This Is What No One Teaches You About Money (This Will Make You Rich)

SUMMARY

Eric Siu interviews Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, on leveraging good debt for wealth, financial education's importance, branding in business, economic shifts, leadership's role, and political critiques for thriving amid uncertainty. (28 words)

STATEMENTS

Debt transformed into an asset in 1971 when Nixon removed the dollar from the gold standard, making treasury bonds a form of debt that generates value.
Poor people seek to live debt-free, which is wise advice from Dave Ramsey for those ignorant about debt, but informed individuals use debt strategically.
Good debt involves borrowing where someone else pays it off, such as in real estate investments, unlike bad debt like credit cards that burden the borrower.
Financial education is crucial because most people borrow bad debt and lack knowledge in areas like real estate, business, and taxes.
Kiyosaki left traditional schools at 18 to attend the Merchant Marine Academy, where he read The Communist Manifesto and learned economics beyond standard theorists like Keynes.
America is shifting toward communism through Marxist influences in politics, evidenced by actions like promoting labor unions and abolishing private property via taxation and inflation.
Actions reveal true intentions more than words; observing leaders' deeds, such as hiring IRS agents, shows efforts to crush the middle class through graduated income taxes.
Skills, not money, make one rich; the top entrepreneurial skill is selling, which Kiyosaki learned after Vietnam by working at Xerox despite his poor dad's disapproval.
The cashflow quadrant divides people into E (employee), S (self-employed), B (business owner/brand), and I (investor); success requires moving to B and I by building brands.
Warren Buffett invests only in strong brands like Coca-Cola, emphasizing that entrepreneurs must build brands to achieve wealth, not just work hard.
401(k)s, IRAs, and similar funds make individuals suckers, as they become sources of funds for others; avoid them to prevent exploitation.
Schools teach avoidance of mistakes and cheating, stifling learning and innovation, trapping people in the E quadrant dependent on paychecks.
Banking collapses differ from market crashes; the Silicon Valley Bank failure was the largest in history, invisible to the public.
Robots and AI cannot be controlled once unleashed, necessitating preparation through assets like gold, silver, and Bitcoin stored outside the banking system.
Kiyosaki holds no stocks except those from his own companies, positioning himself as a capitalist who creates and sells assets rather than buys them.

IDEAS

Borrowing money to invest in assets turns lack of cash into opportunity, but most fail by choosing consumer debt over productive investments.
Graduated income taxes are a Marxist tool to spread communism, designed to eliminate the middle class by funding national debt through aggressive IRS expansion.
Surrounding yourself with rich friends shapes your future; Kiyosaki avoids drug users, cheaters, and poor influences, even family, to maintain high standards.
Building a brand elevates a small business to billionaire status, as seen in Rich Dad Poor Dad, far beyond mere hard work or promotion.
Schooling conditions people to fear risks and errors, preventing the mistake-based learning essential for entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
Invisible banking collapses, like Silicon Valley Bank's, signal systemic failures bigger than 2008, urging investors to diversify beyond traditional finance.
AI and robotics will disrupt economies irreversibly, with GPT technologies predicting untamable robots and massive market crashes ahead.
Owning physical assets like real estate, gold, and mines benefits from inflation caused by money printing, enriching the prepared while hurting savers.
Political leaders' first acts, such as cutting pipelines, reveal agendas to inflate prices and crush the middle class, more telling than rhetoric.
Tattoos and shifting gender roles signal cultural declines, with women out-earning men and masculinity waning, impacting societal strength.
Taking companies public, like Kiyosaki's gold mines and tree projects, uses capitalism to generate wealth through stock sales and tax credits.
Seminars and games like Cashflow teach escaping the rat race faster than degrees, opening minds to big deals and B/I quadrants.
Weak leaders provoke global conflicts, turning small wars into large ones, as seen in current tensions with Hamas, Ukraine, and China.

