i've read some of the books in the series. they make for interesting reading
but from the nigerian perspective , i dont find them too practical.

buy real estate :
how cheap is real estate in nigeria?! .
it takes some people a life saving to afford one property.

the mortgage industry in nigeria doesnt favor the poor.

houses and land are so out of reach here (talking abuja prices)
that majority of the work force of this city reside in the ghetto
areas.
just try to take a bus back home after closing hours- 90% of abuja
lives in mararaba,masaka,nyanya,karu,etc . why?-
because of house rent.


high land prices very poor wages. how do these folks meet up.
and buy land when their salaries are sometimes as low as 10k/month.
or levels of at 18 - 25k/month. this explains why every body wants a bank job or parastal or multinational job.

going by the wage level. capitalism is such a vehicle that dooms many to poverty.
e.g
if you'r stuck on a job and can't change jobs due to obvious factors (age, education, responsibilities), then your salary is the determinant of your level of cashflow . and many many jobs pay way too
low for most folks to be able to beat the rising cost of living .
on the other hand prices of everything is making their take home pay
nonsense.
e.g
transportation , school fees, house rent, clothing, food . u name it all prices are rising to make savings impossible.
how does rich dad poor dads book help out here?
i say , he wrote the book for people in the american economy which is so robust that every body doesnt need to have a college education to
make a good income.
e.g
if a person earning 20K$ / year there is deemed poor.
but a new car can be bought for 25k$ - so he's take home pay is roughly able to get him a new car in 2 years without resorting to
credit loans.
infact one the problems he highlighted in the book as being the
cause of financial hardship for americans is related to their lack
of financial discipline not really the cashflow issue.
e.g somebody going out to buy new car when bored,or buying a new house every 2 years. abuse credit card debts etc.
if nigerians had such opportunities, they wont need anybody to tell
them how to manage.
true, some people in nigeria earn above average but what percentage.
most of the nigerian work force are poor. even N1m/year in salary is
worthless if you've got a family and responsibilities.

in nigeria - the poor - say N300 k / year can't afford a new car (at N4m) in 10 years !!! so see the difference.

In nigeria the policy is for the rich to use the poor.
woe betide you if you end up working in family business or private concern.
the book is not for africans - not by a long margin.

"impract-i-cable" books sold to gullible nigerians day dreaming of hard to see dollars.

I don't agree with you though. Maybe different, the idea in the book is building wealth using real estate. I grew up in Abuja, relocated in 1990. I have seen poor people you talk about build houses (okada riders, civil servants). Those houses in Nyanya or Kubwa were built by them. We don't have a functional mortgage system in Nigeria but with good planning and new developments you can grow using real estate even if its an i-house lol. Start small and gradually you will move from Kubwa to Maitama.

I think the OP is assuming wealth can only be acquired by working as an employee.

Not all the points raised in that book can work in Nigeria I agree.

kambo:

"impract-i-cable" books sold to gullible nigerians day dreaming of hard to see dollars.

lol you should see the way Nigerians were rushing the book. . . well we like the latest craze everybody do follow follow

then there was blue ocean strategy, then forex, then this that we jump on any bandwagon going!!

the book is not for Africans - not by a long margin.

That book may be impractical to you but it has changed my life. You just need to read it with an open mind because it encompasses business, money, personal finance and investing. Now with respect to real estate, do you know that banks lend money to real estate investors in Nigeria? Take a look at Mowe, Ofada and Ibafon area between Lagos and Ogun state, do you think those estates were built with salaries? Those estates were built by private investors with loans from banks and equity from institutional investors. The problem lies not in the book, the problem lies with you; you have a poor mindset. Period.

