I recently read a highly popular book called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" just to see what the fuss was about. It currently ranks as the no.1 finance book of all time and it is best seller in many countries including USA, China and Japan. Personally, I found the book financially boring but the context of it's success and popularity quite insightful.
People who read books such as this one, are mainly concerned with making money. Now, aren't we all? Indeed when it comes to matters of personal finance, it does a great job explaining to amateurs how to trick the system — or better —learn how make money work for you instead of working for money. Pretty amazing right?
As I was I reading the book, some anthropological rather than financial insights confirmed some long held hypothesis I have formed throughout the years. Humans are not natural born thinkers, nor do they care much about each other. Most rather go after the fat, short term reward and have everyone else chasing their tales. Basically, we are all hypocrites (more or less) and like to point fingers left and a right in case we are the ones without a chair when the music finally stops (see music chairs game).
The Author of the book, basically describes how he grew up with two father figures — one of his own and another of his friend. His dad was a poor, government employee professor and the other was a rich self-made business man. More or less, the book explains how poor people like his dad invest in liabilities by working for money while rich people, like his friend's dad, concentrate on assets, having money working for them. Really, this is all what the book is all about if you are bored reading it. Economics 101.
Throughout the books a noob will find out how fucked the system is and how basically rich people get richer. For example, when poor people ask for a raise, the rich people create corporations and increase their bonuses so they can avoid taxes. As a result, wages shrink and the gap between rich and poor widens even more. In other words, the government — which poor people support, turns and fucks them over. Try to say to most people that the government is in bed with corporations and they will discredit you as a conspiracy theorist. Try to tell them in a book how to make money that this is the case and they will worship your book as best seller.
Yet, this is not the most fucked up part. The interesting part is that the book teaches you how to cheat the system using the law. Aka, the system that most people elect. Remember. This book is a best seller so more or less democracy favors it. In one hand we have people that elect a system that is designed specifically to fuck most people over and from the other you have the same folk buying the book in order to learn how to fuck everyone else except themselves.
People who fear for anarchy might be correct after all. You see, if everyone had their money working for them (aka if everyone were investors and businessmen) then essentially there would be no factory workers, no nannies, no teachers, no garbage men, no specialized workers. Everyone will be sitting in their offices, clicking away in front of screens investing in stocks, bonds and real estate. For the proponents of the book, somehow specialized wage slaves would magically emerge out of nowhere to support their status.
Earlier in life, I have worked in dishrooms for years. Later on, I enjoyed the fruits of high-end investment. Although I never owned my own mansion or slept in the street, I believe I lived (almost) in the entire spectrum of wealth and most experiences that people crave. I adhere to anarchic and capitalistic ideals and have no respect for politics or bullshit rhetorics. Nonetheless, I can assure you something rich people almost never admit: Investing and making money is the easiest thing one can do while working on the lower end of the labour spectrum is the hardest, most exhausting and most humiliating. There is no "charisma" or "brains" in investing. It is 90% luck and one success giving birth to another. This is why you hear rich people say that only the first million is the hardest. Most people that make money from owning a business have the right connections and "insiders" to keep things rolling. A 10 word tip 10 can make you more than than a small country's entire GDP. Again, this is the awesome system that we have created and what most people crave — hence the high success of the book worldwide. Human hypocrisy at it's highest. We want equality and fairness as long as we are getting fucked. If someone shows us a book how to fuck other people over then we have no problem ditching our principles.
When I see people in the business and investment world boast about their success, claiming that they are "worth" it, I pity their arrogance. The cause for this pedantic behaviour is rather simple every single time: superficial beliefs and poor understanding of statistics. They will say things like "I have worked hard for this money in the past" or "I spend hours and hours on courses". They are always few as one would expect from a normal statistical distribution. Yet finding themselves in that position appear to be a grandiose accomplishment since the entire system supports such as ridiculous system. At the end of the day I ask them this: "Haven't we all tried our best?".
Humans tend to over-amplify their impact in order to explain certain outcomes. We all do it. I saw it here on Steemit as well. Early adopters and people with some lucky connections became whales fast — with possibly a little time spent in chatting or getting involved in some projects and producing some content. The whole effort might took 2-3 months tops for them. After that most of these people shut their engines but their rewards stayed and multiplied. They will never have any idea how it takes someone to produce good content day after day for a year to reach 1/10 of what they have. The only had to endure this for a month. It became a fond memory.
