I’m talking about Robert Kiyosaki — the author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series — and his 
great boardgame, Cashflow 101. You can still buy this game from his own site and from Amazon.
I remember going to a couple of Cashflow 101 games when I was an undergrad. There were about 7 or 8 of us, I was the only student, and it would take only a couple of hours before someone made it out of the rat race. It was fun, a little inspiring. I was about to organize a Cashflow group on my own, and even went to buy the Cashflow game once myself – the first time my order was misplaced, but then I never got around to trying to fix it and put the order back in again. Probably because I just didn’t have enough left on my Mastercard at the time!
These days it seems some investors are not as impressed with Kiyosaki as they were four years ago. For whatever reasons, some don’t agree with all of his basic ideas – some people aren’t interested in real estate – some don’t think the quest for wealth should occupy centre stage in the same way as it does for Kiyosaki. What about you? Did you ever read any of the Rich Dad books? Why/ why not? It seems that sooner or later, investors always try to come to terms with Rich Dad:). It shows that Rich Dad, Poor Dad has become a classic just like Malkiel’s Random Walk Down Wall Street. I would spend a few afternoons in the public library devouring his book, taking notes on it, and coming back to finish it all up.
I’ve read many different kinds of finance and investment books, but I think that what Rich Dad did for me was make the whole wealthbuilding process intelligible. (This might not be saying alot, since I know the book was written in an overly simplistic format:).) What I mean is that I got that “a-ha” feeling: when you finally figure something out, or when the bigger picture clicks. I think I was able to see a road map of some sort after reading the first five books in his series. But I haven’t kept up with all the books that he writes with his partners or which his colleagues write under the Rich Dad brand.
It would be great to hear from other Kiyosaki fans. Have you gone to any of his lectures? Do you still play Cashflow 101 or 201 or participate on any of the RichDad forums? The game is expensive, but I remember it being well worth it.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I like the basic ideas that Kiyosaki presents, that cash flow is very important even more important than the amount of assets you have.
The thing that I don’t like about him is that he never followed his own advice. He is rich because of book sales, but not from real estate/stock investing.
Hi,
Nice blog, you put together here !
I have played Cashflow 101 and also Cashflow e-game version quite a few times. Like most people I assume, I discovered the game through “rich dad poor dad” which opened my eyes about money ;).
A few years ago, I even created a website dedicated to the cashflow games @ ratrace-players.com . Now there is around 390 persons registered as players or willing to play with someone in their area (because the game is expensive…).
I think this game is so unique that it will stay popular for a long time.
We host Cashflow 101 game play weekly. We have found that people’s behavior has changed in the game play. People had been leveraging debt or creating partnerships to particpate in the opportunities.
Today we have found that everyone gets rid of their debt first and like to take opportunity of investments on their own. We have also seen less people taking advantage of the stock market opportunities.
Our take on this is that people don’t want debt any more, they have been burned in the stock market and real estate deals done wth others have gone south. There have been a lot of bad real estate transactions because people did not want to miss out. The irony is that now is the time to be buying real estate. Too bad most people don’t have the cash to do it.
The Cost Reduction Guru
Hi, I have started playing Cashflow 101 and have since gone onto the digital version. I prefer the digita version cos you get to play with differnt players online and there is no need to wait till everyone is available to play anymore.
Creates many AHA moments for me and one of which is that anyone can start with small deals to improve your cash flow and eventuallt tade in small deals to get greater cashflow by investing in larger assets.
Hi Penny. Thanks, I didn’t know there was a digital version now – at least, if I’ve come across it I don’t remember. It is pretty exciting when you learn how to work your way up… now if only real life was like that, where you just got your salary each year and didn’t have to work for it. You could easily sit around and invest – it’d be great!:)