@OP,
The book is good, and there are a lot of practical lessons to be learned there. In my opinion, it's very applicable in Nigeria.
Just like housing is not affordable to the masses here, it's also not affordable to the masses in America. Do you think everybody owns a house there?
I think the major points emphasized are what you need to focus on, stuff like:
- You can never get rich from earning a salary in most cases. Kiyosaki even used his dad as an example, who worked and got to the highest level of his profession, but died in debt.
- The key to getting rich is understanding how money works, i.e. cash flow. Same applies in Nigeria.
-Every market has its own dynamics. Kiyosaki used real estate examples. The same applies to people who have speculated on stocks in Nigeria, and made millions. I know a lot of people who did that. Yes, the stock market is dead, but so is the real estate market in America.

Essentially I think you need to focus on the fundamentals, and look at what you can apply to your own life. For me the book only confirmed my thoughts about how money works: it's essentially the same as we learned in secondary-school economics.

AjanleKoko:

@OP,
The book is good, and there are a lot of practical lessons to be learned there. In my opinion, it's very applicable in Nigeria.
Just like housing is not affordable to the masses here, it's also not affordable to the masses in America. Do you think everybody owns a house there?
I think the major points emphasized are what you need to focus on, stuff like:
- You can never get rich from earning a salary in most cases. Kiyosaki even used his dad as an example, who worked and got to the highest level of his profession, but died in debt.
- The key to getting rich is understanding how money works, i.e. cash flow. Same applies in Nigeria.
-Every market has its own dynamics. Kiyosaki used real estate examples. The same applies to people who have speculated on stocks in Nigeria, and made millions. I know a lot of people who did that. Yes, the stock market is dead, but so is the real estate market in America.

Essentially I think you need to focus on the fundamentals, and look at what you can apply to your own life. For me the book only confirmed my thoughts about how money works: it's essentially the same as we learned in secondary-school economics.

bros uve spoken my mind, I had always suspected there's a game on as far as money was concerned and reading his books was my "aha" moment. It doesn't teach "WHAT TO DO" to make money, more of "HOW TO THINK" to  make money- principles not
specifics.

I agree completely with kiyosaki on the need to revamp education, imho a decent start wd be to make basic law accounts and economics compulsory regardless of your course of study.

When i read a book, one thing i have at the back of my mind is to sieve through the information.
I don't take everything in hook, line and sinker. I have read the book and i have learnt a lot from it.
I agree that some of the tactics will not work in the Nigerian economy, but we need to know that nobody will draw up a money making map for you.

Bottom line is when you read, learn from it, and let the information you don't find useful at that time sink to the background.
You never know when they will come in handy. No knowledge is useless.

By the way, not everyone depends on their monthly salary. I have a fab job and i still have a little business by the side.
Like my mum will say "eni ti ko mo bi awon egbe se la, oma sare ku ni" (roughly interpreted as- if you don't know how your peers excel, you will find yourself running an endless race)

read my post carefully.
i said "impractical" not useless , its impractical in the nigerian context and no i wasnt
drunk when i wrote this post.

visit a bookstand - do you buy books a lot? i bet you go for foreign authors?
why?
they are more qualitative in their writing etc.
just one of those colonial indoctrination talking.

i put it here that nigerians have sth wrong with their self perception.

if kiyosaki were a nigerian would so many copies of his book have sold

i'm not being racial. i've read his book and done some thinking.

you buy real estate on the doorstep of a foreclosure - process takes an hour.
what he doesnt directly say is that the american system is so well organized
that a transaction of such nature culd b concluded in so short at time.

that ,i say is not the nigerian context, its the american,japanese,british context.
we read the words but dont see the hints. that economy is super efficient.
and the super efficient legal,accounting,information system CREATES more wealth
for its citizens than could be possible for any one in a languishing system like ours!!!

so while a nigerian may read and drool about how kiyosaki came out of debt in 8 years , sorry guy , in nigeria it may take longer. far longer.

2.) kiyosaki went on a buying spree when the prices of real estate was declining,
have you read his book - he was buying houses like bread.

this was a guy that was homeless and broke not too long ago.

try that in naija.

sorry , it just doesnt fit.

the poster mentioning civil servants - i get your vibes , they say they have houses,
of courses, eventually many people build houses for themselves , they scrapped
a living to build one but i can tell you their houses are typically
what you can build by scraping along.

