Biography of Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born April 8, 1947) is an American businessman and author. Kiyosaki is the founder of Rich Global LLC and the Rich Dad Company, a private financial education company that provides personal finance and business education to people through books and videos. The company's main revenues come from franchisees of the Rich Dad seminars that are conducted by independent individuals using Kiyosaki's brand name for a fee. He is also the creator of the Cashflow board and software games to educate adults and children about business and financial concepts.Kiyosaki is the author of more than 26 books, including the international self-published personal finance Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books which has been translated into 51 languages and sold over 41 million copies worldwide. He has been criticized for advocating practices of debatable legality perceived as "get rich quick" philosophy. Kiyosaki is the subject of a class action suit filed by people who attended his seminars and has been the subject of two investigative documentaries by CBC Canada and WTAE USA. Kiyosaki's company, Rich Global LLC, filed for bankruptcy in 2012.Early life and family
Robert Toru Kiyosaki was born in 1947 in Hilo, then in the Territory of Hawaii.
Education
Kiyosaki attended Hilo High School and graduated in the year 1965.
Business career
In 1974, Kiyosaki attended the Erhard EST seminars, which he says changed his life.In 1977, he started a company called "Rippers". The company eventually went bankrupt.Kiyosaki took a job as a sales associate for Xerox until June 1978.
In 1993, Kiyosaki published his first book, If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don't Go To School. In his book, he encouraged parents not to send their children to college and instead to enter the real estate business.In 1997, Kiyosaki launched Cashflow Technologies, Inc., a business and financial education company that owns and operates the Rich Dad and Cashflow brands.
Other business ventures and investments
Kiyosaki's earlier two businesses (for surfing bags with Velcro fasteners and T-shirts) went bankrupt. In an interview with CBC, Kiyosaki described his books as an advertisement for his higher-priced seminars. In 2012, Kiyosaki's company "Rich Global LLC" filed for bankruptcy and was ordered to pay nearly $24 million to the Learning Annex and its founder.
Business and financial advice
Kiyosaki operates through a number of companies that he owns fully or in part, and through franchisee arrangements with other companies authorized to use his name for a fee. This includes Rich Dad LLC, Whitney Information Network, Rich Dad Education and Rich Dad Academy.Kiyosaki's financial and business teachings focus on what he calls "financial education": generating passive income by focusing on business and investment opportunities, such as real estate investments, businesses, stocks and commodities, with the goal of being able to support oneself by such investments alone and thus achieving true financial independence.Kiyosaki uses the term "assets" for things that put money in one's pocket. He stresses the importance of building up an asset first to fund one's liabilities instead of saving cash or relying on a salary from a traditional job.
Personal life
Kiyosaki endorsed and supported Republican candidate Donald Trump for the 2016 presidential elections. Kiyosaki also co-authored two books with President Trump.
Criticism
In 2010, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation did an exposé on scams that were being perpetuated by Kiyosaki's company in Canada in the guise of seminars. Upon tracking the success claims of "Rich Dad" seminar organizers, they discovered that these claims were not true. Investments in trailers and trailer parks, which were being propagated as "successful" by seminar teachers, were found to actually be barren pieces of land that no one was using.Kiyosaki's advice has been criticized for emphasizing anecdotes and containing nothing in the way of concrete advice on how readers should proceed or work.In 2006 and 2007, Kiyosaki's Rich Dad seminars continued to promote real estate as a sound investment, just before their prices came crashing down.In 2010, Allan Roth of CBS News documented what occurred when he attended one of Rich Dad's free seminars and dissected some of the tactics employed. The Marketplace exposé on his seminars in Canada showed what occurred in $450 seminars through a hidden camera including Kiyosaki's response to them.
Books authored
References
External links
Media related to Robert Kiyosaki at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to Robert Kiyosaki at Wikiquote
Official website
Robert Kiyosaki at IMDb