INSIGHTS

True wealth stems from financial literacy that distinguishes asset-building debt from liability-increasing debt, empowering individuals against economic manipulation.
Observing leaders' actions over words unmasks ideological agendas, like Marxism's use of taxation to erode private property and middle-class stability.
Entrepreneurial success demands branding as a core strategy, transforming personal efforts into scalable, Buffett-attracting enterprises worth billions.
Education systems inadvertently promote dependency by demonizing failure and collaboration, locking graduates into low-risk, low-reward career paths.
Systemic banking fragility hides in plain sight, with past collapses like Silicon Valley Bank foreshadowing AI-driven disruptions that demand non-traditional asset protection.
Surrounding oneself with ambitious, successful peers accelerates personal growth, as social circles dictate future outcomes more than individual talent.
Inflation from policy decisions disproportionately benefits asset owners while punishing wage earners, turning government actions into opportunities for the educated.
Technological advancements like untamable AI require proactive diversification into tangible, decentralized assets to safeguard against inevitable market upheavals.
Masculine leadership and clear priorities—family over business in later life—foster resilience, contrasting with cultural shifts that weaken societal foundations.
Political non-involvement shifts to activism when core industries like energy are threatened, highlighting the need for informed civic engagement.

QUOTES

"Money became debt in 1971 when Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard and so most people don't know that debt becomes an asset."
"Good debt is debt that somebody else pays for it so when Kenny and I borrow millions and billions uh it's debt that somebody else pays for us."
"A graduated income tax is essential for the spread of Communism."
"What makes you rich are skills not money you know money is getting more and more worthless every day."
"If you're sitting at the table for more than 20 minutes a card game and you don't know who the sucker is you're the sucker."
"The biggest banking collapse already happened and we don't even know about it they called it Silicon Valley Bank it was the biggest banking collapse in world history."
"Actions speak louder than words."

HABITS

Continuously study financial topics like debt, real estate, and money history to build skills for wealth creation.
Attend seminars and events with active learners to expand knowledge beyond traditional education.
Surround yourself exclusively with successful, rich individuals while avoiding negative influences like drug users or cheaters.
Play educational games like Cashflow to simulate and learn fast-track strategies for escaping the rat race.
Diversify assets into gold, silver, Bitcoin, and real estate stored outside banking systems for protection.
Prioritize building and selling personal brands and companies rather than buying external stocks.

FACTS

The U.S. dollar detached from the gold standard in 1971, fundamentally altering money's nature to debt-based fiat currency.
Merchant Marine Academy graduates are the highest-paid worldwide, focusing on practical economics including The Communist Manifesto.
Barack Obama's administration expanded student loan debt, trapping millions in repayment while influencing elections via teacher unions.
Silicon Valley Bank's 2023 collapse marked the largest banking failure in world history, surpassing 2008 in scale but less visible.
Oil prices surged from $30 to $130 per barrel after Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline in 2021, driving global inflation.
Liechtenstein serves as a safer haven than Switzerland for storing gold, used by many to hide assets from governments.

REFERENCES

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, read in 1965 economics class.
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, foundational book and brand in financial education.
Cashflow board game, created to teach escaping the rat race and moving to B/I quadrants.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout, early branding influence.
Uncorrected proof of GPT by James Rickards, advanced copy on AI, banking collapses, and future scenarios.
Infinite Return event, attended for learning with figures like Ken McElroy and George Gammon.
Xerox sales training program, post-Vietnam skill-building experience.
Agency Owners Association, peer group for marketing insights shared by Eric Siu.
Single Grain ad agency, focused on AI-driven innovation in SEO and CRO.
YPO (Young Presidents' Organization), network for successful entrepreneurs like Siu and McElroy.

