I'd actually take Suzie Orman any day over watching Cramer's circus antics or Kudlow's daily political rants.
  • AndyJ
    edited May 2013
    Reply to @MikeM: No, not unique, & I'm no expert on tv in general because I don't watch much of it, but the econ/finance etc. coverage is still egregious to me, I guess mostly because of what I expressed in the last graf: it's so poorly done compared to the quality of the other types of programming they produce/purchase.
  • InvestorInvestor
    Reply to @AKAFlack:

    There are good programs. There are mediocre ones. Kiyosaki was a popular author at the time and apparently volunteered to help with fund drive. Probably his motivation was to increase his audience and increase sales to his books and seminars by these apparences. I think at the time I sent am email critical of the choice of Kiyosaki for fund drive.

    However, I would not base my opinion of the quality of PBS programming based on fund drive. There are some good programs in their lineup. In fact, overall I would rate PBS above average and yes improvement is possible.
  • claimui
    I don't support Kiyosaki at all (or Trump for that matter), but just to clear, the fact that one of Kiyosaki's companies declared bankruptcy is not proof that Kiyosaki has no business or investment skill. In fact it is just the opposite: declaring bankruptcy shows that Kiyosaki (or more likely, his lawyers and accountants) knows how to protect his personal and other business assets in case one of his business deals go sour.

    If you do business with one of these companies, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence and make sure that the company you are dealing with is actually creditworthy enough to hold up its end of the deal. If it's not, you should be asking for a guarantee or security of some sort that actually has value.

    In fact people could learn less from Kiyosaki's investment advice and more from what Kiyosaki actually does as a businessman: Recognize a need in the market, develop and market a product (no matter how lousy) to fulfill that need, and use the legal system to your advantage to protect your assets from creditors.
  • InvestorInvestor
    edited May 2013
    Reply to @claimui: If that is an indication or measure of success, I want none of it. This guy is a fraud. Spend some time reading the second link I gave. Almost everything he says and writes is a lie.
  • Sven
    I couldn't agree more. Problem is there are enough uninformed people in this world who believe there are easy way to financial security, i.e. free lunches.
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