Customer Reviews

Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men - One Message

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(35)
1 star:		(70)

 

 

Robert and Donald finally collaborate their rich minds and produce the quintessential end all and be all book of how to become rich. Unfortunately, it seems the Trumpster spent very little time investing in this latest work. Spouting off the typical nuanced cliches, you can be rich, you must love what you do, bla bla bla. I hate to be a cynic, I love Trump, but like most of his previous works it is unsubstantive and provide no roadmaps to actual wealth. Kiyosaki provides more intimate knowledge on the elusive roadmap, buttressing this with charts and life experiences of triumph and failure. This book proves more ra ra cheerleading than actual substance on becoming wealthy. They lambast poor victims of an increasingly entitled generation and the perils of an inevitably bankrupt social welfare treasury. Trump had even the gall to express his pity on the thousands of schmucks who had paid good hard money at the Chicago annex to just sit there for and listen to him ramble on how to become like him. From someone who read most Kiyosaki books, you will find more useful info in some of the other less popular books when he writes on specific components of how he made his money. For the price it might be worth it, but isnt designed to be that book to make you rich. Instead, they discuss more of the WHY you should be rich rather than the how.

In my lifetime, I have absorbed the content of something in excess of 5,000 books. In my business as a money manager, I spend a great deal of time just taking in information, and then determining where is the investment play here. Most people are scattered, and are merely the recipients of information overload, which is shaping up to be the primary problem of our age. There's just too much NOISE out there. We have the unequalled ability in our time to constantly humor ourselves with television, iPods, mobile devices of all kinds including cell phones, and streaming, and then there's the Internet.


The result is a clear LACK OF TIME TO THINK. We suffer from an inability to find the time to sit back and integrate what we know. After reading, "WHY we want YOU to be RICH", I came away feeling cheated, and cheated on more than one level.


Donald Trump is a man to be admired, and so is Kiyosaki, but what is portrayed in the book is not the REAL DEAL that can be studied in either man's life history. Instead, we are given image and branding. Kiyosaki, as an example is not a man who took his father's advice and then proceeded to become a rich man. He's a man who wrote about how to become rich, and became rich from the books he published about the process. He was never engulfed in the process himself, and thus when he writes about the process, it is not authentic.


Both men have enjoyed REMARKABLE runs in the business world. Trump has continued his father's legendary real estate career. Fred Trump created a $400 million real estate empire, which would be worth at least $2 billion in today's money. Donald Trump to his credit took his father's reputation, and headed to Manhattan where over time he has created considerably more than his father achieve, but it is by standing on the shoulders of giants - his father. To his credit, a different man than Donald might have gone belly up when he ran into financial trouble in the late 80's, early 90's - the banks bailed him out, unlike some other less lucky individuals.


Kiyosaki's only claim to fame is his books. There are no major buildings bearing his name, no corporation that he successfully parlayed into a fortune. No, instead Kiyosaki wants to tell us how YOU can do, what he hasn't done. Does Kiyosaki have successful investments? You bet his does, from the proceeds of the books, not from a process, which is what he tells you to learn.


I am not writing about sour grapes. There are so many people out there that are capable of telling you the REAL THING. There is a process to making a fortune, and it is both predictable and repeatable. There is no guarantee that you will be rich beyond your dreams, because part of this process is luck, and simply coming through the funnel. What do I mean by this concept.


Mark is a friend of mine. We were walking through the Harvard University Yard one day and Mark who has a PhD from Johns Hopkins in biotechnology, no small feat in itself, blurted something out. He said, "Everybody talks about Bill Gates, but you know Rich, there were a 1000 guys building operating systems in those days, Gates is the only one who manage to get through the funnel, and it didn't have to happen that way." I instantly had a brain changing experience.


Mark was right. For every guy who makes it there are thousands who tried, many tried harder than the person who managed to hit it out of the park. All we see are the individuals who came through the funnel, and somehow managed to make it. In the final analysis, it didn't have to work out that way.


Gates could have failed, and Steve Jobs' operating system at Apple would have been the one we all talked about. As a matter of fact, had Apple been willing to license its operating system (Jobs' biggest mistake), we would ALL be using the Apple system today, and Gates would not even be a footnote to the industry.


Here's the key that Trump and Kiyosaki never touch on. It's not about RICH, and I am rich by the way. It's about finding something you absolutely love to do, to work on, to think about, and then doing it. There's one more point however, and it's more crucial than the first. You see, we all have wonderful doable ideas. Dreams, that we dream about on a daily basis. It's more than just doing what you love. You have to think about FOCUS, and EXECUTION too.


Dreams without FOCUS and EXECUTION are just when you really think about it - they are just DREAMS. You on the other hand have to take that DREAM, that LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, and bring FOCUS and EXECUTION to getting it done, to making it a reality. You may still not be able to by the way, but you will have lived a life worth living, and in the end that's all God, your family, and YOU can ask you.


Good luck in your journey.


