Robert Kiyosaki - “Guru” Or Huckster?
Robert Kiyosaki has become very famous, largely as a result of the success of his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I’ll admit that when I read that book, it was like a light turned on for me. The notion of using real estate as a “passive wealth builder” was something I’d always heard of, but for some reason the story of Rich Dad, Poor Dad really connected with me.
Because of that, I became a big fan of Robert Kiyosaki for a while. In fact, I used to teach real estate seminars that were coupled with playing Kiyosaki’s “Cashflow 101″ game. The game really was a good tool for learning about your own personality and how you view money.
But then some serious criticisms of Kiyosaki began to arise, forcing me to question his “guru” status a bit more thoroughly. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve bought 2 or 3 of his books, the Cashflow 101 game and 1 set of audio recordings that featured Kiyosaki and John Burley.
I’ve found all of the products I’ve purchased from him to be helpful and informative. However, I’ve never attended any of his live events.
So if you have an opinion about Robert Kiyosaki, his products or his training, now is the time to sound off! Please, share information both about what Robert Kiyosaki does well and what could be improved upon.
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Great info and real estate business sense but as far as giving the complete recipe for a complete novice to wake up the next morning and do this, this, and this, step by step.. he is lacking on this aspect.. I like Ron Legrand.. and even the Ron Legrand Trainees who put their own twist to give you a different angle on his concepts.. Now we need someone who can put into concept the weak market and how to capitalize step by step in todays market that will.. sell..
I have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, attended a seminar, listened to many audio cd’s of his and I found them to be quite eye-opening. I personally liked them all.
I know some say he made up all the rich dad, poor dad stuff. Who cares? It’s what he’s teaching that is important.
I have never ever heard anything bad said about this guy. I thought he was the ultimate guru. As a matter of fact, besides what you put in this blog today there is a Google Ad on here saying that RK is joke but it is from thr “Rich Jerk” and he just makes me sick. With what you said about there have been serious criticisms regarding him if no one has anything really bad to say about him will you let us in on what has been said? I would really like to know. Thanks!
I’m really not going to spread what I heard because I don’t know it’s true. Thanks for understanding. — Bryan Ellis
I just wrote a HUGE review of our experience in taking Rich Dad classes (good experience)…hit enter and didn’t see the little security code at the bottom and it ERASED EVERYTHING! I have to get ready for work and don’t have time to re-type!!! ARGH!!!
I have some very bad things to say about Kiyosaki. Not so much about him personally but his “seminars” he holds with his minions selling his mentor programs and extensive trainings. In June of 2008 my brother and I had went to one of Rich Dads free introductory training courses to network and meet some people in the area trying to get into real estate. I knew what I was in for, a long sales pitch, but I ended up signing up for a $500 “Real Estate Academy” course that was supposed to be a networking opportunity (so we were told) and whoever went was supposed to be able to start investing after what we were taught. Well, once we got there a few weeks later the first thing out of Michael J. VanHorns mouth (this was the speaker) was that we were not to network or hand out business cards of any sort or we would be thrown out. Right out of the gate he discredited everyone in the room by saying “If anyone in this room knew what they were talking about, they wouldnt be here”, which was completely offensive as I as well as a few others I would soon meet were experienced and were just there to learn some new stuff. They continued to vaguely describe every aspect of REI just enough to intice you to buy one of there $20,000+ advanced courses. Mind you, this was a course for beginners. Michael then continued to teach everyone how to raise there credit card limits “for their real estate investing” only to later use it as a ploy to buy their crap. It was completely rediculous and down right wrong!! One of the reasons I went as well was just to play the cash flow game because I had never had the chance to. We got to play for all of 15 minutes, literally just enough time to read the directions and figure out how to play and we had to pack it up so he could continue to talk his bulls**t. He continued to teach everyone about how real estate investors dont buy on emotion, only the numbers. Well, when wrapping up the second of 3 days he started a slide show, showcasing all of the great things real estatae investing allows him to do, vacations etc. The final slide was a picture of his now dead dog who was in a hospital all tubed up and hairless dying of cancer. He continued to say “What if this was your child”. Than continued to make people feel bad about not buying his advanced training. I couldnt beleive he said it!! At that point I had enough. I even looked to the back of the room and noticed his assiostants had cleanex and were tearing up as if they hadnt seen that picture a million times at every other city they steal from people. It made me sick. It was absolutely dispicable and I now do not promote nor will I ever reccomend Kiyosaki’s material to anyone. I honestly wanted to punch that guy in the mouth. I looked around and saw all of these people who could not afford it, buying these training courses. Even a mentally challenged kid walked out of their and had spent atleast $20k for his training. Thats all I have to say about that.
