Book Review of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Me

Many years ago, my friend quit his day job to join a network marketing firm. As I did not have any financial knowledge that time, I thought it was extremely risky since he will not receive a steady pay check and depended on his sales skills to earn commissions. A few years later he was successful and had rose to the top with a big group of people working for him. He earned on his income and also from his group's income. Since most of his income is passive income, he can choose to work or not to work. This is one example of financial freedom. At this time, he introduced me the book Rich Dad Poor Dad so that I can start to think of ways to get out of the rat race to financial freedom.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is the first book in the Rich Dad series which stayed the longest at number one on the New York Times. Robert had two dads; one was his biological dad (poor dad) and the other his best friend's dad (rich dad). Though he loved them both but their teachings of money often contradict each other. Eventually he followed rich dad's advice that led him to financial freedom. Robert explains what parents tell or teach their children are very important. The parents of poor and middle class always tell their children to "Work hard and get good grades so that you can get a secure job with great benefits". The rich parents on the other hand will teach their children to increase their financial intelligence and build corporations, as they know that the education system does not teach them anything about money but instead teach them to be employees.

Robert also defined Asset as simply money put into your pocket and Liability as money taken out of your pocket. He challenged the fact that our house which many people thought of is an asset is actually a liability. If we stop paying taxes, the government will come after us, this shows that the house does not belong to us after paying off the mortgage.

Another fact that Robert discussed was that you can never get rich even if you have a very high salary if you are going to accumulate more liabilities that generates more expenses. With a higher salary people go out and get a bigger house or car and live extravagantly beyond their means sinking into greater debt.

As this book is written with an American context, I found that many of the ideas and examples narrated by Robert can be adapted and applied in other countries. Robert also said it in his free audio downloadable from the web that the fundamental operations of the rich in different countries are the same. I have applied some of his techniques, as I am not American, and have experienced success thus far.

This book is a must read for people who wants to have some basic concepts of finance. Robert's very casual style of writing makes this an easy and enjoyable read which prepares you to absorb more complicated concepts in his next book Rich Dad's Cash Flow Quadrant.