The ironic part? Most of these 'lucky guys' on Steemit got probably fucked over in the real world (and without it might still do). They most likely had some other people shoving the same excuses down their throat as the ones they use now in order to explain their own position. Same exact principle as with the people enjoying "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" while getting up and voting for the same system at the end of the day. Hypocrisy at it's finest.
Through the dawn of time most humans have been aiming to take advantage of other humans while in the meantime trying to deny it. We do this by setting up systems that are strategically hypocritical. Whether those are online, offline, blockchain or no blockchain, it makes no difference. The pyramid has only one path, the top. Rest assured that no secret society, no aliens or any other superior entity has put this in place. We did. The responsible ones are our mothers, teachers, friends and neighbors. Much like the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", we are short sighted hypocrites. We will continue supporting the system because some fools will make us rich by working for money. In the meantime we will strive to find out secrets and schemes how to have the money work for us by most likely screwing others. And we are ok with this. In our mind "this is how things are" because most of us agreed that it is ok. As long as we are biological beings dictated by the laws of evolution this is the only game in town. Adapt or perish.
nice post. You must be a rich dad.
Of course im agreed
How to Get Rich
Step One: Have connections.
Step Two: Use those connections to move paper around (or digits in the stock market or blockchain).
Rinse & Repeat.
An alternate method would be to write a book, or even better, a digital info product, about how to get rich and then sell thousands of digital copies to people who like to buy digital info products about how to get rich.
The un-quantifiable thing in this is the value & satisfaction that the buyers get from buying & sometimes reading (but never actually applying) the info in the How to Get Rich books.
For the most part it's really just intellectual crack or heroine.
precisely.
I've seen quite a few (and fallen for my fair share of them) but what's odd is the ones I gained the most useful knowledge from always seemed to be the free ones.
As long as we are biological beings dictated by the laws of evolution, this is the only game in town. Adapt or perish.
As much as I would like to deny it, @kyriacos is right. Each and every one of us is just another incident (hopefully not an accident) in the genetical pool. From the first moment we are equipped with egoistic genes, trying to ensure our survival and the species succesful reproduction. In other words, we are programmed to be selfish and egoistic - some more than others, as you can clearly observe around you. But the story doesnt end there, it would be great just to blame everything on our biological urges and simply think that this is how things work.
What defines humans from the rest of the animals are their cognition and their evolved conscience. Its what has enabled us to achieve all these extraordinary goals and dominate the planet. (More information on Sapiens from Yuval Harari) But this is exactly where the irony lies. We are able to do all these amazing things (cooperation, art, societies etc) simply because some of us understand the fundamental factor that leads to progress: resources. And what resources might be? Coal, wood, water, stone, uranium, oil etc. Noticed something common on the above? Yeap, they are all objective realities, connected with the physical world around us.Now lets try to think as an individual with quite effective egoistic genes, allowing him to think smarter than anyone else. From a evolutionery POV he/she/it (yolo) would try to do the least amount of physical work while getting the majority of the produced goods over the average "stupid" worker. But how can we manage to convince all the others to work for us and still get less? How can we make human labour just another resource available? Damn, if only there was a way to somehow invent series of imaginery stories so they could believe in and make them obey, work, bleed and even die for us, while we are thinking of better ways to keep them caged in their so easily manipulated cognition...
Welcome to the real world. Run by a small club, but you are not in. So the real question is: you consciously choose to join or not?
I will try to look for that experiment if you think it is a good example. But also try to think about some points!
-How was it possible that some partially civilized evovled apes are putting RATS into cages just to check their altruism ?.
-In 1974 a really interesting book was published Egoistic Gene by Richard Dawkins. I would advise you read it if you have the time, it explains a lot about altruism and our species.
-I think you missed the point of my comment, which I believe lies in the last lines of it
Have a good day!
It's all back to the "making money" things. People - desperately - would do anything to be more successful, in one way or another.
Few days ago I had financial literacy training, they taught us how to manage our income and outcome.. and investing..in many form of saving. For the sake of money, you would follow that - all of that eventually, but when things are little bit not on the track of what you believe.. then what you gonna do??
In my experience people will try to fuck other people up by using the system's loopholes and defend their morality by saying that they did nothing wrong. In other words, we have created a corrupt system which we fuck each other up and when the time comes we wouldn't like others do to us.
I can't agree that "we" have created a corrupt system. It is "they" who are/were in a position to corrupt and be corrupted that has skewed the system in their favor.
Sh*t always runs downhill and now even the low level bureaucrats feel they have the right to do as they see and not as they should. The very oath to "serve" has been corrupted to a personal oath to "serve themselves".
