Robert T Kiyosaki

born April 8, 1947 is a Hawaiian born author and motivational speaker. He studied at the New York U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, joined the Marine Corps and fought in the Vietnam war. Kiyosaki has risen to fame as a motivational author and speaker in the areas of personal finance, real estate, investing and business. His Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books have sold millions of copies worldwide and through his education programs he is reaching thousands of students with his financial messages.

Kiyosaki was born and raised in Hawaii of Japanese / American parents. After moving to New York and graduating from college, Kiyosaki enlisted in the Marine Corps. He become an officer and helicopter gun pilot, serving time in the Vietnam war. Upon his return Kiyosaki worked as a salesman for the Xerox printing and photocopying company.

His first success in the business world came with a company he started in 1977. Kiyosaki's company was importing nylon and Velcro wallets that went on to become associated with surfers, earning them the title of "surfer wallets" and making Kiyosaki good profits.

Eventually Kiyosaki went on to become an educator in the areas of business and finance. In the mid eighties he established an educational company where students worldwide could learn about his financial philosophies.

Kiyosaki developed a board game to educate people financially, while at the same time remaining entertaining. The Cashflow 101 board game went on to become very successful for Kiyosaki. Cashflow 101 is now also available online, where players are able to learn the basics of investing and personal finance.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Robert Kiyosaki's real success came with a series of books based on the rich dad and poor dad characters. Kiyosaki writes the books in an entertaining method where financial novices can remain entertained and at the same time learn his personal finance theories. The rich dad, poor dad characters are fictional people, loosely based on people in Kiyosaki's life. Basically, poor dad is the man that goes to work hard for his money in a government job, just getting by each week, paying the bills and feeding the family. Eventually going on to retire poor and unhappy. Rich dad is more of a risk taker and uses his money to invest in real estate and businesses, eventually leading to an abundance of financial wealth where he retires early with a large fortune.

The Rich Dad, Poor Dad series consists of more than 8 books based on themes of investing, real estate, personal finance and business motivation. Many of them have gone on to become best sellers in their genre with the most popular (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) selling more than 17 million copies.

Kiyosaki Critics
Robert Kiyosaki has created a loyal group of many followers world wide with his financial philosophies, but there are also critics of his teachings. Some critics have accused Kiyosaki of giving novice investors false hope and encouraging them to make financially risky investment decisions, especially in the areas of real estate.

Summary
Kiyosaki briefly retired at the age 47 in 1994. He remains involved with the Rich Dad educational company, aiming to spread his financial literacy message worldwide. Other founding members of the educational group include his Wife Kim Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechture, CPA (co-author of the popular Rich Dad, Poor Dad book).