Robert Kiyosaki has tried to turn his latest book launch into an viral event by having chapter by chapter released online and inviting comments from readers. The end result will be a hardcopy of the book “Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money” [Update: the book is now available.]
Judging by the growing flow of traffic to his www.ConspiracyOfTheRich.com website and the comments from readers, it has not set the world on fire, but it has worked reasonably well.
But there is another reason that I want to review this book. I am, in fact, a ‘raving fan’ / ‘advocate’ etc etc for Kiyosaki’s message.
Robert Kiyosaki is most well-known as the author of the best-selling book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. Ever since that book in 1997 he, and his collaborators, have just kept the publications coming.
The controversy he has created over the years has mostly focused on his views that “your house is not an asset” (instead it is a liability because it takes money from your pocket) and that mutual funds are not safe investments.
You might say that by 2009 his views have, at least in part, been proven correct.
Kiyosaki was also controversial when in 2002 he came out with “Rich Dad’s Prophecy” predicting a stock market crash. His claim that the demographics of the Baby Boomer generation would lead to a huge crash in the stock market as they stopped working and started living off their investments, was for 2010 and beyond so this claim is still untested.
But “Conspiracy of the Rich” is his strongest statement yet.
From the Introduction title: “The Root of All Evil”, to the later section on “Hijacking of the Education System”, to comparing the US to wartime Vietnam or the shanty towns of Cape Town in South Africa, Kiyosaki is at his most vivid and scathing.
“Today, those who have a strong financial education have an unfair advantage over those who do not.”
As always Kiyosaki talks in very general terms, using stories, and metaphors (eg the fairy tale of the big bad wolf blowing the pig’s houses down). He also references entire segments from his previous books. In fact every one of his ‘8 new rules’ can be found in his previous books.
However this book also has more hard and current facts, and more solid predictions/warnings than ever before.
For example in Chapter 10 he lays out exactly why the financial system seems to be stable at the moment after all the recent chaos. The graph he includes shows that rather than “green shoots”, we are merely in the eye of the hurricane, and that Lehman Brothers etc or worse is set to happen all over again within the next 2 years.
In chapter 12 he all but predicts that the US stockmarket’s low on the Dow of 6,547 is not the bottom, and that there is still much lower to go.
In all of Kiyosaki’s books there is a sustained criticism that he is very repetitive. There is alot of covering the same ground that’s for sure.
But a couple of month’s ago I went back and re-read Cashflow Quadrant and was amazed at how much I found in there that I do not even recall from all those years ago when I first read it.
Personally I have ended up following much of Kiyosaki’s path to wealth. I’d like to say it’s because I’ve followed his advice, but in fact it’s more because my own experiences have agreed again and again with his messages.
If you just want the guts of “Conspiracy of the Rich” you can read the final Chapter 12 “If I Ran The School System”, but there are enough juicy stories and pieces in the rest of the book to make it much more satisfying to read it all through.
If you are familiar with Kiyosaki’s main books, and you understand Fractional Reserve banking, fiat currency and the notion that the the Federal Reserve is “not federal or American, it has no reserves, and it is not a bank” then you can glean the few extra nuggets and be done fairly quickly.
If you are new to Kiyosaki, or have not come across Austrian economics (a term never used in the book) then you are in for both a treat, and a work out. More than any other of his books this one covers alot of territory for the newcomer. It is also one of his most in de.pth books about money and financial literacy and deserves to be read widely
Kiyosaki has gone out on a limb with this book, but history has backed up his claims so far and that makes him worth heeding.
I have been reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books for about a decade, and have read all the way back to his “If You Want To Be Rich And Happy, Don’t Go To School?” (the question mark there is important.)
Now in “Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money” Robert has laid his reputation on the line.
Personally I wouldn’t want to be living without this knowledge for my future.
Note: To read the book online before it finds it’s way into bookstores you can sign-up at www.ConspiracyoftheRich.com. But July 14 will be the LAST day to complete reading the book there.
You can leave your own thoughts on this review or on Kiyosaki’s book, in the comments section below.
[Update: the book has become a best-seller and is available as a paperback physical copy.]
-Martin Russell