I went to a 3-day Rich Dad real estate seminar and found it to be really good. It is heavier on motivation and not as detailed on the “how to’s” though, so it might not be enough to get a real novice started. Like all the other seminar gurus, they push buying more products/coaching/etc but weren’t as hard-sell as some others are. We spent one afternoon playing CashFlow 101, and I really think for the money we paid for the seminar we should have gotten more teaching during that time instead of playing the game. Maybe make the game an optional activity that people can stay around for if they choose. But that’s really the only criticism I have of the workshop as it did contain good information and real content.
John T. Reed apparently did a thorough investigation of RK. Here’s his report.
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Regardless of the matter in discussion, I trust Mr. Reed’s opinion not at all. — Bryan Ellis
The wife and I have listened to Richard on PBS and bought some material through their fundraiser blitz and have spent countless hours playing the game CF101. The information is educational and I found no fault with it.
We also attended the two hour session to learn more about investing. It was the same emotion tugging sales pitch that I have heard from platform speakers for over 20 years. After being experienced on the other side of the pitch I didn’t believe a word of it but found their work to be quite masterful. It did what it was supposed to do, get people to the back of the room to spend their money.
We did buy the material, which I felt was worth it, and scheduled to attend a weekend seminar to learn more. We cancelled when we found out that the seminars were being given by Russ Whitney’s “Wealth Intelligence Network” (WIN). WIN was disclosed in the tiny print on the receipt and the web site but not the name Russ Whitney. The customer service there is geared to refusing refunds that consumers call to ask for. This revelation has changed the way I feel about “Rich Dad” and the company that they keep.
Bottom line, I feel that the material from “Rich Dad” is educational and has a place in everyone’s library. But there are other courses, coaching, and seminars that are at least as informative at a much lower cost. Everyone should always ask for a list of the companies involved in the coaching and seminars that are being given before joining. This goes for all programs, not just “Rich Dad.” Don’t join their program unless they pass your scrutiny.
When I went to the Robert Kiyosak weekend seminar, we were told that if we handed out our business card to other students, that we would be escorted out of the room, even if we exchanged cards in the bathroom and they saw it. Many people were asking Realtors in the room for their card. It made us ALL feel like criminals. I will never ever go to these type seminars again. Another scam they did was to get people to apply for an american express blue card then use the blue card to spend from $15,000-$40,000 for their seminars. What a rip off. This is how they get rich. They want to have “top”down control over these students; don’t we have enough of that type of control with goverment? These folks can go to hell.
Tim Sander, Albuquerque, Realty Consultants
Not all people who come across with an abundance of confidence are “confidence men” selling snake oil, and it does appear Robert Kiyosaki has some legitimate information. But the confidence he has in his mythical story of the “rich dad” who never made a mistake in his life and always, without fail, made the right decision every time (even though there has never been any evidence that this man ever existed or had a NAME like most of us do), that confidence is more responsible for his success than anything he is teaching to others, supposedly to help them become successful. People just want to believe that there is some way of thinking that we can adopt into our own brains that will guarantee our success in life- but that is another myth. With the “rich dad” concept, he has created a God that we can emulate, try to become like him, if we are willing to buy into the story. But the truth is, no one can develop a way of thinking that will guarantee success every time. That is just part of the myth. People want to believe that, but life just isn’t like that. Robert Kiyosaki continues to tell his story with complete confidence. He tells of the millions of dollars he made because of the advice of the mythical Dad. But it appears he made his real money when the “Rich Dad” books became popular. People just want to believe they can lead a life without mistakes like Rich Dad. He makes it sound so easy. That is what Confidence Men do. The truth is, Robert Kiyosaki’s information and advice may help some people, but may just as easily be bad advice or incomplete in other situations. There is no perfect, failure-proof way of thinking that will lead us to success every time. It is, and always has been, easier to lose money than to make money. If you want to get education and training from Robert Kiyosaki, then fine, but also get training from other sources.
