Any Rich Dad, Poor Dad fans?
 

Someone mentioned Robert Kiyosaki in another thread, but the thread went back on-topic, I responded, but did not want to derail anything, so I am moving it here.

I was obsessed with Robert Kiyosaki for a while, trying to find any advice that I could follow without paying first. I found the audio book and listened.

It was just a story. It did not contain any advice.

I ran across John T. Reed's blog and was impressed with how informative he was. He wasn't selling anything except reasonably-priced books. While I have heard countless people talking about buying foreclosed houses for pennies on the dollar, he said it was more like pennies off. He had reasonable, realistic, and boring advice.

Someone sent him "Rich Dad, Poor Dad:"

https://johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-r...oor-dad-part-1

People comment that he did more research refuting that book than whoever wrote it and Reed said there was not any comparison.

Then Big Daddy Inc (or whatever) declared bankruptcy.

I do not worry about what Kiyosaki says.

I dunno, it was probably close to 20 years ago that I read the book. The main thing I remember is that rich people invest their money, and poor people spend it. Buy assets and not liabilities.

The #1 trait of financially successful people is delayed gratification. That's not really something you learn; it's a disposition. The resolve to deny immediate pleasure for greater future reward. That's more of a character trait than something learned, but it's always possible to consciously change behavior. Consciously deciding to act in a certain way repeatedly turns into a habit, and the continuation of a habit turns into character, where finally decisions are no longer required to be made because it's an automatic response.

His advice to not waste time and money in college if you aren't pursuing a career that requires particular educational credentials is sound. The cost of school has never been greater, and the value of a generic degree never lower.

While statistics might show that college grads make more money, the correlation does not prove causation. More likely smart people go to college, and we know people with higher IQ earn more money.

I would never pay for financial advice. The average stock portfolio managed by so-called financial experts return average market performance while they collect their non-performance based fee. If they really had confidence in their skill, their services would be free if they underperform the market. All the other basic financial principles can be learned for free because the concepts of spend less than you earn are pretty darn basic.

MrMoneyMustache has lots of practical and specific information.

Whenever you have a major financial decision to make, there's endless information on the internet.

Then, lots of people spend more than they need to because they are lazy. Insurance companies have rate creep, ISPs end "promotional" pricing for their longer term customers, and similar practices from nearly every type of recurring service provider. They love loyal customers and reward them with higher fees, because loyal is code for lazy.

I have always been glad that I completed my Bachelor's in Spanish, but when I graduated I was $40,000 in debt, without any idea how to better earn money than when I started. I researched Speech and Hearing a great deal before starting and I love my job, but that program does not lead directly to a job unless you have grades adequate to get into grad school.

I didn't, so I spent a while finding someone to train me, and now I keep trying to find and keep clients. A Master's would open up a world of opportunity, but there is a long road to get there, and I cannot help but wonder what if I just found some office job in 2000 and slowly worked my way up.

College is great and wonderful, as long as it is a tool, and not a commitment someone else made.

Take poor people who have 5 kids, and people with similar income but that have 1 kid and gave moral values and try to give good education.
But if the family with 1 kid and fine morals are white, what extreme left wingers will say??? They will say it's due racism.

If you argue that's not racism but poor morals, birth without marriage, high number of kids, they will turn angry and tell you that people can have as many kids they wish and that marriage are sexist and that moral values are opressive conservadorism.

I think Rich Dad Poor Dad is a good book if you've never had any exposure to how to build wealth and/or manage money. Redpoint summed up the vast majority of the points it makes though.

How is everything going Daox? What is new?

Things are going well for me. I hope to be out of my part time 9-5 job by the end of this year, and mostly working online which will make my lifestyle and time extremely flexible. Might even be able to get the Insight fixed up and back on the road. That would be nice since its been sitting in pieces for quite a while now.

You do not have anyone complaining about all of the space it takes up, do you? :)

Not really. Every once in a while my wife brings it up, but its not often.

Never read the book. Never seen it.

But the idea that the way you were brought up, the things you were exposed to (even without being "taught") and the attitudes that you just think of as normal are going to determine the course you take through life isn't a new one. And what people call "moral" generally just means stability enforced by repression- but the idea that stability brings prosperity is even less new.

People get "tracked" even if they fight it, and how much money your parents have/make has more to do with what track you start out on than anything else. A rich dad may not teach you how to manage your money, but even without trying to do that he shows you that managing it is important. The most important part of the lesson is the actual fact of having money. It's hard to manage capital when you don't have any, and even harder when jobs are scarce. Bad or no credit simply teaches you that credit is bad, not how to use it appropriately.