Robert Kiyosaki Biography

Robert Kiyosaki (Robert Toru Kiyosaki) is an American businessman and author. He is the founder of Rich Global LLC and the Rich Dad Company, a private financial education company that provides personal finance and business education to people through books and videos.

The company’s main revenues come from franchisees of the Rich Dad seminars that are conducted by independent people using Kiyosaki’s brand name for a fee. Kiyosaki is also the creator of the Cashflow board and software games to educate adults and children business and financial concepts.

His seminars in the US and Canada are conducted in collaboration with a company called Whitney Information Network and are contracted out to local companies as franchisees in other countries. However, some attendees have sued him on claims that his high-priced seminars did not deliver anything special.

Robert Kiyosaki is the author of more than 26 books, including the international self-published personal finance Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books which has been translated into 51 languages and sold over 27 million copies worldwide.

Kiyosaki has been criticized for advocating the practices of debatable legality perceived as “get rich quick” philosophy. He is the subject of a class action suit against him by people who attended his seminars and has been the subject of two investigative documentaries by CBC Canada and WTAE USA. His company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Robert Kiyosaki Age

Kiyosaki was born on 8 April 1947 in Hilo, Hawaii, United States. He is 75 years old as of 2022.

Robert Kiyosaki Height

Kiyosaki stands at an estimated height of 5 feet 10 inches tall.

Robert Kiyosaki Family

A part of the Yonsei generation of Japanese Americans, Kiyosaki was the eldest son of Ralph H. Kiyosaki (1919–1991), an academic and educator, and Marjorie O. Kiyosaki (1921–1971), a registered nurse. He has three siblings – sisters Emi and Beth, and his brother John.

Robert Kiyosaki Wife

Kiyosaki is married to Kim Kiyosaki since 1986. Since 1994, they have lived in Phoenix, Arizona. There is no much information about his wife or whether they have any children.

Robert Kiyosaki Net Worth

Kiyosaki has an estimated net worth of $80 million dollars. As per an interview with Forbes, his main earnings come through franchisees of the Rich Dad seminars.

Robert Kiyosaki Salary

Kiyosaki earns an estimated salary of about $$10000 to $50000 annually.

Robert Kiyosaki Education

Kiyosaki attended Hilo High School and graduated in 1965. Most information on his comes from speeches and talks he has made of his life. As per Kiyosaki, he received congressional nominations from Senator Daniel K. Inouye for the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

Kiyosaki attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy in New York and graduated in 1969 as a deck officer with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Marine Corps.

After graduating from college, he took a job with Standard Oil’s tanker office as a third mate. He resigned after six months to join the Marine Corps, serving as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War in 1972, where he was awarded an Air Medal.

As per Kiyosaki, he enrolled in a two-year MBA program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo in 1973 while he still was in the military. In June 1974, he was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps.

Robert Kiyosaki Career

Kiyosaki took a job as a sales associate for Xerox until June 1978. In 1974, he attended the Erhard EST seminars, which he says changed his life.

In 1977, Kiyosaki started a company called “Rippers”. The company brought to market the first nylon and velcro surfer wallets. Kiyosaki and his products were featured in Runner’s World, Gentleman’s Quarterly, Newsweek, Success Magazine, and Playboy. The company eventually went bankrupt.

Kiyosaki then started a retail business that made T-shirts, wallets, hats, and bags for heavy metal rock bands. In 1980, the company went bankrupt.

In 1985, he cofounded the Excellerated Learning Institute, a business education company teaching entrepreneurship, investing, and social responsibility. Around this time, Kiyosaki married his second wife, Kim, who had already invested in some real estate in Phoenix. In 1994, Kiyosaki sold the education company.

In 1992, he published his first book, If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don’t Go To School. In his book, Kiyosaki encouraged parents not to send their children to college and instead to enter the real estate business.

In 1997, he launched Cashflow Technologies, Inc., a business and financial education company that owns and operates the Rich Dad and Cashflow brands. He partnered with Amway to promote his book.

Robert Kiyosaki Other Business Ventures and Investments

Robert Kiyosaki’s earlier two businesses (for surfing bags with Velcro fasteners and T-shirts) went bankrupt. Subsequently, Kiyosaki set up a company for financial and real estate education that initially performed better, with a main business model of high priced seminars (ranging from $12,000 to $50,000 per head).

