Book Review: Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens ,
By Robert Kiyosaki - $29.95 GST
Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens
Reviewed by Sue Tierney, Good Returns
As Robert Kiyosaki writes in his popular Rich Dad, Poor Dad book, the poor and the middle class work for their money, but the rich make their money work for them.
The book contains many of the anecdotes from his original version, with some of the ideas certainly appealing to a
younger audience. Kiyosaki has put a lot of thought into trying to relate to the teens and with his anecdotes uses
suggestions and needs relating to this age group.
He not only teaches the various options to earn an income, he talks about assets and liabilities and truly teaches the
vital difference between an asset and liability. He even goes so far as suggesting ways of not spending money, such as
learning to cook at home rather than purchase takeouts. If excellent habits can be taught to teens at this time of life,
they will certainly have an advantage.
Particular encouragement is given to family discussions around money and children learning to take an active part in
understanding the household spend. He discusses the value of creating family financial statements and everyone
understanding the financial affairs of the household. It also encourages them to seek work, and learn what a workday is
like. In today’s world many teenagers are already active in the work force in part time employment with large
corporations and franchises such as McDonalds, however Kiyosaki does encourage them to be self employed instead, not
only for their initial part time job, but for their future career.
He also encourages the reader to go back to the basics and set up piggy banks for various goals such as Charity, Savings
and Investments. Whilst this may seem very childish my experience in banking has taught me that this habit is still
alive and kicking. The number of adults that use their piggy bank to purchase Xmas presents or other goals is
astounding.
In many ways sections of the book could be considered more self help, because they focus on personal development.
Sections that it covered are:
Challenging your
Attitudes. There is a small paragraph on providing quiet time to free your mind and simply think. Kiyosaki adds that an excellent
time to do this, is when you are completing mundane jobs but with the right attitude repetitive jobs can be a perfect
time to reflect. I believe this to be an excellent point, and in my limited experience with teenagers getting some of
them to help with mundane household tasks can certainly be a challenge. So maybe this is a time that you can introduce
and use some of his ideas.
Mentors. Also instilling the idea of finding a mentor or one on one coach. Having a mentor is possibly something that many of us
do unconsciously but by making the reader aware of it, they can then actually strategize and plan making the most of the
valuable time that they will have with their mentor.
Choices in life. He reminds us that we do all have choices. The choice to build up credit card debt or repay in full every month.
Choosing our friends and mentors, and the people we spend a lot of time with. All excellent points
The book is exactly as I would expect from Kiyosaki and he does not disappoint the reader. It is a simple read and could
serve as a smaller version reference guide every now and then, to remind us to reconsider our spending and investment
habits, without the need to reread his flagship book Rich Dad Poor Dad.
I would encourage you to purchase this book and provide it as a gift to any teenager you know who may be about to take
out a student loan. It may well be the best gift you could ever give them.
To buy your copy of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens’ priced at $29.95 incl. GST from the Good Returns Bookstore click here.