of the Industrial Age.
The Future of Education
The lag time in education means that children starting school today will be grandparents before the educational system adopts the changes this book offers.
By teaching your kids the lessons in this book, you are giving your child a financial headstart. If lag times hold, it will take until the year 2065 before the ideas in this book enter most classrooms. I don’t believe we can afford to wait.
This book is written for parents, who know that it’s up to them—not the school system—to prepare their child for the real world. And that world is a fast-paced, ever-changing, Information-Age world… a world unlike any of us have ever experienced.
This book is also written for parents who know their children face larger financial challenges, the financial garbage heaps previous generations have left behind.
This book is written for parents who want to understand why President Obama earns $3 million and pays 20.5 percent in taxes while Mitt Romney earns $21 million and pays 14 percent.
Once a parent knows and understands the differences in what the two men know, they can pass that knowledge on to their children.
My Story
I have been an advocate for financial education for most of my adult life.
In 1973, I returned home to Hawaii from the Vietnam War and found my dad, the man I call my poor dad, unemployed. He had been the Superintendent of Education for the State of Hawaii. His problems began when he ran for Lt. Governor as a Republican against his boss, a Democrat. In losing the election, he also lost his job.
My dad committed professional suicide by running for Lt. Governor. He risked his “job security” because he was a man of principle. Once he reached the top of the school system’s ladder, as head of the Department of Education, he was outraged at the corruption he found in Hawaii’s government, a government Forbes magazine has since called “The People’s Republic of Hawaii.” That same article stated, “The state taxes everything that moves. Fidel Castro would feel right at home here.”
President Obama grew up in Hawaii. He is the first U.S. President from Hawaii. The Forbes article may explain why the President has the views he has on government, business, and taxes.
The End of Empires
I am not a Republican or a Democrat. And I do not blame President Obama for the crisis we face. This crisis has been brewing for decades and similar crises have occurred throughout history. Financial ignorance and political corruption have brought down empires for centuries. The same financial ignorance and corruption threatens to bring down America.
Military-Industrial Complex
On January 17, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower gave the nation a dire warning about what he described as a threat to democratic government. He called it the military-industrial complex, a formidable union of defense contractors and the armed forces. Eisenhower, a retired five-star-WWII Army general who led the allies on D-Day, made the remarks in his farewell speech from the White House.
Economics of War
Empires also end when empires fight too many wars in far away places. In doing that, America is proving we’ve failed to learn from history.
While in junior high school, I listened to President Eisenhower’s warning to the nation about the threat of the “military-industrial complex.” I was in my early teens, and his warning meant little to me. Returning from Vietnam in 1973, I understood the President’s warning. We were not fighting for the freedom of the Vietnamese people. We were fighting for money. We had been lied to by the elites. We had no business fighting in Vietnam, apart from the issue that war is big business. When I returned from Vietnam, I knew it was time to stop blindly following orders. I knew it was time to start thinking for myself.
I do not criticize my fellow sailors and soldiers. Most of the young men and women I met in the service were great people dedicated to their country. Our problem was that we were fighting wars to make the military-industrial complex richer. Any time the military-industrial complex needs more money, they simply start another war.
We are making the same mistakes, in my opinion, when it comes to printing money.
The Roman Empire crumbled when the Romans began destroying their own money, fighting wars in far away lands, and raising taxes on their workers.
The United States is repeating the mistakes of the past, proving the old saying:
“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Studying Subjects “A” Students Don’t Study
In 1973, I informed my dad I was leaving the military service. He was disappointed because he wanted me to stay in the military for the retirement and medical benefits. Counting my time at the military academy, I had 10 years accrued toward retirement. I only had 10 more to go.
When I nixed that idea, my poor dad suggested I fly for the airlines, as many of my fellow Marine pilots were doing. When I told him I was through flying, he finally suggested I go back to school, get my Masters Degree, possibly my PhD, and climb the corporate ladder.
I loved my dad dearly, but he was suggesting I do what he had done, follow in his footsteps… proving, once again, that we repeat mistakes if we do not learn from them.
And while I loved my dad, I did not want to make the same mistakes he had made.
If I had followed my poor dad’s advice, I might be like him today… a highly educated but poor 60+-year-old, hoping my savings, pension, Social Security, and Medicare would take care of me.
In 1973, I decided to follow in my rich dad’s footsteps. I began by studying subjects my poor dad had never studied.
This book is about the subjects I studied and the courses most people do not study, including “A” students. There is a big pay-off for studying subjects “A” students do not study.
In 1997, the book Rich Dad Poor Dad was self-published because every publisher we offered it to turned it down. As you might expect, most publishers are “A” students, like my poor dad. Most publishers sent me rejection letters stating, “We are not interested in your book at this time.” A few more honest publishers stated, “You do not know what you are writing about.” Or, “Your ideas are ridiculous.”
“Your House Is Not an Asset”
Rich Dad Poor Dad was harshly criticized due to statements such as “Your house is not an asset.” Ten years later, in 2007, millions of homeowners all over the world found out the hard way that their home was not an asset. As property values plummeted all over the world, millions were pushed into bankruptcy experiencing firsthand that their home could be a giant liability.
“Savers Are Losers”
I have also been harshly criticized for saying, “Savers are losers.” Today, millions of people are aware that the central banks of the world, banks such as the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States, are printing trillions of dollars contributing to the
