Book Review: Why We Want You To Be Rich

I picked up a copy of this book at Costco and I am thoroughly under whelmed after plodding through its 330 pages. It is very nice to know that in exchange for a mere $21.19, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kiyosaki want us to be rich beyond our wildest dreams but if you are looking for actual advice on how to really do it, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

This book is pretty thin on details though Mr Kiyosaki counsels entrepreneurship and investing in oil and gas, gold, silver, real estate, hedge funds, private equity and limited partnerships, precisely the things where you are competing with thousands of really smart people with deep pockets.

I just don’t understand Robert Kiyosaki. Here is a best-selling author and by all accounts a “guru” in very high demand trying hard to convince everyone that he is a brilliant investor (“my gold mine in China, my silver mine in South America, and my real estate companies and oil partnerships in the United States”). In page 50 of this latest book, for instance, is this tall claim:

In many ways that will be explained later in this book, both Donald and I can beat Warren’s rates of returns on investment. He may be richer, but we can get richer faster using our own methods and use less money.

You can put me in the sceptic column because Mr. Buffett’s rates of returns are public and included in the annual report of Berkshire Hathaway every year. We only have Mr. Kiyosaki’s word that he is a superior investor.

The bottom line is that you can safely skip this hagiography that Mr. Trump and Mr. Kiyosaki have penned for each other (Robert is great; Donald is a genius) and thank me for the time and money I have saved you.

Related: Jonathan Clements’ [Wall Street Journal] excellent review of the book.