I don't have a poor mentallity , i just speak the facts -
in a town where sb earns N15 - 50k, on a job. i mean the low earners.
where do you buy land buy house buy up houses in a declining market?
such a fellow picks up kiyosaki's book where the poor earn 10 k dollars.
and the problem with americans is buying a new car every year - guy
that's a different reality.

fact b said, the principles are sound but
its really out of context for all nigerians.
maybe the others on the polar extremes , who are earning well ,say over 100k/year
or 10k dollars / year then they could begin puttin this book into practice.
but for those earning poorly, sorry.

@Kambo
Maybe the book did not work for you. Even in America, there are so many people who find fault with Kiyosaki's style but hey it worked for him and has worked for many others. He made his wealth from Real estate but the book goes beyond that, its more about not settling for civil servant jobs (or where you are) and looking for alternative sources of income.
In his case real estate, I think real estate in Nigeria is very lucrative. All you have to do, keep your eyes out for new developments. Everyday a local village becomes a small city either in Ogun state or in Abuja, you buy and fence it, wait a few months or years and flip it. You can build a store and rent or build a house for rent. That is why landlords charge yearly. I am not speaking as a guess, I have had an experience.

The tools like legal and other things might be different but the key is to make sure the seller is genuine and every thing documented.
No amount is too small to start something on the side and that is where you are missing the point.

@ Kambo, its a pity u think its impractical. That book has changed my life for the better. I cant start explaining but the sooner you have a change of perception the better

Its obvious that this author is dying in puberty and have lost hope in becoming rich. You dont have to discourage others from reading good books. Its not compulsory that the content of the books works for me as they work for you. If tthe book work for everyone that read them, then everyone should be prosperous in life.

I read the book, right from when I was earning 18k and its really working for me. There is point you fail to note. You can never be rich by working for somebody, no matter matter what you earn.

Take it or leave.

@kambo, Rome wasn't built in a day. I've been in abuja for about a year and land is expensive. But there are places where you can get a plot for N50k or less. This are undeveloped areas. People look down on it now, but in 5 years, plots can be selling for N800k or more and its going to keep increasing.

I know civil servants that came to abuja in the 90's and bought cheap land then with their small salaries. Now those place have now become highly developed and plots are selling for millions now. The problem is folks just want to hit it big at one go, life's not like that. You have to build and wait for it to mature.

A Chinese proverb: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.

@OP, I think you're still young, maybe even still in school, or freshly out of school. It's a bit too early to say the principles aren't working for you.
Just the same way Kiyosaki went to school and started off with a career in the merchant navy, you should start from somewhere, and build up from there. The principles are what you should imbibe.

I don't think you should start to bother yourself about buying land just yet, but of course, as a Nigerian, you're probably looking for the fast track. If that is the case, well, Kiyosaki can't help you there.

OP. ideas inthat book and other similar books, like, 7 Habbits, Eat that frog, etc, work very well, I wished I had read tjem 20yrs ago. However, reading and applying some of the principles now have been very helpful. I will urge you not to look for quick fix and be prepared to make sacrifices to achieve goals.

kambo:

visit a bookstand - do you buy books a lot? i bet you go for foreign authors?
why?
they are more qualitative in their writing etc.
just one of those colonial indoctrination talking.

i put it here that nigerians have sth wrong with their self perception.

if kiyosaki were a nigerian would so many copies of his book have sold

Now with this mindset there is little you can learn from the book. Ajanlekoko's post was spot on; its the fundamentals that count.