Richard Stoyeck

I am really struggling to finish this book. It basically says the same thing every chapter...that they want you to be rich. The problem is there is no substance at all. I bought this book because I love both authors, especially Trump, but had I known what I know now, I wouldn't have let this love for Trump be the main reason to buy this book. It's not even worth it to just have in the library to say you have it. If you really want it, buy it used. It shouldn't cost more than a buck soon, if it's not already that low.

I didn't buy this book because I thought these guys would actually have some magic formula that if I read would make me become rich. I hope nobody is this naive. But, at least give me something I can actually use and think about. Well...don't hold your breath because it's not in here.

Meanwhile...bring on The Apprentice!

I am a big fan of the Donald. Read almost all his good books. I have also read tons of rich dad poor dad books. Having read all those books and knowing the authors extensively, this book shouldn't have been written by them because there isn't a single fact that's not talked about in other books. It's a disaster. Effort level from both of them are so low, I suspect 40% of the book is a cut and paste job, especially Robert's half. If you expect this book to reach the level of the Art of the Deal and the Art of the Comeback, think again.

"Why We Want You to Be Rich" gives Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki (and their co-authors) a chance to hop onto each other's bandwagons. The two men claim that they collaborated on this book because they are concerned about the demise of the middle class. They see a two-class system in America's future -- the rich and the poor -- and they feel obligated to motivate us clueless middles to pull ourselves up to their level. They do this by shooting down over and over what they say has been the standard financial advice for us in the past: get a job, work hard, live below one's means, save money, invest for the long term in mutual funds, and diversify. They discount our presumed "entitlement mentality" -- the one that believes that Social Security, Medicare, and our pensions will take care of us in retirement. We should be investing to win, they say; not saving to avoid loss. And Kiyosaki recommends that we all become Bs or Is -- Big-business owners or Investors -- instead of Es and Ss, Employees and Small-Business / Self-employed / Specialists. All of these points are easy enough to say and a challenge to actually undertake. But that, of course, is the point. And that's why a number of middle-class Americans will undoubtedly see this book as an insult to their intelligence and a criticism of their lifestyles.

With the authors' emphasis on being and becoming rich, you'd think they would start us off with a definition of the concept. Well, you'd be wrong. Kiyosaki finally gets around to it on page 262, where he quotes a Forbes magazine article that states a person is rich if he has a million dollars of income each year. He quotes another source as saying that a poor person is one "who does not have at least $100,000 in cash to invest." If those figures are to be believed, then we're probably already living in a two-class system.

The book is written in see-saw fashion: Kiyoskai begins each chapter with his rambling narrative, then Trump adds a shorter post-script expounding more concisely on the topic. There are times when Kiyosaki puts his foot fully into his mouth, as when he uses himself as an illustration of the 90 / 10 rule (10% of the players win 90% of the money). That's why he didn't take up golf as a profession, he tells us, because he knew he could never be in the top 10%. What a defeatist attitude from someone who's supposed to be motivating us! Much later in the book, he has the guts to say: "[I]t amuses me when I meet people who are looking for a job or for a pay raise or wondering how they are going to make a few extra dollars. Obviously, they live in a different world than I do." (p. 251) Wow, a direct hit on his readers! These kinds of comments, along with the continual Rich Dad / Poor Dad references, make Donald Trump's portions of the text sound like the voice of wisdom and reason by comparison.

And yet: readers can be motivated by just about anything these days. That's why self-help books continue to top the bestseller lists. Ignore the insults and the backstepping and the ongoing self-promotion here, and you'll find a few helpful suggestions to work toward financial independence. The sad truth is, we can't ALL be rich. (Some of us don't even WANT to be rich.) And our economy needs Bs, Is, Es, and Ss to work; we can't all be Bs and Is. Some of us are not cut out for those roles. The world doesn't need more Donald Trumps and Robert Kiyosakis. Having one of each is plenty.

The text notes several times that the authors (all four?) will be donating a portion of the book profits to charitable and educational organizations that support financial education. Both Trump University and Cashflow Technologies would probably qualify for those funds.

If you're intrigued by Kiyosaki's CASHFLOW Quadrant, then you might want to find out more about the standard Myers-Briggs personality test, which divides human behavior into more concise categories. The easiest way to do that is to pick up a copy of the book "Do What You Are" by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. And for those who feel they need someone successful to offer them financial advice, I recommend spending time with two people willing to do just that: Jim Cramer and Suze Orman. Read their books, watch their shows on CNBC, go see them in person. You may be more empowered by them than by Trump, McIver, Kiyosaki and Lechter and "Why We Want You to Be Rich."

Thankfully I received this book as a gift....it's a rip-off. The book keeps referring to other books...at the end..I feel like I ought to read rich dad, poor dad...it has everything and plently more...at least I'm left feeling that way. The bottomline...buying this book means more $$ to Trump and Kiyosaki. It's just one of many ways for them to capitalized on their names. Save your money and buy something else.

After listening to 2 of 5 CD`s I was ready to give the audio book away. After listening to #3 and #4 it only got worse. Trump & Kiyosaki should be ashamed of themselves for passing this nonsense off as business advice.
It was awful!
Kiyosaki put out a great series of books on his own and now w Trump he went from a 4-5 star author to a -5 author...what happened!
Trumps books are mostly fluff so they don`t count. People buy his books based on the perception of his image & hype but they all lack substance.
Yes, he`s brilliant but he`s surely not going to give any secrets away!