This may be seen as a pessimistic view of the way things are but, imho, it doesn't change the reality that this tendency towards self service is the root of most of the problems in this world.
We elect the system. Politicians represent the average perception and serve the average wish. This is how and why they get elected.
Those studies really are fascinating. Follows with the saying;
"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
I haven't read Awakening, but it sounds interesting. Odd that I haven't heard of it.
With regards to the abuse of authority, I agree. I honestly think many of the founding fathers would agree as well and is why the system is set up like it is. Now we have a problem with those in authoirty flaunting the system and lemmings endorsing their lawlessness - but that is a rabbit hole.
I'll add that I agree that most people are not "shit" but good people. I think the number ends up being about 94% good and 6% bad. That 6% number corresponds with the estimated number of sociopaths and narcissists in our midst.
The democratic will elects politicians which represent the average behaviour. The masses are responsible all the way. Not the representatives that grant their wishes.
Generation after generation of millions of people have slowly crafter the ethics of the system by the representatives they choose to elect.
Remember. They are the 99.9%. Even if 25% vote is still enough.
This is what happens. You are disagree against reality but reality doesn't go away.
If people did not like the current character, system and distribution they would elect people that would address those issues.
There are two kinds of people. Those who dream of the top and those who deny this fact.
apathy. much the same thing. Nobody cares because the system is "ok" for them
Rich dad poor dad is a poor reflection of the economy. Seems to suggest that the cunning and scheming capitalist wins in the end of the day. I have seen many honest and hardworking people who do well in life because of the values they carry. But such a makeup or story line does not make for a bestseller.
Nice, we are all hypocritical hypocrites, but I tend to like to the distinction between sucker and non-sucker. Be the non-sucker:) I love the books by Nassim Taleb, btw, Fooled by randomness and Antifragile is very in line with your own conclusion in this amazing post:)
i often say that there are two kinds of people. Those who fuck and those who get fucked.
"The fault, my dear Brutus, is not on our stars, but in ourselves." (Shakespeare)
Nice post.
I think many low wages and middle class "regular jobs" will disappear in the forthcoming decade due to automation, robotics, machine learning and other techniques. For more and more fields, such kind of jobs will become commodities: rich will become richer. It is already a reality in many manufacturing fields.
I think the only way to not be too poor is being a kind of entrepreneur. The forthcoming problem will be to have funds to start: less wages for the same job (and less demand from the market), and on the other side more market pressure on VCs (less money and/or less deals), and finally to bootstrap and to generate enough money to get assets.
Nice review. Thank you for sharing.
This was a damn good post! I read that book several years ago and I've always had a problem with it's message. It heavily favored towards people who already have a slight advantage in life. And to be honest, having discussed this book recently, I don't even think it holds up to where we're at in society right now when it comes to economics!
yeap. that too
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!
I think it better to be the one doing the flogging than to be the dead horse.
That's enough thinking for one day. ~smiles~
UVed/RSed/already following
logyx
oh you bet.
Well written and i got a great insight of the book although i haven't read it .
I heard a lot of entrepreneurs also suggestthis book .
I don't really think that everyone tries to get over another to succeed there are some people (maybe rare cases) who believe (and even do it) that this result can be accomplished through co-operation and support.
precisely
Looks like a good read, I think I'll give it a go and hopefully turn me into a rich dad.
you are missing the whole point.
In a sense, he is confirming your point.
That book is 100% a scam tactic... Trust me.. I can't stand the person who wrote it.. Be careful with the business side used with that book. Just a fair warning for you
I hope the book had some good advise for the poor dads who bought it.
basically become a rich dad and find some other sucker poor dad to support the system.
thank you for sharing with us @kyriacos
thank you @azissuloh
yup, those with power will actively censor the methods they used to become 'rich'.
Rich in what I would ask? Fiat? Connections? Happiness? I don't think the latter.
Not necessarily censor it but definitely overplay their role.
You want to know the biggest reason for riches and success?
dumb luck.
dumb luck is definitely true in some cases haha
I like the analogy about if everyone as an investor, no one would actually work. Everyone wants the secret to make it big without actually working to get there. They, we all are looking for our lucky break. Getting in early, buying low and selling high.
The interesting thing is, the people who really make it big actually did put in the work. This of course doesn't, everyone doesn't work. It is what you are working towards. Is it something the fulfills a need that someone is willing to pay for. If so, instead of investing in someone else, invest in yourself. Then, all the investment money that people are putting will go right into your hands. This also considers that the investors get some return.
I also agree with the idea that the first one's through the door never understand the struggle of the later generation.
