Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

fortune.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 92 posts

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#21

Post by raverbashing »

epolanski wrote: post #16

I think the guy is one of the biggest intellectual scammers out there. He wrote his famous book when working a normal 8 hour job and was nowhere near being wealthy. He wasn't a rich dad. Just a normal guy.

His ideas probably can be summed up in a couple of paragraphs and 99% of it is the basic stuff that anyone that doesn't torch their credit card every month does.

Yes rich dad buys a car within his means, poor dad finances the brand new truck and doesn't know what "9% APR" means but he's happy cause he can "afford it" (not).

But since the average financial literacy is very low and several people look for the loudest monkey in the room this guy got successful

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#22

Post by maigret »

LargeTomato wrote: post #13
zpeti wrote: post #6

I thought this was actually going to be an interesting article, about how he over leveraged himself and is now bankrupt, but no. It's a high profile person who is using debt to build a business. This is basically every business person in the USA, except Kiyosaki hit some magic number at $1bn. This is completely meaningless without knowing what his assets are worth. Probably more than $1bn. Yet again, it's proved to m…

Just block low tier news. I block verge, ars technica, fortune, etc.

What is high tier news?

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#23

Post by ProllyInfamous »

beAbU wrote: post #9

If you owe the bank $100k that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100M that's their problem.

If you owe the hospital $1,000 that's your problem. If you owe the hospital $100,000 that's their problem.

Medical debt is the #1 USA reason to personally declare bankruptcy... USA! USA!! USA!!!

[EDIT]: Despite this comment's unpopularity, this was how I first heard a similar quote, over a decade ago (in Medical School)...

so it remains posted =P

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#24

Post by ixaxaar »

How is this guy wrong in hedging against the declining dollar and rising price of commodities? At a time when all central banks are de-dollarizing and buying gold, wouldn't this be the perfect hedge?

I know for a fact that most fund managers (at least in India) have been converting as much as 10-20% of their portfolios into gold and other commodities.

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#25

Post by andrewstuart »

zpeti wrote: post #6

I thought this was actually going to be an interesting article, about how he over leveraged himself and is now bankrupt, but no. It's a high profile person who is using debt to build a business. This is basically every business person in the USA, except Kiyosaki hit some magic number at $1bn. This is completely meaningless without knowing what his assets are worth. Probably more than $1bn. Yet again, it's proved to m…

It’s true that without the full picture $1b in debt means zero.

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#26

Post by scotty79 »

rmbyrro wrote: post #17
scotty79 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Society is built from people producing economic output. That's a very idealistic image. People producing economic output are a not that large fraction of society. There are a lot of people in the society who are useless or harmful from the point of view of economic output. Military, advertising, retirees, children and full-time learners, significant fraction of bureaucrats and political class, successful rent seeke…

Isn't that a cynical view of society?

Doesn't mean it's wrong. Besides, it only sounds bad if you care about economic output and give it a moral value.

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#27

Post by Mo3 »

ixaxaar wrote: post #24

How is this guy wrong in hedging against the declining dollar and rising price of commodities? At a time when all central banks are de-dollarizing and buying gold, wouldn't this be the perfect hedge? I know for a fact that most fund managers (at least in India) have been converting as much as 10-20% of their portfolios into gold and other commodities.

He is in debt, in US dollars, to buy cash flow generating real assets like rental property. He is effectively shorting the US dollar, inflation corrodes the debt value and at the same time boosting the asset value.

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#28

Post by roenxi »

ixaxaar wrote: post #24

How is this guy wrong in hedging against the declining dollar and rising price of commodities? At a time when all central banks are de-dollarizing and buying gold, wouldn't this be the perfect hedge? I know for a fact that most fund managers (at least in India) have been converting as much as 10-20% of their portfolios into gold and other commodities.

US dollar debt overall is still selling, assuming that it all comes through treasury securities [0]. That is still a reasonable uptrend on the Grand Total line. Although China appears to be nope-ing out.

It is entering an interesting phase because it isn't immediately clear from the stats who is on the other side of the tax havens like Luxembourg, Ireland and the Caymans. Brave people, without a doubt. I'm cynically assuming retirement funds but not really putting any weight behind that wild stab.

[0] https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-cent...

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#29

Post by itsoktocry »

ixaxaar wrote: post #24

How is this guy wrong in hedging against the declining dollar and rising price of commodities? At a time when all central banks are de-dollarizing and buying gold, wouldn't this be the perfect hedge? I know for a fact that most fund managers (at least in India) have been converting as much as 10-20% of their portfolios into gold and other commodities.

>How is this guy wrong in hedging against the declining dollar and rising price of commodities? At a time when all central banks are de-dollarizing and buying gold, wouldn't this be the perfect hedge?

How could he be wrong about a strategy that bankrupted him? What does the market tell you? I see the DXY on an upward path for 20 years.

De-dollarization is overblown.

>I know for a fact that most fund managers (at least in India) have been converting as much as 10-20% of their portfolios into gold and other commodities.

10-20% of a basket of various commodities is a pretty standard allocation, if a bit high. It's certainly not some major defensive hedge.

Re: 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki reveals he's $1B in debt

#30

Post by mrkeen »

scotty79 wrote: post #14
mrkeen wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is that Kiyosaki's lifestyle is that of a parasite. Society is built from people producing economic output. But this guy just buys low, sells high, and uses other people's money to do so?

> Society is built from people producing economic output. That's a very idealistic image. People producing economic output are a not that large fraction of society. There are a lot of people in the society who are useless or harmful from the point of view of economic output. Military, advertising, retirees, children and full-time learners, significant fraction of bureaucrats and political class, successful rent seeke…

'Economic output' might be too specific a term for an outsider like me to wield accurately.

Elder care, child care, education, health, etc. are all services that benefit society. I don't mean to complain about people who need those services. The military and politicians have their roles too (though I bristle at 'policital class').

Post reply on HN