I've read a couple of his books, "My Rich Dad" series -- he's a very "motivating" individual but I found that his books lack alot of substance.
For instance - in his "Cashflow Quadrant" book - it's the first book to come out after his original "Rich Dad / Poor Dad" book - he keeps hammering you about the same thing over and over (ie: Better to have assets and live of the income from your assets) ad nauseum. Yeah, I get the point.
To sum up the book:
a) Maximize your Assets and try to get rid of your liabilities as much as possible.
b) To build up your Assets, the best mechanism are (1) starting your own business to eventually (2) become an investor in multiple ventures and use the money you make on your assets to funnel back into your assets [to grow them and multiply them] and ultimately derive an income from that.
c) Wealthy people don't live on a salaried income, they live on the income generated by their assets.
d) Pay yourself first.
There's a lot of good advice in his books, but it should be taken with a grain of salt like anything.
Other books that are worth reading are "Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and "The Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach.
It's quite possible to retire wealthy as an employee if you start saving money young enough without going through the possible hardships involved in starting businesses.
Creating a business makes you get there faster though. And if you're already past the age of 35~40 when you start, then it's often the only mechanism that can get you there if you don't already have a nest egg.
Most of my friends are geeks like me and all but a handfull are up to their neck in debt - living paycheck to paycheck. Alot of them have made the mistake of increasing their lifestyle as fast (if not faster) than their increase in income allows. Its just not a good idea.
There is one thing I agree wholeheartedly with Kiyosaki - this sort of "Financial Intelligence" really isn't taught in school at all. What you learn in school is "Study Hard - Work Hard, get a good/safe job" and everything falls into place.
That was good advice say, 50 years ago. Today though, I'm not so sure.
I tend to dissagree with him though when he talks about the value (or lack thereof) of education sometimes.
I dissagree with the sentiment that it is difficult and costly to start a business - in our industry, startup costs are much lower than in any other industry especially if you start with a Home-Office IT/programming related type of business.
Furthermore... Job Security is a sham. Any reader of/. would've noticed by now the recurring topic of Offshoring and all the "it happened to me too" postings that are usually generated by these postings.
The important thing is to start small / part-time and to learn as much as you can about how to start a business (and all that entails) before going full bore.
The statement that most entrepreneurs fail 2 or 3 times before making it is true - I've been there myself, however if you never try in the first place, that's much more of a waste of potential than anything.
All the reasons you state for NOT starting a business are valid - to a point. However the rewards are often worth it.
1) Starting a business (as a Corporation or LLC) has alot of tax advantages. As the original poster and many replies stated - the higher your revenues as an employee, the more the government tears into you. Running a corporation gives you access to financial tools that reduce your tax burden (deductions, deferments, etc...). You get to declare expenses.
2) You can then redirect the money you save back into the business or other investments. Usually the only time you have to pay big taxes on that money is at the point where you derive big income from it. Even then - you pay less taxes on Capital Gains than you do on normal salaried income.
YES - it's risky to start a business. But it's worth it when it works out.
If you don't want to take any chances, then there's another road to follow...
It's called "Voluntary Simplicity". There's a book that everybody should read called "Your money or your life" http://tinyurl.com/4qrlb that to a certain extent has changed my life quite a bit.
Basically - the whole premise of the book is to reduce your expenses as much as possible, get rid of debt and try to live within your means and better yet, reduce your lifestyle so that you can live within smaller means - when you make more money than it costs you to live - that's when things get really interesting.
There's another notion that people should have ingrained in them... pay yourself first. Always automatically put aside a certain amount of money (preferably some place that will give you good interest on the money). The money you put aside from the getgo isn't money you'll be tempted to spend later on.
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For instance - in his "Cashflow Quadrant" book - it's the first book to come out after his original "Rich Dad / Poor Dad" book - he keeps hammering you about the same thing over and over (ie: Better to have assets and live of the income from your assets) ad nauseum. Yeah, I get the point.
To sum up the book:
a) Maximize your Assets and try to get rid of your liabilities as much as possible.
b) To build up your Assets, the best mechanism are (1) starting your own business to eventually (2) become an investor in multiple ventures and use the money you make on your assets to funnel back into your assets [to grow them and multiply them] and ultimately derive an income from that.
c) Wealthy people don't live on a salaried income, they live on the income generated by their assets.
d) Pay yourself first.
There's a lot of good advice in his books, but it should be taken with a grain of salt like anything.
Other books that are worth reading are "Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and "The Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach.
It's quite possible to retire wealthy as an employee if you start saving money young enough without going through the possible hardships involved in starting businesses.
Creating a business makes you get there faster though. And if you're already past the age of 35~40 when you start, then it's often the only mechanism that can get you there if you don't already have a nest egg.
Most of my friends are geeks like me and all but a handfull are up to their neck in debt - living paycheck to paycheck. Alot of them have made the mistake of increasing their lifestyle as fast (if not faster) than their increase in income allows. Its just not a good idea.
There is one thing I agree wholeheartedly with Kiyosaki - this sort of "Financial Intelligence" really isn't taught in school at all. What you learn in school is "Study Hard - Work Hard, get a good/safe job" and everything falls into place.
That was good advice say, 50 years ago. Today though, I'm not so sure.
I tend to dissagree with him though when he talks about the value (or lack thereof) of education sometimes.
- Me.
Furthermore ... Job Security is a sham. Any reader of /. would've noticed by now the recurring topic of Offshoring and all the "it happened to me too" postings that are usually generated by these postings.
The important thing is to start small / part-time and to learn as much as you can about how to start a business (and all that entails) before going full bore.
The statement that most entrepreneurs fail 2 or 3 times before making it is true - I've been there myself, however if you never try in the first place, that's much more of a waste of potential than anything.
All the reasons you state for NOT starting a business are valid - to a point. However the rewards are often worth it.
1) Starting a business (as a Corporation or LLC) has alot of tax advantages. As the original poster and many replies stated - the higher your revenues as an employee, the more the government tears into you. Running a corporation gives you access to financial tools that reduce your tax burden (deductions, deferments, etc ...). You get to declare expenses.
2) You can then redirect the money you save back into the business or other investments. Usually the only time you have to pay big taxes on that money is at the point where you derive big income from it. Even then - you pay less taxes on Capital Gains than you do on normal salaried income.
YES - it's risky to start a business. But it's worth it when it works out.
If you don't want to take any chances, then there's another road to follow ...
It's called "Voluntary Simplicity". There's a book that everybody should read called "Your money or your life" http://tinyurl.com/4qrlb that to a certain extent has changed my life quite a bit.
Basically - the whole premise of the book is to reduce your expenses as much as possible, get rid of debt and try to live within your means and better yet, reduce your lifestyle so that you can live within smaller means - when you make more money than it costs you to live - that's when things get really interesting.
There's another notion that people should have ingrained in them ... pay yourself first. Always automatically put aside a certain amount of money (preferably some place that will give you good interest on the money). The money you put aside from the getgo isn't money you'll be tempted to spend later on.
In any event ... whatever works for you.