Rich Dad, Poor Dad

About Book:

Although controversial and often heavily Criticized, people have decided to give it worth reading - otherwise it wouldn't have sold over 32 million copies. I read this book a year ago and I loved it. I found out that most of the story is made up and that there's so much criticism around Robert and the book. However, that doesn't make it less of a good story or advice. The book isn't too long either and mostly covered in the first 50 pages, so I highly recommend you read it yourself.

Who would I recommend the Rich Dad Poor Dad summary to?

Anyone who is worried about his/her job being secure and anyone who doesn't know what the definition of an asset is.

Rich Dad Poor Dad:

The story starts with the idea that many of us are too afraid of being branded as a weirdo, in order to exit the rat race. We let the two main emotions dominate our decision: Fear & Greed. That's why we still stick to the outdated mantra "Go to school, go to college, get a job, play it safe." when in reality no job is safe anymore.

Example: When you get a raise a wise choice is to invest in something that builds wealth like stocks or bonds, which has medium to high risk, but also a very high reward. Maybe you find a good fund with a 60% chance of double your money within a year, but a 40% chance of losing it all. However fear of losing your money altogether will keep you from doing so.

But when your greed takes over, you might then spend the extra money on an improved lifestyle, like buying a car, and the payments eat up the money - this way you're guaranteed to lose 100%. This already gives you a glimpse of how important it is to educate yourself financially. Since we receive no financial education in school or college, sadly, this is entirely up to you.

Look around you will see plenty of financial ignorant people in your own life. Just take a look at local politicians. They might be good politician but no one ever taught him how to deal with money.

Today is the youngest you'll ever be, so take a close look at what you can and can't afford. This way you'll be able to set realistic goals, even if it means waiting for a few more years for that shiny new BMW.

Next, adopt a mindset of "work to learn" instead of "work to earn". Take a job in a field you have no clue about, such as sales, customer service or communication, like I am a Mechanical Engineering working as a Full Stack Developer, to develop new skills - you never know what might be good for.

Set aside 5% of your income each month to buy books, courses and attend seminars on personal finance to start building your financial IQ.

The first step towards building wealth lies in the mindset of managing risks, instead of avoiding them and learning about investments will teach you that it's better to not play safe because that always means missing out of big potential rewards. Don't start big, just set aside a small amount, like INR1000 or even less and invest it in stocks, bonds and treat is as if it's gone forever and you'll worry less about losing it.

As soon as you start your journey towards wealth, you'll realize that it'll be quite a long one. That's why it's important to stay motivated. Kiyosaki suggests creating an "I want" & an "I don't want" list, with an item like: "I want to get retire at age 50." or "I don't want to end up like my broke uncle."

Use your money to acquire assets, not liabilities. Assets are stocks, bonds, real estate that you rent out, royalties(for example from music) and anything that generates money and increases in value over time. Liabilities can be cars or electronics with maintenance costs and monthly payments, a house with a mortgage, and of course debt - basically, anything that takes money out of your pocket each month.

There's is no rush. Just To stay at your full-time job and "mind your own business". In this case, your job is what pays the bills and your business is what makes you wealthy. Build your business on the side and use it to invest in assets until your assets eventually become the main source of your income. You can even file a corporation to be taxed only after you've earned and invested instead of being taxed before investing as an employee and trying to live off what's left.

The most important thing is that you start today. You are your own biggest asset, so the first thing you should put some money into is yourself.