HOW TO APPLY

Assess your current debts: Categorize them as good (asset-producing, like real estate loans paid by tenants) or bad (consumer, like credit cards), and eliminate bad ones immediately to free resources.
Invest in financial education: Read books on money history and attend seminars on debt, taxes, and real estate to understand how to use leverage without risk.
Build selling skills: Practice through roles or training like Xerox, focusing on persuasion to transition from employee to entrepreneur in the cashflow quadrant.
Develop a personal brand: Study successful brands like Coca-Cola, then promote your expertise consistently across books, games, or businesses to attract investments.
Diversify assets proactively: Acquire gold, silver, Bitcoin, and properties outside banks; store valuables in secure locations like Liechtenstein to hedge against collapses.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Master good debt, financial education, and branding to build wealth and navigate economic and political turbulence effectively.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Prioritize learning to sell as the foundational skill for entrepreneurial success and income generation.
Avoid 401(k)s and mutual funds; instead, create and invest in your own branded businesses for control.
Read The Communist Manifesto to recognize Marxist policies in modern taxation and protect assets accordingly.
Store wealth in tangible assets like real estate and precious metals to counter inflation and banking risks.
Surround yourself with rich, learning-oriented friends through networks like YPO to elevate your trajectory.
Prepare for AI disruptions by studying future scenarios and diversifying beyond stocks into decentralized holdings.
Engage in political awareness by watching leaders' actions, especially on energy and taxes, to inform investments.
Use games and simulations like Cashflow to mentally rehearse big deals and escape dependency.

MEMO

Robert Kiyosaki, the bestselling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, sat down with podcaster Eric Siu at a high-stakes entrepreneur event, unpacking his $1.2 billion debt as a deliberate strategy for wealth accumulation. Far from financial peril, Kiyosaki reframed debt as an asset since 1971's gold standard abandonment, distinguishing "good" debt—paid by others through investments like real estate—from the "bad" variety that ensnares consumers. Drawing from his Merchant Marine Academy days and Vietnam service, he credited his "rich dad" mentor for urging mastery of selling, real estate, and taxes, skills that propelled him beyond his "poor dad's" academic worldview.

Kiyosaki's critique of America's drift toward Marxism, inspired by rereading The Communist Manifesto, painted a stark picture of policy-driven erosion. He pointed to graduated income taxes and IRS expansions as tools to obliterate the middle class, noting how figures like Biden and Harris prioritize collecting debt-funded revenues over genuine prosperity. Legal tax avoidance through real estate and debt, he argued, shields the wealthy—himself and Trump included—while inflation from pipeline cancellations like Keystone XL crushes everyday earners. Actions, not words, reveal intent: Obama's student loan push and union-backed elections exemplify this stealthy shift.

Branding emerged as Kiyosaki's secret weapon for scaling from Xerox salesman to billionaire educator. Unlike grind-it-out entrepreneurs, he built Rich Dad into a global empire encompassing books, games, and seminars, echoing Warren Buffett's brand-only investments. Schools, he lamented, indoctrinate fear of mistakes and cheating, trapping graduates in employee drudgery; true learning demands risk and collaboration. His Cashflow game simulates escaping this "rat race" to the fast track of big business and investing, where priorities evolve—from business-first in youth to family in later years.

Peering into the future, Kiyosaki invoked friend James Rickards' forthcoming GPT book, warning of untamable AI, robot revolutions, and hidden banking cataclysms dwarfing 2008—Silicon Valley Bank chief among them. Investors should shun stock bubbles like Nvidia, hoard gold in Liechtenstein vaults, and embrace Bitcoin outside fragile systems. Cultural decay, from tattooed role reversals to weakened masculinity, compounds these threats, he said, urging young skeptics to study historical cycles and befriend success, not losers.

Ultimately, Kiyosaki's message is one of empowerment amid chaos: Cultivate skills over degrees, brands over busywork, and vigilance over complacency. As global tensions simmer—from Ukraine to China—weak leadership invites war, but the prepared thrive by creating assets, not chasing them. His pivot to political ads backing Kari Lake underscores a late-career activism born of oilman roots, reminding audiences that time at events like Limitless trumps ivory-tower illusions for real-world flourishing.