Mr. Kiyosaki is best known for his Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of motivational books and other material. He has written 18 books which combined have sold over 26 million copies.

Three of his books, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant, and Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing, have been on the top 10 bestseller lists simultaneously on the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the New York Times. Another title is Why We Want To Be Rich co-authored by Donald Trump (2007).

Around 1996-1997 he launched Cashflow Technologies, Inc. which operates and owns the Rich Dad (and Cashflow) brand.

A large part of Kiyosaki’s teachings focus on generating passive income by means of investment opportunities, such as real estate and small businesses, with the ultimate goal of being able to support oneself by such investments alone. In tandem with this, Kiyosaki defines “assets” as things that generate cash inflow, such as rental properties or businesses – and “liabilities” as things that generate cash outflow, such as house payments, cars, and so on. Such definitions are somewhat based on the concept of negative gearing. Kiyosaki also argues that financial leverage is critically important in becoming rich.

Several local stations of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) including WTTW of Chicago, KAET of Phoenix, KOCE of Orange County, CA, WLIW of the New York/New Jersey area, and WGBH of Boston, have featured Kiyosaki during fund-raising drives.

Kiyosaki’s books and teachings have been criticized for focusing on anecdotes and containing little in the way of concrete advice on how readers should proceed. Kiyosaki responds that his material is meant to be more of a motivational tool to get readers thinking about money, rather than a step by step guide to wealth. He also says the books are supposed to be “interesting” to people, which precluded involving a lot of technical material.

There is also disagreement over how blurred the line is between fiction and anecdote in many of his works. Critics believe that Rich Dad is fictional and that Kiyosaki created him as an author surrogate (a literary device).

Kiyosaki has also been criticized for being overly repetitious in his teachings.

Kiyosaki has also been associated with “multi-level marketing” companies such as Amway, and in 2000 gave a keynote speech at a Quixtar conference. On page 135 of Rich Dad’s Who Took My Money, Kiyosaki admits to his involvement with the MLM industry, stating “I often speak to network marketing businesses because they provide low cost entry for people to start businesses while also providing them valuable training and mentoring.”  

Kiyosaki also operates a personal coaching service, with specialties in the following areas:

• Rich Dad’s Real Estate Coaching

• Rich Dad’s Entrepreneur Coaching Program

• Rich Dad’s  Cashflow 101 Personal Coaching 

• Build a Personalized Financial and Cash Flow Plan: 

Personal coaching fees are not easy to obtain, since you must go through an initial 15 minute screening call where you are asked lots of questions about your objective and background, followed by another 30 minute call with a program director that develops a customized program for you. Coaching services last from 3 months to 1 year and you pay one fee (not monthly).

Your coach’s main focus will be to increase your financial literacy and help you learn and utilize fundamental investment planning tools. Your personal guide to wealth may include investing in real estate, starting a business, investing in paper assets (or all three).