I’ve read numerous criticisms of Robert Kiyosaki, many attacking his credibility because someone couldn’t find any record of a guy named “Mike” owning most of Oahu, as Robert Kiyosaki talks about in Rich Dad Poor Dad. It only takes about 5 and a half seconds of brainwork to figure out that Robert is protecting the privacy of nearly everyone involved in his history by using PSEUDONYMS. Just about everything else he talks about can be verified through public records and/or newspaper microfiche or microfilms, so it’s not bloody likely he’d subject himself to the inevitable scrutiny by making everything up. And besides that, who cares if he made up some of the details for the sake of making the books readable…he has at least woken up hundreds of thousands of people to financial concepts they would likely never heard of in any other way.
Wow, I had a totally different experience than Zac (who posted right before me). Apparently the Rich Dad seminar depends a lot on the instructor you get, and I had a good instructor and a mostly good experience. Of course that’s no help to the person signing up for the course since you have no control over who you will get. Our instructor had a lot of experience in both SFR and multifamily buildings and shared a lot of good information and the seminar was nothing at all like what Zac described.
Bryan,
Thank you for your response and all that you do on this site. In response to what you wrote to me, my question is if you don’t know if it is true what was said about RK then why say it all? I ask that because in society when we hear a little negative comment we tend to think the worst about someone or something instead of hearing everything out. I guess one could do their due diligence if they want to explore further. So far you have some people who like RK and some that don’t which leaves us right back to the beginning. Because of what you said some people will now start to think on the negative side about him and they really won’t know why except because of things you heard that you do not know if it is true or not. Believe this or not you being who you are have a lot of power whether that’s good or bad. When YOU per se say something to some it will have a lot of credence behind it even though you really didn’t explain your comments in detail. Just my opinion. Thank you!
I guess that’s a fair criticism. What you may not realize is that I’m just a guy sitting at my kitchen table who writes a blog. Because I know that, I guess I don’t always factor in that the things I write may be influential. So allow me to clear it up here: I heard some rumors about Robert Kiyosaki that many others have heard, but that are, as far as I’m concerned, not worth considering. Why? The lessons I learned from his books and games are good, valid lessons. I have no comments at all on his live training, as I’ve not experienced any of them. Thanks for your constructive criticism! — Bryan Ellis
I have read all of Robert Kiyosaki book,starting with Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
His books have really open my mind and put me on track to thinking in a productive business way.
My wife and I bought in to the Rich Dad Seminars as well as the Wealth Intelligence Agency. We did the 3 day Training Academy with Lee Escobar, 2 day Rich-U with Vicky Greene, as well as a 3 day advanced course on Whole Sale Purchasing with Alecia Stafinski. I have found that like others have said, most of the Rich Dad Training and was introductory, motivational, and a pitch to buy the more expensive programs.
Rich-U which is also Wealth-U through WIA got more in depth and actually got into marketing, exit strategies, contracts, building your team, finding and evaluating real estate, cash flow analysis, overcoming fear, funding, and an action plan.
As a person with no investing experience I did find both programs very informative and educational, albeit incomplete. Let’s face it, for people with no experience, there is quite a steep learning curve to real estate - terms, ideas, etc. The program really does walk you through it step by step and does give you a lot of information and tips, as well as basic forms, organizational skills, etc. It really is not enough information to get you out there investing, but it does serve as a good foundation and does teach you the basic premises as well as introducing you to some more advanced techniques.
We went into all of this with our eyes wide open, knowing full well about the pitch and cost - I am a very thorough researcher. I don’t think everyone who goes is quite so aware. They did have everyone obtain more credit cards and raise their limits - and although it’s presented as educational, as to how the system works and how you can use or abuse it, it was also stressed that it should be used only as leverage to purchase assets or for education (which would be leverage for your investing business = assets). Then of course, they pitch their courses. I haven’t found a guru yet that doesn’t advocate spending as much as you need to spend to get educated (with their multi thousand dollar courses).
