Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Toru Kiyosaki was born on 8 April 1947 in Hilo, in what was then the Territory of Hawaii, the eldest child of a Japanese American family. His mother, Marjorie, was a nurse, and his father, Ralph Kiyosaki, was an educator who was once appointed Hawaii’s superintendent of schools.

In 1970 his father ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket and lost his government job afterwards; he later invested his savings in an ice-cream franchise that failed. Kiyosaki presents him in his books as the highly educated but financially struggling “Poor Dad”.

Kiyosaki graduated from Hilo High School, from which he was nearly expelled because of poor grades. He describes the father of a childhood friend, a businessman he calls “Rich Dad”, as his mentor in money and investing, and this contrast became the basis of his later books.

In 1965 Kiyosaki entered the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, graduating four years later as a deck officer. After sailing on Matson ships, he turned down a job with Standard Oil and joined the US Marine Corps as an officer.

He trained as a pilot and flew helicopter gunships during the Vietnam War, and was at one time based at Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. His official biography says his military service ended in 1973; other accounts give later dates.

After leaving the Marines he chose sales and business rather than a salaried career, a decision he links to the lessons of his “Rich Dad”.

In 1977 Kiyosaki started Rippers, which marketed nylon and Velcro “surfer” wallets. The company later went bankrupt, as did a following business selling licensed rock band T-shirts. He also worked as a sales associate at Xerox until June 1978.

In the 1980s he became a motivational speaker in San Diego. In 1984 he and D. C. Cordova took over Money and You, a seminar course created by Marshall Thurber, and expanded it internationally to tens of thousands of students.

In 1993 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners programme aired a critical report in which former participants described emotionally harsh methods. Kiyosaki called the report unfair and left the business in 1994. He has said that his business failures taught him more than formal study.

In 1997 Kiyosaki founded Cashflow Technologies, Inc., a holding company that owned and operated the Rich Dad brand and the CASHFLOW brand of educational games. He co-founded the Rich Dad Company with Kim Kiyosaki.

The companies publish his books, sell the CASHFLOW board and video games and license the Rich Dad name for seminars and courses. Much of the revenue comes from franchise-style arrangements in which independent operators run Rich Dad-branded seminars for a fee.

This structure allowed his message to scale from his own lectures to a global brand, and he has said his books serve as an advertisement for higher-priced seminars.

Kiyosaki’s first book, If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don’t Go to School?, appeared in 1993. His breakthrough came with Rich Dad Poor Dad, written with accountant Sharon Lechter and first self-published in 1997.

Written as a set of parables presented as autobiography, the book contrasts the advice of “Poor Dad”, who valued education, job security and saving, with “Rich Dad”, who stressed business ownership, investing and financial literacy. It explains concepts such as the difference between assets and liabilities and the importance of cash flow.

Kiyosaki promoted the book from self-publication to the bestseller lists. It has been translated into dozens of languages and had sold nearly 40 million copies by 2017, launching the wider Rich Dad series.

After Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki published a long series of books, more than 26 in all, including Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant (1998), Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing (2000) and Rich Dad’s Prophecy (2002). He co-wrote two books with Donald Trump, starting with Why We Want You to Be Rich (2006).

He created the CASHFLOW board game and video games to teach adults and children about assets, liabilities and passive income through play. The Rich Dad Company also offers courses, seminars and the Rich Dad Radio Show podcast.

Seminars branded as Rich Dad Education were run by licensed partners such as the Whitney Information Network, extending the brand into real estate, stock market and business training worldwide.

Kiyosaki teaches that financial independence comes from passive income generated by assets rather than from wages. He argues that a personal home is not an asset in this sense because it costs money each month rather than producing income.

Real estate is central to his approach. He advises buying property that produces positive cash flow and using “good debt”, or other people’s money, as leverage, along with the tax advantages of property ownership such as depreciation.

He also strongly promotes gold and silver, which he calls “God’s money”, and Bitcoin, and has said he holds more than one billion dollars in debt. Critics note that heavy leverage carries significant risk, and that Rich Dad seminars kept promoting real estate in 2006 and 2007, just before the US housing crash.

Many financial commentators criticise Kiyosaki’s advice for relying on anecdotes rather than concrete, actionable steps, and for downplaying saving and diversified investing. His encouragement of debt-financed investing is also seen as unsuitable for many readers.

Seminars sold under his brand have faced scrutiny. In 2010 the CBC programme Marketplace and CBS News examined Rich Dad seminar tactics, and a Pittsburgh station, WTAE-TV, aired a critical report in 2013. He has also been named in a class action filed by seminar attendees.

In 2008 he settled a lawsuit with his former business partner and co-author Sharon Lechter. In August 2012 his company Rich Global LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after a court ordered it to pay about 23.7 million dollars to The Learning Annex; the Rich Dad Company said it was a dormant entity and that Kiyosaki’s personal assets were not affected.