I have read all of Kiyosaki's books and there are several that are outstanding. I like Trump's earlier books better. However, this book was just terrible if you have read anything by either of the two. It is really a disappointment for the the two of them to collaborate on this one. It appears they took excerpts from their other books and used cliches all over the place. It was poorly written, offered little new advice or foresight, and was a major disappointment. They spent too much time just talking about how they decided to write the book...Save your money for retirement and buy an earlier book of either of the two.

This book is about how Robert and Donald think. They do not provide any specifics on how to actually make money. The idea is think rich and maybe you will become rich. A "why" book like this can be entertaining and fun and you can learn something too. It can generate a lot of dreams. But it's not a call to action like a solid "how-to" book. The "why" is interesting but the "how-to" is indispensable for getting rich or richer.

Robert recycled a lot of material from his previous books (the basics of a Balance Sheet etc.). Mr. Trump and Robert indicate respect for Warren Buffet, the world's greatest investor, by referring to him many times, but on page 50, Donald and Robert claim, "...they can beat Warren's rates of return on investment." They provide no data to back this up. Mr. Kiyosaki does this kind of thing in many of his other books. They are claiming they are better than the world's greatest investor!

If Donald Trump said he was a better golfer than Tiger Woods he would get laughed out of the club house but here he claims, without proof, that he is better than Warren Buffet and, based on book sales, many people accept that, in spite of the fact that Donald's few billion is a small fraction of what Mr. Buffet has.
There is nothing wrong with comparing your rate of return on investment to Mr. Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., but that return should be documented. And there is nothing new in comparing your investments to Berkshire Hathaway's rate of return. I did that already in 2001 in my book "How to Invest in Condominiums" and I provide the numbers and specifics.

On page 31 Mr. Kiyosaki raises a valid concern for investors: high fees and the relative lack of transparency in mutual funds. I don't think you will ever get the transparency from a big mutual fund that you get from your own real estate investment or project. But lack of complete transparency does not preclude a superior return on investment from Berkshire Hathaway or from a low-fee Vanguard fund.

Chapter 4 (page 57) is puzzling. On page 7, the authors explain that this is not a "How-to Book", but yet the title of Chapter 4 is: "How to Make Yourself Rich". So is there a "How-to" chapter in this "Why" you should be rich book (does not everyone already have their own good answer to that question?)? Not really, because Robert again does not provide any "How-to" specifics. His basic answer to the question posed in Chapter 4 is: you make yourself rich by solving problems.

In 1971 the government stopped backing the dollar with gold: because of this Robert warns the reader that, "Our money stopped being money and became currency." If you look in Webster's dictionary you will see that both money and currency are defined as a medium of exchange. More elaboration would have helped here.

On page 155 they write; "Getting Rich is Predictable not Risky". Predictable is the wrong word for investments. It indicates the kind of certainty that scientists have when they predict an eclipse. For investments people usually make forecasts, estimates or have goals. For example I once read that Warren Buffet has a -- goal -- to get at least a 15% return on investment every year. But his rate of return has not been predictable. Mr. Buffet has had an average return of 21.5% (wow!) over a very long period of time (1964 - 2005). All that Mr. Trump has to do is publish in his next book his superior rate of return on investment on his $2.9 billion, then we could draw some predictable lines into the future and know exactly when Donald Trump will pass Mr. Buffet in the race for the big bucks. Warren Buffet will start the race with $46 billion. In the race Donald will face much more risk. If you use large amounts of leverage like the authors say they do, that by definition, in numerous investment books, is risky. Donald Trump's bankruptcies are proof of that.

The two stars are for the philosophy of capitalism and the sometimes interesting stories.

The more I read Trump (and the less I look at his hair), the more I truly admire his simple truths. I've read a half dozen Kiyosaki's books and I think his best work is the one on the cash flow quadrant (yes, it's a little painful at first, but when you get it - you really get it). They do revisit that near the end of this one. And I'm glad they do; because it's just that important
Anyway this new book is an important one on your bookshelf because what I took away from it was (from my reading) three primary concerns: 1) our middle class is shrinking, 2) getting rich is not risky - it's a matter of having a plan & managing the plan, 3) the path to getting rich is "wealth education"
Although the middle class commentary is illuminating, nothing is truer than just making yourself smarter about your money. I hope you are taking every advantage of building your wealth - you deserve it, and your family deserves. BTW, I want you to be rich too. There absolutely no reason you can't be. My wife and I are quickly approaching an important fork in our wealth-building where our money will soon be making more money than we do (which includes our two salaries and retirement check).
I recommend the book because it's not a checklist for specific investments, its a mindset - a way of thinking. I think you'll find it motivating like I did. As a training manager, I always believe that education and training is the answer. I know that books don't change things. But good books change people - and smart people change things. If you read it deeply enough, and think about it strong enough, you can make it happen - well enough.