I think most of the information that I’ve gotten from RD/WIA I have found in books - including all the Rich Dad series, blogs (especially yours Bryan - feel free to shoot me free materials), tele-seminars, and my local REIA. That was probably one of the most useful suggestions by them - join your local REIA. Some of the people who run our REIA also have their own courses and mentoring/coaching, for less money, and it’s more personable because you see these people at every meeting.
Part of what paying for Rich Dad did for us was to motivate us and put fire under our butts to make this work. Sometimes that is what you need. Having to pay off a debt of 30K certainly motivates most people. The teachers readily admit that a vast portion of “investors” are really career students, and never put their education to use - especially people who can readily afford the program and don’t feel the “pain” of spending that kind of money.
Now the Whole Sale Buying advanced course I found to be very informative, thorough, and complete, with a step by step action plan. The teacher was great and the materials complete with contracts (that you need to have your attorney review). We also did a bus tour with a Realtor and estimated repairs with an opportunity to make offers.
Now for our 30K we did the 3 day Introduction, 2 day Rich-U, 3 day Whole Sale Buying, their software that has lots of analysis tools, ability to pull comps, contracts, letters, etc., 2 more courses which I have not chosen yet, a year of coaching, and a mentor who will come to my city for 3 days.
I have no way of really comparing software and I know there’s a bunch out there. I think it’s useful but expensive. I don’t completely trust any of the information (comps, etc.) that the software gives me without verifying it with the MLS. But it’s been pretty close. Certainly the analysis tools are helpful. Again, I’ve gotten some of the same stuff with excel spreadsheets from other investors and learning to do the math myself. (They also gave us a $50 financial calc - I highly recommend having one.)
WIA has courses on Short Sales, Lease Options, Probates, Property Management, etc, etc.
We felt that all of this would help ensure that we would do some deals. We figured that the deals would pay for the education and the education and support would keep us from making costly mistakes.
The coaching is kind of a waste - more good info, but they’re kind of walking you through all the Rich Dad material - I guess it’s good to have someone to check in with and make sure you’re doing your weekly homework.
Don’t know about the mentor or other courses yet. I’ve heard good and bad depending on who you get.
I think it could go either way. I think you probably will spend about the same buying each guru’s specific course piecemeal and if you know exactly what direction you want to go that is probably better. But if you have no idea about all the different ways of investing in real estate, than having someone steer you a little is certainly helpful.
OK, that was long winded and it’s time for dinner. Hope it helps.
I have been a real estate investor for 25 years as well as a seminar speaker and run my own real estate club.
I always speak well of and recommend people that provide good education for a fair price. RK’s books are all worth reading and both versions of Cashflow should be played by everyone who is or wishes to be a real estate investor.
Before I go on, I would like to state that I attended a seminar that Russ Whitney personally presented and he was one of my first mentors in the earyl 80’s. I thgought a lot of him until it became all about the money and humility was replaced with arrogance.
As far as Rich Dad’s involvment with WIN (repackaged Russ Whitney after he became greedy and lost most of his following) I think it is a major mistake.
I was given a partner ticket to the 3 day weekend by an associate and was appaled by some of the tactics and the pure B.S. that was being spewed out. I chalenged the speaker on several things and was blown off.
Another associate asked if I wanted to attend a 3 day $9,000 seminar that his wife was unable to attend and I took him up on it. Again, I corrected 8-10 serious mistakes that the presenter made. In a discussion after the seminar ended the presenter told me I should contact Rich Dad and become a speaker for the. I obviously declined.
My suggestion to Robert is dump WIN and Russ to save your own good reputation.
Those who have made comments above are more knowledable than I concerning RK. I have read one of his books and listened to another on CD. While I liked the message I can’t say that it lead to any real epiphany’s on how to do REI. I have also listened to a few of his free podcasts. Again, I can’t say that I learned anything to greatly improve my REI; however, he has some very interesting guests and have garnered some good knowledge about the economy and other aspects of the economy that affect REI.
