Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki is many things: an author of self-help books, an investor, a business man, as well as a motivational speaker. Robert is best known as the bestselling author of a series titled Rich Dad, Poor Dad and has become one of the leading voices in educating people in the area of developing their own personal finances.

Much of Robert’s success is based on the idea of having two fathers, one rich and one poor and the whole concept of how the rich and poor educate their children is based on this. Ralph H. Kiyosaki was a very intelligent man, a great educator, who ended up becoming state superintendent for education, but he was also Robert Kiyosaki’s poor dad. Although Ralph was able to put Robert in the right environment to learn what it meant to succeed. It was at High School where Robert met his rich dad, the father of a fellow classmate and friend. The rich dad was an entrepreneur with very little education, and was capitalist minded, in contrast with his socialist minded, intellectual father.

His experiences in life after included graduating the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1969 and worked on and traveled on merchant ships. The voyages on these merchant ships would take him all over the world. He would be exposed to new cultures, new ways of life and extreme forms of poverty that can not be found back in the United States of America. Robert was eventually drawn to join the United States Marine Corps and was sent to Vietnam. He served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War. In 1974, Robert left the Marine Corps and entered the civilian world once again.

Upon returning to the United States of America, Robert worked as a salesman in Xerox Corporation for a couple of years then left to start up his own business for the first time. His first business was a new concept of wallet which used Velcro and nylon and is often referred to as a surfer wallet. As Robert invested in this idea when it was only originating, he made a moderate profit. It was his first venture in the business world and as an entrepreneur, he made some mistakes. Nonetheless, the surfer wallets would eventually end up becoming a multi-million dollar product and Robert would receive his first real taste of what being an entrepreneur is all about.

The next business was almost similar in nature due to the targeted consumer as Robert’s attention shifted from Surfers and their wallets, to Rockers and their favorite heavy metal band t-shirts. Robert experienced financial success in the mid nineteen eighties with his second business venture in the rock music merchandise licensing. But with a change of trends, his heavy metal t-shirt licensing business went “belly up” in 1985. This left him broke, bankrupt and definitely in a bad place as it even left him homeless. It is estimated that he owed approximately $850,000 to the banks. Robert Kiyosaki would go on to help people and educate them on how to completely avoid the pit of bankruptcy, and even achieve financial success.

How could somebody who is not rich themselves teach others how to become financially successful? Simply by teaching them how not to become poor and make poor financial decisions. Robert began working as a motivational speaker for a personal growth seminar called Money and You. Money and You was started by Marshall Thurber who became a highly successful man, and the seminars focused on the teachings and works of Buckminster Fuller. The success this time around was substantial, so much in fact that in 1994 Robert decided to retire. He was only 47 at the time but experienced such growth that in only nine years he became a multi millionaire.

During his retirement, Robert was more then active in his pursuit to gain wealth. Not giving up the practice of investing in real estate and playing the stock market, Robert continued his business endeavors. Although, now Robert had much more time on his hands and he began to write during his time off. Robert continued his path as an educator, following the foot steps of his poor dad, as he also followed the advice and guidance of his rich dad in becoming financially successful.

With twenty-six books in the Rich Dad series, Robert has sold more than twenty-seven million books worldwide. His works have been translated in fifty-one different languages for markets in a hundred-and-one various countries across the world, eventually leading him to countless bestsellers lists across Asia, Australia, Europe, Mexico, and South America.

Applying the skills he learnt will create an understanding of how to use money in the real world. Concepts and attitudes, along with definitions of words such as wealth and assets, determines how somebody handles money. Robert Kiyosaki reinforces these ideas in a board game called Cashflow which demonstrates, in a fun way, how all money in the world is made, created, spent, and accumulated.Stayed in South Africa.

More recently, Robert Kiyosaki teamed up with one of the most famous and successful real estate tycoons, Donald Trump to co-write a book titled, “Why We Want You To Be Rich”, which tackles questions and fears that are arising in this time of economic uncertainty.