Rating: 3.8/5

This book was more motivational than technical, more focused on mindset than practicality. As a financially Illiterate individual that relies on her 9-5 job for financial stability, this made me think about a different way of life and how important financial management and education is to your overall wellbeing. I wouldn’t recommend this book for someone that is looking for advanced financial advice and guidance. I found the study guides repetitive; the book could have been shortened 50% while retaining all the important material.

Insights/Thoughts

• I think a lot of people will write this book off as fluff and not providing the technical how-to. I would argue that if you came in with the expectation that this book was going to teach you financial aptitude, you came in with the wrong assumption. The book was positioned more as a persuasive essay on WHY you should be financially literate and WHY education is important and WHY living in fear is not a solution to your problems. Kiyosaki suggests how the question “How can I afford it?” opens up possibilities, excitement, and dreams whereas “I can’t afford it” is an inflexible statement. Asking the right questions are more important than having the right answers (because frankly there is always more than one “right” answer)

• On Choosing what to think instead of reacting to our emotions – Oof this one hits different because I am quite emotional person naturally. What I have learned is to take a moment (or several hours) to come up with a response instead of responding right away; I almost always regret immediate reactions and make irrational decisions as a result.
• On acquiring assets that you love – this is an interesting one because I always categorized myself as someone that didn’t really care too much about money, yet I am in a job I don’t really like for the pay check and buy really expensive camera equipment that requires heavy funds. I think the problem is I don’t spend enough time on educating myself about passive income sources and when I do, I just follow the masses (i.e. stocks). I need to invest more time to learn about an asset that can make passive income.
• My latest ordeal involved having 50% of my bonus taxed away (twas disheartening, to say the least). It made me realize that working hard does not reward you in the end. The viscous cycle of making more, spending more, and paying more in tax is the rat race I don’t want to be part of. Financial aptitude in the book is described as “What you do with the money once you make it, how to keep people from taking it from you, how to keep It longer, and how to make that money work hard for you.” This is an ongoing goal I want to tack up on the wall for 2021 and beyond.
• On taking action – I think this goes back to fear. People don’t want to make mistakes because they perceive mistakes as embarrassing or shameful when in fact, mistakes are essential for you to learn and get better at what you do. Kiyosaki talks about making an offer anyways in case someone says yes. The whole process of putting yourself out there is a whole learning experience. You lose out on growing as a person if you don’t have the courage to participate.
• Some technical knowledge: “An asset puts money in my pocket. A liability takes money out of my pocket.” What I initially thought was an asset (my pre-construction condo) is a liability in disguise. Essentially, I need portfolio and passive income, which is $ that works for me. 
• On changing yourself – more of a continuous reminder than a new learning. The only variable I have control over is myself and so change starts with me first.

Favourite Quotes

Learn to use your emotions to think, not think with your emotions.
The moment you see one opportunity, you’ll see them for the rest of your life.

The illiterate of the 21st century will to be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn 

The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth.

There is always risk, so earn to manage risk instead of avoiding it.

We all have tremendous potential, and we all are blessed with gifts. Yet the one thing that holds all of us back is some degree of self-doubt. It is not so much the lack of technical information that holds us back, but more the lack of self-confidence.

Unless a person is used to changing, it’s hard to change

The world pushes people around, not because other people are bullies, but because the individual lacks internal control and discipline. People who lack internal fortitude often become victims of those who have self-discipline.

Remember, the easy road often becomes hard, and the hard road often becomes easy.