The author grew up in Hawaii with two father figures. His own father, “Poor Dad”, was a highly educated government education official who still struggled with money. His best friend Mike’s father, “Rich Dad”, left school early yet built a successful business empire.

Both men worked hard, but they thought about money in opposite ways. Poor Dad said, “I can’t afford it.” Rich Dad asked, “How can I afford it?” The book argues that this small difference in thinking, repeated for decades, decides who gains financial freedom.

Young Robert and Mike asked Rich Dad to teach them how to become rich. He offered them a tiny hourly wage, and after a few weeks of work they felt cheated. That was his point: most people work for a paycheck, then feel they need more, and stay trapped in the “rat race” of earning and spending.

Two emotions drive that trap: fear (of not paying the bills) and desire (for a bigger house or car). The rich, by contrast, make their money work for them instead of working only for money.

This is the heart of the book. An asset puts money in your pocket; a liability takes money out. The rich keep buying assets such as businesses, rental property, stocks and bonds. The middle class often buys liabilities, such as a big house or a new car, and calls them assets.

Kiyosaki says people should learn to read their income statement and balance sheet. The key habit: watch where your cash actually flows each month, and keep growing the asset column.

Your “business” is not your job; it is your asset column. Rich Dad’s example is McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, whose real business was owning real estate, not selling burgers.

The advice is not to quit your job. Keep the job, but use part of every paycheck to buy assets, and “pay yourself first” before the bills and the bank.

Employees are taxed first and live on what remains. Business owners can spend through a legal company structure first, and are taxed on what is left. Rich Dad calls this a lesson in financial intelligence and legal protection, not a way to cheat.

Financial intelligence is built from four skills: accounting, investing, understanding markets, and law. With them, you can spot deals others miss and create opportunities with little of your own money.

The author shares his own real estate deals as proof. His point: opportunities are everywhere, but fear and the habit of playing safe stop most people from seeing them. The solution is education and practice.

Schools train us to specialise in one field. Rich Dad advised building a wider skill set: sales, marketing, communication, leadership and managing money. The author took a sales job at Xerox mainly to overcome his shyness, accepting a lower income now for greater skills later.

Choose a job for what it teaches you, not only for the salary.

Five obstacles

Fear of losing money, cynicism, laziness, bad habits and arrogance. Kiyosaki says everyone feels fear; the winners act despite it, and treat losing as tuition.

Getting started

Find a purpose stronger than your excuses. Choose carefully who you spend time with. Learn one investing method well before the next. Pay yourself first. Keep your investments liquid enough to recover your original money. Use income from assets to buy luxuries. And learn by teaching others.

The book is easy to read and changes how you think about money. Students, young professionals and first-time earners will gain the most. Critics note that it gives few step-by-step instructions, that it is built around US examples, and that some stories cannot be verified. Treat it as a mindset book, then study your local laws and markets before investing.