@number one
from 1990 to now is about 2 decades . 2 decades is a long time of course inflation will
mark up your investments in real estate for you.
but i think you all drooled on the book - i'm not dying in poverty but
i keep my eyes peeled.

i have bought about 4 of the books in his series and read them - he's a good story teller. his principles are sound - but not novel.

why i say his book is impractical is because it violates economic laws!!!
the law of sowing and reaping . remember kiyosaki started learning at age 9,
went broke at age 38 or so . so he had 31 years of knowledge capital,
it is this capital - not his brokeness - that accumulated so much wealth for him.

much like , the spare part dealer who is a multimillionaire without university education
has years of knowledge capital - his success can't be replicated just cuz you have money or a 4 year degree!!
so for all who go buying this book - in africa - you're being fooled.

then, the cashflow concept.
kiyosaki bought lots of real estate, remember he was broke and poor.
he bought houses, i think 1 in a 100.
now tell me how easy it is for a broke nigerian,remember , no money in home n bank
to achieve this?

na so e easy?? they ship this stuff over here and you guys drool over em.

its a foreign book - i'm not being tribal, but there's more attraction to the foreign.
how about if we had an indigenous success story that was equally REMARKABLE
- we can't cuz there's a whole lot not available for us , and what is not going for you
will make it harder to make money AT THE SAME SPEED kiyosaki makes it over there,
e.g
our natural resistance to competition and innovation is already and impediment,
common indeginous branded computers introduced by zinox generated so much
death threats,
the stock market in the u.s is so capitalized and much larger that huge gains and losses can be made QUICKLY,
here in naija, we're still reading in newspapers of unreceived DIVIDEND warrants,
stock scams,
so when you read of how kiyosaki tells his broker to "short" a stock and uses all
those sophisticated financial techniques and by words your reading from some operating in a far much larger pond , a pond that would swallow the biggest of our
most illustrous entreprenuers . how many open , clean , entreprenuers do we have in
naija? you can count them . by contrasts the richest nations have 10 to 100 times over
why? cuz the means of becoming rich is faster over there.
guys don't let sb fool you - we're so gullible.

^^
Nobody is fooling anybody, and nobody's drooling over anybody's work.
But you miss something very important, which you have somewhat validated in your post yourself. You said Kiyosaki had 31 years of knowledge capital, and he put that in a book. What is wrong with Africans picking that book up, learning their principles, and applying it to their own environment? Just like saying since the physics textbooks we read in school were not written by Newton himself, they are therefore invalid. Kind of asinine.

That fact remains that people in this part of the world are not financially savvy. A little self-help in those areas would not hurt at all, as there are not too many Nigerians or Africans out there writing that kind of stuff. Doesn't that alone give you some food for thought?

@Ajanlekoko

bro i hv been following your posts and i must commend you for your contributions.You said in one of the forums that you would post interview guides.I have been waiting for it.I can't wait to get it .Make me sef tap into your wealth of knowledge.I would appreciate it if you could send to me : ugobanks@yahoo.com

@kambo, I think the bottom line is take whatever you can that works for you in the book. The dude is into real estate and stocks. Fine. You don't have to do that also, all rich guys aren't into real estate.

The most important things I got from that book are:

* Success of failure are all in the mind.
* Your salary job cannot make you successful.
* Investing your savings is better than just saving cos the former yields more interest.

The dude may have spiced the book up to make more sales, Ok, but you don't have to agree with all his points. Take some and walk away. Unless you want to do all he says then you can as well be his Nigerian clone.

One of the issues I have with Kiyosaki is that he says you can never get rich on a salary? who said that? I have seen people do it successfully. You can build wealth on a salary, all you need is consistent saving and investing those savings in the right vehicle that will give you ownership. Understand your financial goals and work on them consistently. Compound interest is a powerful thing.

Its about building wealth, whatever you earn.  Read the wealthy barber, its helps everyday peopel with financial planning,  some of the investmenet advice is based on canadian situation but the concept of saving and investing in appropriate investmenet vehicles, keeping your taxes low,  making a will; having insurance and etc is universal.

A lot of business people also die broke and poor with lots of debt!

One personal example of a busines gone broke. I know an elderly uncle,  very very rich in the 80's doing govt business,  employer of labour whites mostly. He refused to invest in stock market and real estate ,  he felt they were kalo kalo. He owned one house his wife owned one house and he owned a villa in his home town. He spent 1.2 million naira in the 80's to build that house.
Today he had to sell his lagos house to pay the bank. the house in his village is worthless , he retired there and his standrad of living took a nose dive in the mid nineties and never took off again.

