Rich Dad, Poor Dad, All Fake

Unless you've been under a rock the past 10 years, you've undoubtedly read, or at least heard about Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I read, and bought this book awhile back for my personal library. I still don't quite understand why I bought it, because unlike a similar book (The Millionaire Next Door) this book has few redeeming values that deem repeat reads necessary. It's packed full of "get money" cliches like "buy don't rent", "work for yourself, not others", "pay yourself first", etc. I can't really say I learned anything from the book since any knucklehead can deduce the proceeding info if they've got a shred of common sense.

Fast forward to a week ago, when I was at church playing a board game called Cashflow with some folks at church. The game is admittedly pretty interesting. It's like Monopoly, but with real life issues (having kids costs you money, you have to tithe, you can go bankrupt or have seemingly good investments go belly up) instead. I liked it, and considered getting myself a game of my own for the crib. I asked one of the other players at the table where to get it and how much it was. He said it's only available online, and it's $299.

Two Hundred Ninety Nine Dollars!!!!!?!?? For a board game? WTH?!?!?

"Man, it's worth it. This is by the guy who wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad", the guy proudly announced to me, as if he was up on some secret financial advice.

"How is a board game worth $300?" I asked, with a hint of cynicism.

"Man, it's real. It teaches you stuff." he replied, dismissively, as if I was somehow a moron for not being up in this. Since we were in the house of the Lord, I let it slide of course.

Still, I couldn't believe that these folks would drink the Kool Aid to that degree. A shallow $10 book is one thing. Spending $300 on a game that doesn't come with a Blu-Ray player is just plain ignorant. Spending $300 on a good financial advisor, or heck, 35 cents to read my girl Michelle Singletary is a better use of your money if you're really trying to learn something.

Being the thrifty dude I am, I search Ebay when I got home, and surprisingly, even used copies of the game were going for $150. Of course, by now, I'm thinking something in this whole scenario seems really fishy.

A few days ago, I hit you guys off with a story about an idiot named Casey Serin who attended a Rich Dad Poor Dad real estate seminar and ended up plunking down $10,000 for training, and subsequently ruined his life by falsifying loan documents and buying 10 homes that he either lost money on or had foreclosed. One link lead to another, and of course, I found out that Mr. Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, is a fraud.

Kiyosaki didn't make his money on real estate or convenience stores. He made it by creating a fictionalized account of his own life, and selling a fake "success story" to millions of idiots like me and you. The "Rich Dad" referred to in the book isn't even a real person. Kiyosaki was basically involved in a pyramid scheme, or Multi Level Marketing for the squeamish, which he used in concert with the book to create a fortune. Basically, 90% of the stuff in the book is not only falsified, it isn't even the way that he made his money, so why should it work for you?

Seriously, man, believe none of what you hear, half of what you see, and heck, maybe a quarter of what you read.