Robert Kiyosaki: Rich Dad? Poor Dad? Wha?

It was only ten in the morning when I first saw Robert Kiyosaki infomercials on how to become wealthy on one of the financial news stations; apparently, he’s coming to town to give some sort of motivational finance advice. It was the first time I’ve heard of him — usually these types of infomercials don’t really make an appearance until around two to three in the morning. The irony here was that if you bought into this, he’d be the one actually becoming wealthy and you… well…

What’s interesting about this is that the infomercial is not really any different from the ones late at night. It’s one of those “buy my this, that or another thing” — in this case, his Rich Dad, Poor Dad book series — “and I’ll show you the successful path to riches.” Meanwhile, you’ve purchased his stuff, and he’s the one making bank. There’s also criticism behind his books being more motivational than actual advice at how to go about doing things. Sounds a lot of positive-thinking without a lot of the financial advice.

Maybe this guy is for some people, but definitely not for me; call me crazy, but I’d sooner turn to Jim Cramer from Mad Money for financial advice. It might be a gamble, but I’m not buying Cramer’s book or any of his products when he dishes out what he does on CNBC. Instead, I’m taking financial advice from someone who both studies and has had experience in the markets, telling you what he thinks about the situation. It beats buying some book on telling me how to succeed by learning from failure — I already learned that one.