You are absolutely correct in your assessment of the book, however, if you don't know how bad the system is set against you, its a good book to start with.
How many people know that a house is a liability?
Everyone... like 90% of the people believe that there house is their biggest asset. When, in fact, it is their biggest liability and will keep them poor and broke and a debt slave.
Yes, if you know all of these things already, it is economics 101.
His next book, Cashflow Quadrant is business 101. If you know entrepreneurship, then you already know it. If not, its a good place to start.
Yes, it would be hard for everyone to be an investor. As more investors have entered the market, the easy investments have gone to near 0% ROI.
However, everyone can be manufacturers. Everyone can be business owners.
But, most importantly, these books are important because if you are in the, go to school, get a job mentality, your entire paradigm needs to be rewritten. These books are a good place to start.
Agree. I read this book without having any clue about finances and it definitely reshaped my view on work, money and assets.
I also remember him writing that he encourages you to have a job and try different careers to acquire a diverse set of skills. The message that I took home is that you should not sell yourself completely to the benefits of your employer, but have a side business running (e.g. investing, slowly building your own brand/company/product) which increases the chances of you acquiring long-term wealth and financial independency.
I don't think you can blame Kiyosaki on speaking the truth on the financial system as he leaves the moral implications of you having acquired a good amount of wealth on other people's back completely out and it will finally be up to the rich individual what to do with all his earnings.
Interestingly, I also had the thought that if everyone starts to be a full-time investor and speculator and "fuck other people over", then there'll be no one left to do the work. However, I don't believe that this will ever be the case because as @kyriacos wrote you need a good share of luck, and/or be extremely dedicated to get rich which most people won't achieve. And as long as you don't, you'll have to work for those that do. A pyramid indeed.
I'm interested in what you envision as an alternative to this? Please don't say Love and Peace :-)
The questions is this. If everyone is a business man/investor then who the fuck remains to work for money?
I said manufacturer. And everyone can be a manufacturer.
Robert Kiyosaki was speaking to a world where less than 3% were even investing. Back when an even better money book Your Money or Your Life talked about investing in govern-cement bonds at 12%.
Robert was never trying to convert everyone. Anarcho-capitalism wasn't bigger than a handful of people. Jim Rohn said, "Walk away from the 97%"
So, no it was never a book for everyone.
The point is not whether everyone can be a manufacturer. The point is that some people owe to work with minimal wages so that the big guys can be big guys. I am not saying is due to the system or the government. I am just saying it is what it is.
Most people have to get fucked for others to succeed.
Houses can be both liabilities and assets, since there are SO many factors involved, right? Ie, purchase price, location, how much you can rent it for (or if you are renting), general real estate market, etc.
Anyway, I've read all of his books and can agree they are great places to reset the average worker bee's "rat race" paradigm.
Interesting "As more investors have entered the market, the easy investments have gone to near 0% ROI." ...I definitely agree to an extent, in some cases like popular cryptos that have been steadily rising, like BTC, NEO, BQX, a lot of the initial (crazy gains) potential is gone, but steady long term gains are definitely possible and higher than 0%.
Then there are other investments like P2P loans ie, lendingclub and prosper, where the earnings potential is essentially the same as it was a few years ago.
It would probably be most succinct to say "Your house is not an asset." As in, you can't capitalize on selling it, because you are living in it. So, it is only an asset to the bank, when they foreclose.
Cryptos are not easy investments. Most don't even know how to buy them, or hold them, or trade them, or even about what they are.
Small business loans have always been a good ROI, but also very risky and time consuming to investigate. So again, not easy.
I do believe these avenues of investing will exist in the future, while the stock and bond market will crash and burn and die.
yes, totally agree that your house (that you live in yourself) is not an asset, unless you own it outright and have no mortgage.
Cryptos, while they have the potential to be very complicated, can be dead simple at the most basic / beginner level, honestly buying 1 or 2 bitcoin and holding for 1 year or more is pretty solid IMHO.
Agreed "the stock and bond market will crash and burn and die." - I just wrote my boss an email earlier today in fact, asking him to give us a money market option within our 401K because I'm concerned with having the entire thing in the market... keeping my fingers crossed on that!