I recently read the number-one-selling financial literacy book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Roberto Kiyosaki. I thought it was a good book for people to learn the essential fundamentals required in order to succeed in our society. So many people complain about capitalism, wealth inequality and so on, but they never actually take the time out to learn about money and how to make/manage it.

Here are the notes I took down from reading this book

Chapter 1 – Lesson 1: The rich don’t work for money 

• People’s lives are controlled by two emotions: fear and greed.
• The rich do not work to chase money, they work to build assets and businesses. So they don’t get caught up in the rat race that the middle and working class do

Chapter 2 – Why teach financial literacy?

• The different classes: working, middle and wealthy each have different mindsets when it comes to money.
• Poor people get income and spend it on expenses. As their income increases, so do expenses. Perceive homes as assets.
• Middle class  people get income, then spend it on liabilities such as mortgages and credit cards, then spend it on expenses. 
• Wealthy people get income and spend it on assets that produce more income, and they take that extra income to spend on their expenses.
• Money does not solve the problem, the mindset does. Give poor people money and you would just multiply their problems. Perceive homes as liabilities.
• Four aspects of money to manage: income, expenses, assets, liabilities.
• Wealth is the measure of the cash flow, not the stacked cash you have.

Chapter 3 – Mind your own business

• Schools teach us to work on other people’s businesses.
• “If I have to work there, it’s not my business.”

Chapter 4 – History of taxes

• Taxes began in 1874 permanently. Before, it was temporary.
• Taxes weren’t accepted for the first fifty years.
• It was well received by the poor and middle class, as they were told it was to punish the rich and that it doesn’t apply to them. In reality, it punished the poor and middle class in the end.
• “The tax man will always take more if you let him” – get an accountant who understands money and how to set up your entity to get tax breaks.

Chapter 5 – The rich invent money

• The rich create money by offering services that they can get paid for, by spotting opportunities that help broker deals or make people’s life easier. This is done by being the middleman
• The more wealth and financial literacy you have, the more opportunities that are presented to you
• Great opportunities are seen with an insightful mind, not eyes. Most can’t recognise good opportunities.
• There are two types of investors: 1) one who buys packaged investments (202), including mutual funds, REIT, stock/bond. It’s simple. 2) someone who creates investments. Complex.
• To be the creative investor: find opportunities others have missed, raise capital, organise and manage smart people

Chapter 6 – Work to learn

• Do not work for money, work for skills/to learn.
• Most teachers do not have experience in the things they teach.
• Most workers simply work for the pay-check, and are kept in a cycle to simply pay their bills. They do not think ahead as to what future skills they will have, as they are thinking for short term security that never ends.
• But if you do like and want to do the traditional job route, become specialised as unions protect specialists.
• The reason there are so many talented poor people is because they do not understand business systems.
• 3 management skills needed: 1) Management of cash flow 2) Management of systems 3) Management of people

Chapter 7 – Overcoming Obstacles

• Even after becoming financially literate, there are still obstacles such as fear, cynicism, laziness, bad habits and arrogance.
• Colonel Sanders started KFC at 65 after getting turned down 1009 times
• Laziness: instead of saying “I can’t afford it”, say “how can I afford it?”
• Don’t be afraid to have a bit of a greedy mindset so you want better for yourself and work to attain it

Chapter 8 – Getting started

10 steps to take on the new mind-state

• 1) Find a reason greater than reality
• 2) Make daily choices
• 3) Choose your company wisely
• 4) Speed up the process of learning new skills – “you become what you study”
• 5) Pay yourself first – pay yourself first, even before creditors and government, and if your income is smaller than expenses, Use the pressure to come up with financial genius
• 6) Pay brokers well
• 7) Get your investment back
• 8) Reinvest the profits
• 9) Choose a hero to be inspired by
• 10) Give back

Overall impression:

• The mindsets of poor people are wired incorrectly and their perception of money is limited.
• Poor and rich have significantly different perceptions of different things that they own. For example, a home is seen as an asset to most people, but the wealthy are aware that it is a liability.
• The rich get richer, simply because of the difference in how they interact with assets, expenses, assets and liabilities. 
• Schools do not teach us money management. They teach us to work on other peoples’ businesses.
• People think that capitalism is the problem. But really, it’s just a lack of understanding of how to win at this capitalist game.

Definitely recommend for those looking to learn the essentials. If you are experienced in business or have studied money, or other financial books, then you may know what’s inside of the book already. But it’s a good book to brush up on the fundamentals.

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