In an interview with CBC, he described his books as an advertisement for his higher priced seminars. In 2012, his company “Rich Global LLC” filed for bankruptcy.

Kiyosaki operates other external business ventures and investments. Many are concentrated in the information technology (mobile apps and internet), retail, publishing, education, energy, mining, financial market, and real estate industries. He asserts that he makes two million USD in cash flow per month tax free from all his businesses and investments.

Kiyosaki owns over 1400 units of apartment houses and has been involved with commercial real estate sector such as investing in warehouses, Triple net lease and real estate development ventures around the United States.

During the subprime mortgage crisis in the late 2000s, he invested heavily having acquired nearly 40% of his 2015 portfolio of distressed properties during the downturn.

In May 2016, he stated he controls over 10,000 apartment units producing over one million dollars in cash flow every month.

Since the late 1990s, Kiyosaki has been in the oil business. He owns a number of oil drilling operations and oil wells in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. In 2013, he invested in three new oil wells at a 10 percent stake. In late 2015, Kiyosaki amassed a portfolio of 400 privately controlled oil wells.

Robert Kiyosaki Business and Financial Advice

Robert Kiyosaki operates through a number of companies that he owns fully or in part, and through franchisee arrangements with other companies authorized to use his name for a fee. This includes Whitney Information Network, Rich Dad LLC, Rich Dad Education and Rich Dad Academy.

His financial and business teachings focus on what he calls “financial education”: generating passive income by focusing on business and investment opportunities, such as businesses, real estate investments, stocks and commodities, with the goal of being able to support oneself by such investments alone and thus achieving true financial independence.

Kiyosaki uses the term “assets” for things that put money in one’s pocket. He states that assets generate cash inflow, such as stock dividends, rental income from properties, or income from businesses.

Kiyosaki defines “liabilities” as things that devour cash out of one’s pocket, such as one’s personal residence, car loans, consumer loans, credit card payments, and student loans. He argues that financial leverage is crucial in becoming rich despite the risks from utilizing leverage to achieve financial independence.

Kiyosaki stresses the importance of building up an asset first to fund one’s liabilities instead of saving cash or relying on a salary from a traditional job.

Robert Kiyosaki Books

• If You Want to Be Rich & Happy: Don’t Go to School?: Ensuring Lifetime Security for Yourself and Your Children (1992).
• Rich Dad Poor Dad – What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money – That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (first published in 1997) Warner Business Books.
• Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom (2000).
• Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! (2000).
• The Business School for People Who Like Helping People (March 2001).
• Rich Dad’s Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart (2001).
• Rich Dad’s Retire Young, Retire Rich (2002).
• Rich Dad’s Prophecy: Why the Biggest Stock Market Crash in History Is Still Coming… and How You Can Prepare Yourself and Profit from It! (2002). Warner Books.
• Rich Dad’s The Business School: For People Who Like Helping People (2003)
• Rich Dad’s Success Stories (2003)
• You Can Choose to be Rich (2003) 12-CD Audio series with three books.
• Rich Dad’s Who Took My Money?: Why Slow Investors Lose and Fast Money Wins! (2004)
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets About Money – That You Don’t Learn in School! (2004)
• Rich Dad’s Before You Quit Your Job: 10 Real-Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion-Dollar Business (2005).
• Rich Dad’s Escape from the Rat Race – Comic for children (2005)
• Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message (2006) co-written with Donald J. Trump.
• Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money (2008).
• Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money (2009).
• Rich Dad’s Rich Brother Rich Sister (2009) co-written with Emi Kiyosaki
• The Real Book of Real Estate: Real Experts. Real Stories. Real Life. (2009).
• An Unfair Advantage: The Power of Financial Education (2011).
• Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich And Why Most Don’t (2011), co-written with Donald J. Trump.
• Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘C’ Students and Why ‘B’ Students Work for the Government: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Education for Parents (2013).
• The Business of the 21st Century (2014), co-written with John Fleming and Kim Kiyosaki.
• Second Chance: for Your Money, Your Life and Our World (2015).
• 8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs: How Military Values and Experience Can Shape Business and Life (2015).
• Why the Rich Are Getting Richer (2017).

Robert Kiyosaki Dollar Cash

Kiyosaki gave his prediction that the US Dollar would crash in a few months and suggested that people should convert to bitcoin.

Robert Kiyosaki Podcast

Kiyosaki has a podcast called The Rich Dad Radio Show where he offers advice on personal finance, investing, and business.