Rich Dad Poor Dad summary

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Robert Kiyosaki

Some value given

Assets put money in your pocket and liabilities take money out. By that test, plenty of things people call assets are liabilities.
The poor dad worked for money. The rich dad taught that money should work for you.
Pay yourself first: set money aside for building assets before the bills and spending eat it.
Learn how money works, like basic accounting, investing and taxes, because school rarely teaches it.
Early on, take jobs for what they teach you, like sales and managing people, as much as for what they pay.

What do rich parents teach their kids about money that others don't?

Stop measuring yourself by your paycheck. Buy things that pay you, avoid things that drain you, and learn how money actually works.

Worth reading?Some value given. A short, motivating story about thinking like an owner. The core lesson sticks, and many of the specific money moves in it have aged badly.

ActionableWhat readers say

Actionable

List what you own and mark each item as something that pays you or something that costs you each month.
Set up an automatic transfer the day you get paid, before you spend anything.
Pick one money skill you've avoided, like reading a pay stub or a tax form, and learn it this week.

What readers say

Readers who picked it up young, with nobody around them who understood money, often say the assets versus liabilities lesson alone was worth it.
The most common complaint: it's motivation with very little how-to, and every chapter seems to promise a plan that never arrives.
Many readers flag the specific examples, like penny stocks, flipping foreclosures, tax liens and joining a multi-level marketing company to learn sales, as poor advice for most people.
Several point out it came out in the late 1990s, when real estate looked very different, and the author's own business record is mixed.

Quick answer

Our summary of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, in our own words.

What 125x is: 125x is a web app at 125x.app. You connect your YouTube subscriptions, and it gives you a feed of the latest videos from the channels you follow, each with a summary: a verdict, the 5 key takeaways, and the spoiler, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips. You read that and decide what's actually worth opening.

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Who it's for

Teens and beginners who grew up with no one talking about money, and anyone who has only ever thought about a paycheck.

Tips from readers, plus one of ours

Take the core idea and leave the deals. Readers who got the most out of it kept the assets versus liabilities lesson and ignored the specific investments.
Pair it with a practical book. Readers suggest following it with a beginner guide to budgeting or index investing, since this one gives the why more than the how.
Give it to a teenager. Several readers say it landed hardest when they read it young, before they had habits to unlearn.
Agree or disagree: one reader said the book has no actionable material at all. We disagree. Sorting your own spending into what pays you and what costs you takes an hour, and most people have never done it.
Our unusual tip: print last month's bank statement and use two highlighters. One color for money that came from something you own or built, one for money that went to something that will keep costing you. The ratio of the two colors is your own Rich Dad report card.

About this summary

This summary follows the same shape as a 125x summary: a verdict, 5 takeaways, and an Actionable section. 125x is a web app that does this for the latest videos from the YouTube channels you follow, with a verdict, 5 takeaways, the spoiler, and Actionable and Lessons tabs. The spoiler is the answer to the title, the same thing 125x gives you for clickbait video titles. More in book summaries.

FAQ: questions people ask

What is Rich Dad Poor Dad about?

Assets put money in your pocket and liabilities take money out. By that test, plenty of things people call assets are liabilities.

The poor dad worked for money. The rich dad taught that money should work for you.

Is Rich Dad Poor Dad worth reading?

Our verdict is some value given. A short, motivating story about thinking like an owner. The core lesson sticks, and many of the specific money moves in it have aged badly.

Who should read Rich Dad Poor Dad?