Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki studied at University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, United States Merchant Marine Academy and Hilo High School. The recorded working language is Japanese and English. Works named in the authority record are Rich Dad Poor Dad. Distinctions recorded are Air Medal.

• Name — Robert Kiyosaki • Birth Name — Robert Toru Kiyosaki • Born — 8 April 1947 • Birthplace — Hilo, Territory of Hawaii, U.S. • Occupation — Businessman, author • Subject — Personal finance, business investing • Years Active — 1973–1994 1997–present • Notable Works — Rich Dad Poor Dad • Website — www.richdad.com

Kiyosaki was born in 1947 in Hilo, Territory of Hawaii to Ralph (d. 1991) and Majorie Kiyosaki, who was a nurse. He is the eldest child of a family of Japanese descent. One of his sisters, Tenzin Kacho, was a nun ordained by the Dalai Lama who worked at a Buddhist center in Long Beach, California. The other sister is a graphic designer, and his brother works in property management. Kiyosaki's father was an educator, once appointed as Hawaii's superintendent of schools. He also ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant-governor in the Republican Party ticket in the 1970 Hawaii gubernatorial election. He lost his job after the election and used his savings to acquire an ice-cream franchise that eventually failed. He later worked for labor unions. Kiyosaki attended Manoa Elementary School before moving to Hilo. He then graduated from Hilo High School, from which he was nearly expelled due to poor grades. In 1965, he attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy, graduating four years later as a deck officer. After traveling on ships of Matson, Inc. as a midshipman, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer. Kiyosaki served as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War and was once based in Kaneohe Bay.

In 1977, Kiyosaki started a company called "Rippers" that marketed nylon and Velcro wallets. After the company went bankrupt, he became a sales associate at Xerox until June 1978. In the 1980s, Kiyosaki became a motivational speaker in San Diego who ran a course on Erhard Seminars Training (EST) techniques called Money and You. He had attended the course in 1974 given by the course's creator, Marshall Thurber. In 1984, Thurber transferred the business to Kiyosaki and D.C. Cordova, who then expanded the course beyond the U.S. The course at one point had tens of thousands of students internationally. The business nearly collapsed in Australia in October 1993 after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners program aired a documentary about emotional abuse in the course. The documentary interviewed several past course attendees who "felt like they were being brainwashed." One participant said "he was depressed and mentally and physically devastated after attending, and said it took him two weeks to recover." The program included footage of a Money and You course in which people were "driven to the depths of despair or to near-hysteria." An expert on cults noted similarities between Kiyosaki's course and the methods of Scientology. Kiyosaki said the program was "unfair" and considered suing the ABC before deciding against it. He left the business in 1994.

In 1993, Kiyosaki published his first book, If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don't Go to School? In his book, he encouraged parents not to send their children to college and instead to enter the real estate business. Kiyosaki founded Cashflow Technologies (in 1997), a holding company that as of 2002 owned and operated the Rich Dad brand—as well as the Cashflow brand—a holding company that as of that year, Kiyosaki was "preparing to phase himself out of". Kiyosaki created the Cashflow board and video games to educate adults and children about business and financial concepts. Kiyosaki settled a lawsuit in 2008 brought by Sharon Lechter, his former business partner, with an undisclosed sum. Lechter said Kiyosaki and his wife had enriched themselves and redirected assets in the business, which the Kiyosakis denied. She sold her stake in Rich Dad Company to them after the settlement and ended the partnership that lasted about 10 years.

Kiyosaki's earlier two businesses (for surfing bags with Velcro fasteners and T-shirts) went bankrupt. Kiyosaki operates through a number of companies that he owns fully or in part, and through franchisee arrangements with other companies authorized to use his name for a fee. This includes Rich Dad LLC, Whitney Information Network, Rich Dad Education and Rich Dad Academy. The company's main revenues come from franchisees of the Rich Dad seminars that are conducted by independent individuals using Kiyosaki's brand name. In 2012, Kiyosaki's company, Rich Global LLC, filed for bankruptcy and was ordered to pay $23.7 million to The Learning Annex and its founder, because Kiyosaki had used The Learning Annex for speaking opportunities. Mike Sullivan, the CEO of Rich Dad Company, one of at least 10 companies through which Kiyosaki conducts business, said Rich Global LLC had been dormant for years. At bankruptcy, the company had nearly $26 million in liabilities and $1.8 million in assets.

Kiyosaki has authored more than 26 books including Rich Dad Poor Dad, which has been translated into dozens of languages. As of 2017, nearly 40 million copies of the book had been sold. He said his books were an advertisement for his higher-priced seminars. Kiyosaki's financial and business teachings claim that financial independence can be achieved through passive income. He also claims that wealth cannot be achieved from going to school and obtaining a traditional job. He advocates for using what he calls "good debt" as leverage to buy financial assets such as real estate. In January 2024, Kiyosaki stated that he had more than $1 billion in debt. Additionally, he is a strong proponent of buying gold and silver, often referring to them as "God's money." In May 2025, Kiyosaki reiterated his advocacy for cryptocurrency, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that even holding 0.01 Bitcoin could "maybe make you very rich" within two years. In 2006 and 2007, Kiyosaki's Rich Dad seminars continued to promote real estate as a sound investment, just before their prices came crashing down. In 2010, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Marketplace broadcast a documentary on scams that were being perpetuated by Kiyosaki's company in Canada in the guise of "Rich Dad" seminars. Investments in trailers and trailer parks, which seminar instructors claimed to be evidence of success, were found to be barren and unused land. Also in 2010, Allan Roth of CBS News documented what occurred when he attended one of Rich Dad's free seminars and dissected some of the tactics employed. WTAE-TV, the ABC television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, produced another critical segment about Kiyosaki in 2013. Kiyosaki's advice has also been criticized for emphasizing anecdotes and no concrete advice on how readers should proceed or work.

Kiyosaki divorced from his first wife when he was 32. Kiyosaki met his second wife and business partner Kimberly "Kim" Kiyosaki (née Meyer) in 1984, and they got married in 1986. They amicably divorced in 2017. When asked about his net worth, Kiyosaki claimed to be more than $1 billion in debt, indicating that being such was not, in his view, "his problem".

Kiyosaki endorsed and supported Republican candidate Donald Trump for the 2016 presidential elections. At that time (2015), Kiyosaki had co-authored two books with Trump (and others). Kiyosaki has also criticized Bernie Sanders for being a "hardcore Marxist".