If he had been wise,  and invested his 1.2 m in real estate in surulere where he had the opportunity to own his first house; he will be swimming in millions now. Instead he spent it on living like a king.

One the other hand,  I knwo a younger uncle,  who worked in first generation GTB,  he lived n his dad's apartment for almost 15 years fater he started working. He lived a good life,  he had good cars etc,  he nevr travelled every year like his friends did. After he left GTb to another bank he worked another 6 years and retired at 40 to own small investment business,helping people work teh stock market. He built a personal house at Lekki a few months before he retired, his first house was 8 flats in lagos that he rented out.
he sold the first house to buy furnishings for his lekki house. He now has countless properties all over and lives an above average liftestyle his kids go to very very expensive schools and he works for nobody now. He built his wealth from his salary, he consolidated when he retired to start his own thing. Most of his collgues can't afford to retire and don't have 1/4 of what he owns. I almost passed out the day i saw his bank account and that was when he was a salary earner.

You know what he told me recently, save your salary, don't spend it all, you can splurge on a few things here and there but don't take a vacation yearly and use a new car and buy the most expensive cloths and do sports all at the same time, you will be living like a king and living from pay cheque to paycheque. Just splurge on one or two things and save the rest, invest and let your money work for you.

Its' only money you invest that works for you whether you be salary earner or business owner. either way nothing is permanet; businesses go belly up everyday.

My 10 cents

@kambo,

Many have followed the book and ended broke likewise many have ended up millionaires,


Seeing as you raised a valid point about its application to Nije- why not do a version for Nigerians?


we could make it a NL project and have folks collaborate etc,

2 cents

lets not just crucify kambo na. Some of his points are true. I believe most of these motivational speakers sell their books like it is a magic wand to riches and thats what i dont like.

Gullible people take these things hook, line and sinker. I particularly like the fact that kambo emphasized knowledge capital. I had a friend who read read brian tracy's book and said "with books like this one doesnt need an MBA".
imagine that

Ajanlekoko, you echo my exact thoughts on this matter.

I have read this book and i see nothing wrong with the content. True not everything in it is practical in Nigeria, but its advisable to read with to intent to understand as it addresses your own peculiar needs, in your peculiar working and living conditions. I dont find the material misleading because my reason for reading is to open my mind to possiblities, giving me the readiness to give my ideas a trial.

@ Poster, Rich Dad Poor Dad is not an impractical book, i beg to disagree.

I know it will be difficult for kambo to convince everybody to believe in his imaginations and thought, this is simply because we think and reason in different ways.
Remember what they say, 'knowledge is power'

But these days it has changed to ''the application of knowledge is power''

So Kambo if others in Nigeria have been able to apply it and it works for them then you need to think twice.
I am not in the real estate business but I have been able to apply it in my construction business.

Do not think I started with millions cos it does not work. I only had to build it gradually and it is still growing.
The most important thing is that one has crossed over the common stage of financial status.

ridgeman:

@kambo,

Many have followed the book and ended broke likewise many have ended up millionaires,


Seeing as you raised a valid point about its application to Nije- why not do a version for Nigerians?


we could make it a NL project and have folks collaborate etc,

2 cents

You are not expected to follow the line of business of anybody especially when you no nothing about it.
A guide line should be what it is and nothing more.

what this book is just pasing out is the need to be financially literate whether rich or poor because it is been financially literate that you will be to know exactly what you need to do to change your situation around even if you earn just N5000 per month. not everything is about money. it can just be in form of an idea which you can sell to a company or organisation

yodiyokun:

One of the issues I have with Kiyosaki is that he says you can never get rich on a salary? who said that? I have seen people do it successfully. You can build wealth on a salary, all you need is consistent saving and investing those savings in the right vehicle that will give you ownership. Understand your financial goals and work on them consistently. Compound interest is a powerful thing.

