If we can't teach real estate agents, mortgage guys, and politicians basic financial principles, how the heck can you teach kids.
There might be some hope with the elementary school kids who's parents are way over extended now. They will get a front row seat as the financial house of cards comes falling down.
Anyone know if the board game that the 'rich dad poor dad" guy pimps is any good for kids.
Oh god. Please don't say you're going to spend $200 on a "board game" just because it has Robert K's name on it to teach your kids about money.
You really don't need these gimmicks to teach people financial literacy. You don't have do be a financial czar to have decent financial skills. I sure as hell am not financially savy, but I do consider myself financially responsible.
Robert K and his Rich Dad/Poor Dad "educational system" really strikes me on the wrong nerve. Anyone that mentions getting one of there products, i usually go on a long diatribe…So here goes. I know some people don't think he's a scam, but I think he's pretty much of a scam. I've posted this in numerous other blogs before (when Robert was a commentator on Yahoo). This guy (no pun intended) appears to get rich by pushing his "educational products" (rather than his initial "rich success" that he so describes), and is successful doing so by pointing out your average financially illerate person what an "idiot" everyone else is, how smart he is (as proof, he copiously mentions his porsche, rolexes, multi-million dollar homes, and how he achieved by throwing away traditional education), and that you should buy his products to get rich. If you ever cracked open any of his products (I recommend going to the library and borrowing one or two of his books, and never actually buying them..Or buy them ,read it, and then promptly return them), he basically says the same thing over and over again: the 4 magic quadrants, which one you should be in, and what it means to cash flow. Most of the message he leaves you is an empty you can get rich too like i did, but if you want to find out, buy my next product XYZ.
If you actually read more than one of his materials (again hopefully you don't actually spend money on them), you would notice very quickly that he is every inconsistent in what he writes. He's say one thing statement in one book about how mutual funds/index funds are "stupid", and then in another book say they are good investments. If you followed his "posts" at Yahoo, he was saying that gold was bad investment in one posting, and then a great investment in another.
The reason for this, i believe, he's a "sideline quarterback historian"…He takes the current economic situation, backtracks on what should have been done based on what is already known as the outcome now, and then writes/tells people how dumb they are for not following the "obvious" path that he followed. Don't believe me, read some of his posts on yahoo when yahoo paid him to produce financial content (yeah, no wonder yahoo is in the toilets).
Also, interesting to note Robert K had a tie in to Amway to market his products. Amway, as some of you might not know ,is an MLM company in a lot of controversial shady business. When in doubt, search both on Google.
Kiyosaki's books and teachings have been criticized for focusing on anecdotes and containing little in the way of concrete advice on how readers should proceed.[13] Kiyosaki responds that his material is meant to be more of a motivational tool to get readers thinking about money, rather than a step by step guide to wealth. He also says the books are supposed to be "interesting" to people, which precludes involving a lot of technical material.[14]
There is also disagreement over how blurred the line is between fiction and anecdote in many of his works. Critics believe that Rich Dad is fictional and that Kiyosaki created him as an author surrogate (a literary device). In the past, Kiyosaki has maintained that Rich Dad actually existed, but that he died decades before the book was first published. However, he has never revealed his name or any other identifying information. Attempts by outsiders to determine Rich Dad's identity have not revealed a conclusive candidate, despite the prominence such a wealthy individual would likely have had in Hawaii in the 1950s. In the February 2003 issue of SmartMoney magazine, Kiyosaki appeared to back off his claim that his "rich dad" was a real person, instead stating "Is Harry Potter real? Why don't you let Rich Dad be a myth, like Harry Potter?".[15]
Former real estate investor and author of books on real estate investment John T. Reed has questioned much of what Kiyosaki has claimed to have achieved. According to Reed, much of Kiyosaki's advice is illegal, makes no sense or is the product of "a rather ignorant, not very bright, novice, investor wannabe". [16] He concludes his criticism, saying that "Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of the dumbest financial advice books I have ever read. It contains many factual errors and numerous extremely unlikely accounts of events that supposedly occurred."
Kiyosaki has also been criticized for being overly repetitious in his teachings. Some consider this a tactic to produce "filler" material in order to make it appear he is covering more material. Kiyosaki claims that this is an intentional teaching style that he feels is important.[citation needed]
Even some of the facts he has offered directly have been questioned. For example, on September 19, 2006, Kiyosaki wrote in a Yahoo Finance article that the NYMEX is an exchange where "… pork bellies,… are traded".[17] In reality, pork bellies are not traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.[18]
ABC ran a 20/20 segment on May 19, 2006 in which Kiyosaki was to advise 3 entrepreneurs on how to make money. They were given $1000 and 20 days to try and make the most money possible. At the end, after mediocre results, the contestants alleged that Kiyosaki never gave concrete advice. "All he [Kiyosaki] does is, I guess, is open your mind to the possibility. He doesn't tell you how to do it." Kiyosaki responds by saying that failure is important to learn. At the end, 20/20 asks, "Does anyone really need 18 books to learn to fail?"[19]
Kiyosaki wrote a column in Yahoo Finance in which he blames poverty on laziness. He also implies a religious justification for wealth disparity. "Over the years, I've met many losers who pray to God to give them gold. God helps those who help themselves. Again, the conquistadors may have been killers and thieves, but at least they knew how to help themselves."[22]
Kiyosaki's boardgames have been criticized for being excessively expensive;[citation needed]US$200 for the most expensive Cashflow 101.
Kiyosaki downplays the importance of traditional and tertiary education in achieving financial success. Studies of the median incomes that come with different levels of education suggest the contrary, such as the one found here.
Kiyosaki has also been associated with "multi-level marketing" companies such as Amway, and in 2000 gave a keynote speech at a Quixtar conference
I guess the reason why he is so successful is that a sucker is born every minute.
