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69 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Look at How You Must Think and Act to Prosper!, January 5, 2002
This book deserves more than five stars for its exceptional clarity, authenticity, relevance and eloquence.Those who love the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books will adore this one. I found it to be the best book in the series since Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Mr. Robert T. Kiyosaki speaks with the authority of experience. He did retire young at 47 while his wife was 37. At that time, his expected annual income was between $80,000 and $125,000. Many people yearn for early retirement with wealth, mostly because they hate their work. Mr. Kiyosaki was soon back at work, establishing new businesses. Most of his wealth was created after he retired. "I keep working because there are so things that need to be done." So, he has clearly moved from earnings a living, to living a mission of self-expression. That's very wonderful, and I hope you will accomplish the same result! Although the subtitle says this is "how to" book, it's really more of a "what to think" book. The fundamental concept is to leverage your mind, your plans, your actions, and your priorities to get wealth faster and more easily. As usual, Rich Dad provides some wonderful quotes. Here are a few of my favorites. "David could beat Goliath because David knew how to use the power of leverage." "Cash flow is the most important word in the world of money. The second most important word is leverage." "Leverage is the reason some people become rich and others do not become rich." "Because leverage is power, some people use it, some abuse it, and others fear it." "Getting rich begins with words and words are free." " . . . do more and more with less and less." The first books in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series have been about cash flow. This one shifts over to leverage. Section 1 is about leveraging your mind, section 2 looks at leverage from a plan to retire, section 3 addresses leverage from actions. The book goes on to give you a final exam on your attitudes and a challenging thought to chew on to help get you focused properly: making lots of money with no money to start with. Now, any book about leverage would normally have lots of pages on how debt leverage works. In fact, that is only a small part of what this book talks about. You will find that discussion in part of chapter 16, which looks at all of the forms of leverage in real estate. One of the strengths of the book is a fine discussion of how to think about risk and reward. It's not how often you fail, but how big the costs of your failures are compared to the rewards of your successes . . . and your determination to keep trying until you succeed. For instance, 9 out of 10 new businesses fail. But the value of the 1 in 10 that succeed should vastly outweigh the costs of the 9 failures. The book is excellent in warning you against the risks that you are unconsciously taking. Most people have 100% of their financial futures tied up in government pension and Medicare payments and the stock market. Mr. Kiyosaki correctly points out that this assumption is probably faulty, because there are far more Baby Boomers depending on these two resources than there are resources. One part of the leverage concept is to have more streams of cash flow. He also has excellent ideas on how to reduce risk in your current and potential sources of cash flow. You are also given a list of good habits to pursue. And top tips from the prior books are repeated in a convenient section near the end of the book. If you follow the advice in this book, it will be worth more to you and your family than all the other investment and retirement books that you read combined. But you have to take action! Thinking about taking action won't get you there. I would describe this book as being a lot like Tony Robbins's book, Personal Power, except it is focused effectively on the emotional and mental disciples needed for financial security and investing. By the way, I have known many people who have retired young with the assistance of being rich. They all embody the principles captured in this book. By contrast, at age 65 only 5 percent of all Americans will be able to afford to live a wealthy life style. Most will be looking for more income. Which group do you plan to be in? Think and live the thoughts that will make you as rich as you want to be! The solutions are there if you look for them.
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by Robert T. Kiyosaki
by Ken McElroy
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