Rich Dad Poor Dad was first published in 1997, and has racked up sales of 32 million copies in more than 51 languages. Endorsed by many celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, this book stayed on the New York Times bestsellers list for six years. This handcrafted summary of Rich Dad Poor Dad summarizes the six rules that the authors believe will help your money work for you, rather than the other way around. The summary captures a few of the fables that the authors recount as part of explaining the six rules.
Read Rules 2,3,4,5,6
Poor Dad versus Rich Dad The love of money is the root of all Versus "The lack of money is the root of all evil" I cannot afford it versus How can I afford it? Money does not matter versus Money is power study hard so you can find a good company to work for versus study hard you can find a good company to buy, One was my Poor Dad while the other was my Rich Dad.
How did I end up with two dads? One, obviously, was my biological father, who had worked hard all his life, given me a comfortable life and did not take much to the bank after paying his bills. The other dad, my friend Mike's dad, did not have as many degrees as my biological dad but made a lot more money. One was my Poor Dad, while the other was my Rich Dad. As a kid, when someone suggested that I should 'make money', I roped in my friend Mike, and we decided to melt down empty toothpaste tubes and make 'nickels' out of it. We took 'making money' way too literally. That is when we reached out to Mike's dad, who declared that he would teach us how to make money, but not in the classroom style.
Rule 1: The rich do not work for money On Mike's dad's suggestion, we started helping him at his office, running some errands. The pay was not much, just about enough to help us 9-year-olds buy some comic books. Soon, I was disillusioned enough to stand up and declare that I was 'quitting my job'. When Mike's dad met me, I told him how he was exploiting 9-year-olds. This is where Mike's dad, my Rich Dad, offered me his first lesson:
The poor work for money. The rich have money to work for them Most of us work for a monthly salary. We work hard and look forward to a pay hike. We pay our bills and grumble about how everyone around us needs to change, including our boss. We do not have 'enough' money, and we believe that our problems are because of others around us. The reality, however, might be that we ourselves are the problem, and we are the ones who need to change first, not the people around us. The salary becomes the focal point of our lives, and we begin working for money, rather than make money. Understanding that we all have the choice - to work for money or to have money work for us. People who work for money are caught in a trap that they are unaware of. This trap is the cycle of working very hard, earning a salary, looking forward to vacations, balancing bill payments, holding on to the illusion of job security and ultimately, looking forward to retirement.
Fear and greed lead us to the trap We get into this trap because of fear and greed. The fear of losing our jobs gets us into the rat race and the greed to buy more and more things, keeps us running in the rat race. The trap now becomes a never-ending reality. The fear of losing our jobs and therefore losing our source of money, makes us insecure, thereby letting money (or the fear of lack of it) control our emotions and our souls. What is important is to look deep and evaluate if a job is the best way to make money in the long run, and the answer, more often than not, is that any job is just a short-term solution to a long-term problem. The only way out of this fear-greed trap is to choose our thoughts. When we choose our thoughts, we are thinking rather than just responding to our emotions. Choosing our thoughts is asking 'Is there something that I am missing here?' instead of I deserve this raise. I took this lesson to heart, and Mike and I began a comic-book library. Though it lasted just three months, we were masters of our finances and not employees. More importantly, the comic book lending library generated money for Mike and me, even when we were not physically present in our library. Our money was working for us.
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