The “Rich Dad Advisor” series of books seem to be well written and informative. I especially like the Ken McElroy books on multifamily apartment investing (”The ABC’s Of Real Estate Investing” and his smaller book on advanced real estate investing). I am currently reading OPM (Other People’s Money), The ABC’s of Writing Winning Business Plans, a book about owing your own Corporation, and the Intellectual Property book (can’t recall the exact titles right now). The authors are well respected in business and real estate investments. Be careful about some of the material regarding tax laws and securities laws, because those laws seem to change more often than you change your socks.
RK’s books “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and “The Cash Flow Quadrant” are “must reads”. His other books are not as good. His latest book on your Financial IQ seems to be a rehash of his earlier writings, according to some critics. I haven’t read it. I like the cash flow game 101, but finding players for regular games is difficult. I’ve heard some CF101 clubs advertise on CraigsList.org. One of the most difficult concepts to learn in CF101, is that it doesn’t matter what your starting profession is (high income Doctor or low income Car Mechanic). Anyone can quickly get off the Rat Race and achieve wealth by applying some basic principles (simplified in the game) for replacing earned income with passive income.
As for RK’s seminars, they are a total waste of time and money. RK has licensed his name to another company that provides the seminars, mentoring and coaching services. Rich Dad Academy and Rich Dad University are extremely high priced and quite useless. Their introductory course costs $500 for a 3-day sales pitch for their mentoring/coaching service. The 3-day pitch has absolutely zero content (they spent much time playing CF101), much puff-and-fluff showing beautiful pictures of million dollar properties that earned fortunes for the speaker, and hard upsell through-out. If the speaker earned so much money, then why is he hardselling coaching in a dank cheesy hotel meeting room?
They spend the first day telling you how to increase your credit limit on your credit cards. Most seminary gurus do this so you’ll have enough room on your credit card to buy whatever they are upselling. I warned several of the “students” at the break about what was happening, and most were thankful for me telling them.
Yes, I sat through that nonsense with a friend, whom I warned not to buy into it. They wanted $77,000 for their full blown coaching (with a modest discount if you “commit today to fulfilling your wealth goals”). Complete sham. Fortunately, my friend only lost his $500 investment, but I could see that many others were getting sucked into the lure of easy quick wealth.
Similar remarks apply to the mentoring/coaching companies that are licensing Donald Trump’s name. Stay away from them, too. (I like Trump’s books as entertainment, but not so much for education.)
I have at least a dozen Kiyosaki books and audio/video programs. I highly recommend Rich Dad/Poor Dad, Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant & Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing as essentaial business books.
I’m somewhat disappointed to the 6 Steps to to Successful Real Estate Investing audio program.
I read an newspaper article last year that said the Rich Dad Real Estate course is presented by the Russ Whitney organization. My personal experience with Whitney was a disappointment. They delivered less then promised. The 3 day seminar I went to was basic stuff where you had to spend $1000’s more to get the complete info. They sold us on the fact that the 3 day event would concentrate on the Calif. mkt. However, they talked about R.E. in terms of properties under $100k.
Then there was a high pressure sales pitch to purchase more programs. The whole package was somthing like $50k.
I went to an introductory “seminar” for the new Rich Dad R.E. course a couple of months ago. In my gut I could tell that it was a Whitney program.
Kiyosaki’s early work was eye opening. I’m hesitant to invest further in his work.
I have read Rich Dad Poor Dad several times, own the Cash Flow board game, and his Choose to be Rich CD set. I got a tremendous amount out of them. Rich Dad Poor Dad was a seminal book for me personally. The timing was awesome and sent my thinking into an entire new zone.
I haven’t been through his coaching or been to a seminar of his but love his books and CDs. I think like most things in life, you’ve got to put in tons of hard smart work and that’s where most people fail. They “give it a try,” quit, and tell everybody that it doesn’t work and that it’s a scam.
I went to RK seminar paid the 500. for a 3 day sales pitch. Training and coaching up to 20k for “development course”.What I learned is that
RK licensed out his -Rich Dad label to Russ Whitney out of FL.
I have had a similar experience as the others. I truly feel that the information is available at a much better price these days. I just attended EWI (Robert Allen’s ) FREE workshop and they did a tremendous job of providing VALUE!