Its about building wealth, whatever you earn. Read the wealthy barber, its helps everyday peopel with financial planning, some of the investmenet advice is based on canadian situation but the concept of saving and investing in appropriate investmenet vehicles, keeping your taxes low, making a will; having insurance and etc is universal.

A lot of business people also die broke and poor with lots of debt!

One personal example of a busines gone broke. I know an elderly uncle, very very rich in the 80's doing govt business, employer of labour whites mostly. He refused to invest in stock market and real estate , he felt they were kalo kalo. He owned one house his wife owned one house and he owned a villa in his home town. He spent 1.2 million naira in the 80's to build that house.
Today he had to sell his lagos house to pay the bank. the house in his village is worthless , he retired there and his standrad of living took a nose dive in the mid nineties and never took off again.

If he had been wise, and invested his 1.2 m in real estate in surulere where he had the opportunity to own his first house; he will be swimming in millions now. Instead he spent it on living like a king.

One the other hand, I knwo a younger uncle, who worked in first generation GTB, he lived n his dad's apartment for almost 15 years fater he started working. He lived a good life, he had good cars etc, he nevr travelled every year like his friends did. After he left GTb to another bank he worked another 6 years and retired at 40 to own small investment business,helping people work teh stock market. He built a personal house at Lekki a few months before he retired, his first house was 8 flats in lagos that he rented out.
he sold the first house to buy furnishings for his lekki house. He now has countless properties all over and lives an above average liftestyle his kids go to very very expensive schools and he works for nobody now. He built his wealth from his salary, he consolidated when he retired to start his own thing. Most of his collgues can't afford to retire and don't have 1/4 of what he owns. I almost passed out the day i saw his bank account and that was when he was a salary earner.

You know what he told me recently, save your salary, don't spend it all, you can splurge on a few things here and there but don't take a vacation yearly and use a new car and buy the most expensive cloths and do sports all at the same time, you will be living like a king and living from pay cheque to paycheque. Just splurge on one or two things and save the rest, invest and let your money work for you.

Its' only money you invest that works for you whether you be salary earner or business owner. either way nothing is permanet; businesses go belly up everyday.

My 10 cents

Quite. However, the point is, you need to invest to be rich. Your example of the GTB fella justifies that; he did not get rich or live rich earning a salary; he invested his salary.

@Poster because you tried and failed doesnt make the truths contained within the book invalid. If I recall correctly, Kiyosaki mentioned the fact that you have to adapt to your own environment. the key message of that book is the need to increase your financial intelligence and understand how to use leverage (if necessary). clearly there are aspects that were not meant for us because our stock market and real estate run differently but he's still right.

He says banks like to give money to people that need it least. He's right.

He says real estate is one of the best investment vehicles. he's right.

He says cars and other non-money making purchases are liabilities, he's right. You say your uncle bought cars and built houses in the village without investing in money making things. well, that was an example of someone who saved without investing and had lower financial intelligence.

He says you can get great ideas by simply riding or jogging round your neighbourhood and opening your eyes. i believe that. In fact only yesterday did i realise that there were no cybercafes in my area and no places where PC parts are sold. among other profitable observations.


If you approach it with an entirely critical eye, you wont gain.

besides, you might be blessed with a little wealth later on, enough to travel to the US and invest. This is the age of globalization, so its not entirely impossible. a little advance knowledge would help.

enough said.

I think the assumption of the impracticability of the book is a mind-set just as some people have noted. Some of the salient points raised in the book, which validate its practicability even in our environment, are:

- Investment does not have to start big. Start small and build gradually.

- Start investment early. That is a lesson for every parent. Parents should inculcate the habit of savings and investments in their children and wards.

- Do not eat your tomorrow today. Stop buying liabilities, buy into assets. Kiyosaki defines an asset as anything that puts money into your pocket while a liability is anything that removes money from your pocket.

- Create streams of income. You cannot be rich on salary. That is a truth. How many struggle to keep family together through salary.

- Riches are achievable. Anybody can become wealthy. Environment is not a factor. It all begins from within you.