@voltsrage - appreciate the insightful response, I definitely agree that at least 95% of the investors who have made it rich through their investments put in painstaking hours of research, not to mention staking their hard earned cash on the line for the possibility of big returns. The fact that they were successful is a testament to their success.
@kyriacos also has a point that the earliest Steemians in a sense got "lucky", but so do lottery winners or people that bought a few hundred dollars worth of bitcoin 9 years ago. There are always the rare examples of early adopters/investors getting ridiculously lucky and rich, and I'm nothing but happy for them :)
Also, while there are certainly high level executives and wealthy individuals that have taken advantage of people to get where they are, there are also plenty of generous folks at the top who have helped others succeed and it was this drive for shared success that paid off for them. Win-win in those cases :)
The point here is to recognize the workings. I have nothing against these people as well. The only thing I would have them to accept is to realize their position. The best way is to juxtapose their reali life efforts with the online ones.
Cool, yep fair enough :)
Thing is, many people put the work and didn't really make it. Some others have made money by having dump luck — and yes it is the rule rather than the exception.
nice post sir,
i resteemed this your post
thank you
I think part of the problem is that the system is rigged hence people are worried that they might not have enough for themselves and their family. Remember you have to pay taxes to the biggest mafia in the world, the government, for their spending. If those taxes were cut to 1/20 the current amount you would have money to be more generous.
the system was build to be rigged.
Nice post..
Very informative article thank you for the post!
The post is interesting however the view is right depending on the content.
We are living in far away from fairness time so trying to look at ethical way of getting rich by some groups is a completely waste of time.
I totally agree with the line that Only first millions are the hardest. Money attracts money it is the well known fact. It is also true here in steemit, if we have more steem power we will be earning more than the user who has less SP whether both write the same post and give upvotes.
I never thought of the book in that manner, very interesting! I do agree that not everyone should become a business man we will end up having no labour workers. The wages are so low its difficult to survive working those jobs. Atheletes wages really grind my gears, they make $150 million in a few year chasing a ball around hahah. But its just according to the industry i guess, they make the industries alot of money. I loved reading your perspective it was honestly a breath of fresh air!
yeap
I really wonder how this is going play out with AI and robotics?
SDG
same. we become cyborgs. we already have pacemakers and hearing aids.
Corrupt people its the reason
people who elect corrupt people are the reason.
Very interesting insights, as usual. This time, though, I do not feel thrilled, as have been till now reading you. I am a free market anarchist myself, but still find this book very useful and enlightening. It´s got it´s share of cliches, no doubt. But I believe it is good, sound, honest advice.
I don´t see how you extrapolate to the fact that not everyone con be an entrepreneur. That is not the point. Most people won´t read this book, and most ot those who actually read it won´t follow it´s advice. Like myself!
Actually most people read self help books like this one so the "secrets" rather become common knowledge and you end up with stocks in all time high and bonds with 0% interest.
the whole point of my is to do something different and have an edge over someone else.
In the end we're all screwing each other so we're screwed less.
exactly
Great write up.
Indeed, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and that does not change. And one "poor dad" basically has to jump on the right train at the right time if they are to set themselves up for a lifetime of watching their money create money, otherwise it's the coal caves for them.
Congratulations @kyriacos! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPGood post
While the book has been written a long time ago and may appear outdated, there are still values that are applicable therein. Here are some of the goodies that really affected my life so positively:
I didn't argue about the values. I argued about the general take.
From my perspective both those who work for money and those who make money work for them are fertile ground. A poor man will sell his soul for nothing and a rich man will sell his soul for the promise of more - and neither realizes the soul is the true treasure. Cheers - Beelze
If someone's teaching are found to be erroneous,ethical bad and totally fictional, can it be said those teaching are a benefit to us all. Sure you might get lucky pulling of the stuff he suggests in his work but at the end of the day, it would still be morally and intellectually dishonest claim Kiyosaki's ideas as being good in anyway. People need stop worship this charlatan and being cradle by his casuistry.
Nice post I also read the book and yea it was interesting bu more disgusting at how these assholes are rewarded for being sneaky. Neo Liberal model sux, but did learn about difference between asset and liability . Crypto asset credit card debt liability
One thing I remembered reading self-help books about success is that it's not an end point but your spiral movement through life with useful habits in ur pack
survivorship bias more or less.
New enter here https://steemit.com/new/@gr3g0r/simplifying-the-news-violinist-wuilly-arteaga-remains-detained-in-detachment-of-the-gnb-venezuela-06-august-2017-already your collaboration is important @gr3g0r Follow Me!