148 of 154 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre Book for Fans--OK for Kiyosaki Newbies, March 26, 2008
This review is from: Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money (Paperback)
I have been a great fan of Kiyosaki for some years now, and have made good money following his principles, so I owe him a debt of gratitude. Also, I have read the greater part of his increasing panoply of books.
This book was quite disappointing. Like most of Kiyosaki's books, this one was filled with repetition. Now, I do subscribe to the theory that "repetition is the mother of learning," and so a bit of repetition to reinforce an important point is quite acceptable, and indeed beneficial.
But this book is full of mind-numbing repetition, and the content of its nearly 200 pages could easily have been boiled down to 50 pages.
There may be a clue as to the reason why this book was written on page 89 where the author says, "One of the benefits of being an author is that when I want a new liability [read: luxury item], I first write a book, like this one, and the royalties from the book pay for the liability."
That might indeed explain why this particular book was written.
For those who have already read Kiyosaki's books, especially the first three-- RDPD, Cashflow Quadrant, and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing-- this book would be quite superfluous. On the other hand for those totally new to Kiyosaki's work, this book may serve as a valuable primer.
Still, there are a few excellent "take-aways" from this book:
1) The world no longer runs on Money (a medium of exchange backed by real value--traditionally silver and gold, or other hard assets), but on Currencies (totally fictitious media of exchange based on debt and manipulation by central banks). Historically, every currency has eventually gone to its intrinsic value--ZERO. Therefore, it is essential to NEVER SAVE A CURRENCY, but to keep a currency moving, buying real assets which generate cash flow, or buying items with a real intrinsic value. This insight, mentioned in other Kiyosaki books as well, is an extremely valuable bit of information, and is the one big gem to take away.
2) The greatest "asset" in today's world of economic change and volatility is Financial Intelligence itself. Only by developing "Financial IQ," will one be able to weather the storms which are shaping up on the world economic horizon. And the time to get educated is RIGHT NOW!
3) Kiyosaki's grouping of the five types of Financial IQ is also worthwhile, and gives a workable template for developing and IMPLEMENTING a greater financial awareness: 1) Making more money; 2) Protecting your Money; 3) Budgeting your money (there are some unique insights in this one!); 4) Leveraging your money; 5) Improving your financial information.
All in all, this book is useful for Kiyosaki newbies, although even they may be put off by the repetition. I think long-time Kiyosaki fans may be disappointed.
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60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Little new information - go back and read his other books, April 23, 2008
This review is from: Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money (Paperback)
I was really disappointed by this book. There's some new (or at least new perspective for me) items, but they could probably be condensed down to a single chapter. But then Kiyosaki couldn't really sell a book of just 1 chapter, so instead, he drifts off topic (a lot), and wrote a lot of filler material.
I don't know what he repeats more often -- his relationship with Donald Trump, or how (in his opinion), going off the gold standard was a bad idea. Neither of which, by the way, increased my Financial IQ.
There is a lot of filler. There are stories about the Merchant Marines. About Vietnam. About his surfing wallet empire. Chapters and chapters and chapters of this -- maybe, if I was in the right mood, it might be interesting. But *so* much of this has nothing to do with Finanace.. I can't help avoid thinking that Kiyosaki wanted another to buy another Bentley, so he wrote this book to pay for it...
Oh, and there's several instances where he makes glaring math errors or logic errors. These further detract from thinking of this as a "finance" book.
Pick another book. I wish I had.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Rushed Piece Of Work, April 24, 2008
This review is from: Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money (Paperback)
I found this book to be a little rushed and not Robert's best effort. As I read this book it seemed to me he thought, perfect time to write a book and make some money. A line like this really supports that claim too, "One of the benefits of being an author is that when I want a new liability [read: luxury item], I first write a book, like this one, and the royalties from the book pay for the liability." I have to admit when I read that particular line I was a little ticked. Yes I know when he writes a book he makes a lot of money and can buy his luxuries however it came off as a shot at his fans. At this point, many people buy his things based on his brand. He mentions that in his book. He formed a great brand that is known to be quality, however this book is a letdown. It does have some good information but a lot of it is a repeat from his other books. This book could have truly either not been written or condensed to under 100 pages. If you never read a Rich Dad book, then you may love it. As for me, I have read better from the Rich Dad collection. This book could have been better if it was not rushed or written just to pay for his new luxury.
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