This week's book: "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.
"It's not how much money you make. It's how much money you keep."
Robert Kiyosaki
This week's book is one of the best known personal finance books ever written, and also quite controversial. So let me say up front how I'm going to handle it: I'll give you the ideas that genuinely changed how millions of people think about money, and I'll be honest about the parts I'd be careful with or leave them out completely. Take the good stuff, leave the rest. That's how I approach every book, and this one especially.
Whether you agree with Kiyosaki's ideas or not, there's no denying this book informed how a generation thinks about money, investing, and building something of your own.
Reading it again, what stands out isn't the money talk. It's the mindset. Kiyosaki contrasts two ways of thinking. One belongs to the person who works hard and earns a paycheck. The other to the person who builds businesses and creates opportunities. He calls them the poor dad and the rich dad, respectively.
I grew up watching both, up close.
My father was a Navy pilot who built a lifelong career in military service. My grandfather was an entrepreneur from day one, who owned several businesses and held patents on two medicines and an insecticide. Two good men, two completely different relationships with work and money. And both genuinely loved their careers.
And here's where I'll gently part ways with the book. Kiyosaki frames one dad as poor and one as rich, and it's easy to read that as one being better. I don't see it that way. My father's discipline, his service, his steadiness, that shaped me every bit as much as my grandfather's ventures did. The paycheck path built a very nice life, as well as a very nice retirement. What the two men really gave me was two different lenses for seeing work, money, and opportunity, and the wisdom to know when to use which.
I chose one way. But I never once thought it made me better or lesser than those who chose the other.
Here's the promise for the week: by Saturday you'll have a handful of ideas from this book that are genuinely worth keeping, an honest take on what I'd be cautious about, and a clearer way to think about the money decisions in front of you. I spent decades in the money world, as a trader and later advising families on their wealth, so this is another week where I'm discussing lessons I've actually lived.
Quick question to start the week: what did your parents teach you about money, in words or just by example? Hit reply, I read every one.
I'll go first: my dad taught me that steady, honest work is its own kind of wealth. My grandfather taught me to build things. It took me years to realize I didn't have to choose; I could value both.
Reading ahead?
Next week we're reading "Greenlights" by Matthew McConaughey. If you like to follow along, now's a good time to grab a copy so it's on your shelf by Monday. Forgot to order in time? The Kindle version is instant.
If you like listening to books through an app, this one is an excellent choice. McConaughey narrates it himself and his unique voice and delivery add a lot to the experience.
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Talk tomorrow,
Mike
Practical wisdom for the life you're building