Rich Dad Poor Dad
Robert Kiyosaki's 1997 personal-finance parable — the founding text of hustle-culture money advice and the FIRE movement's distant grandparent.
Origin
Robert Kiyosaki contrasts two father figures: his biological 'poor dad,' a salaried teacher who believed in school and stable jobs, and his friend's 'rich dad,' a businessman who taught him about assets, liabilities, and cash flow. The central lesson is brutally compressed: an asset puts money in your pocket; a liability takes it out; the house you live in is a liability. Schools, Kiyosaki argues, train obedient employees rather than owners. The book sold 32+ million copies and spun off a board game, seminars, and a still-running franchise. Many of Kiyosaki's specific claims — about his 'rich dad,' his real-estate empire, his predictions — have been hard to verify or have aged badly.
Modern usage
The intellectual base layer for almost every financial-independence guru, real-estate-course pitch, and 'your job is a scam' TikTok. 'Make your money work for you,' 'good debt vs. bad debt,' 'assets vs. liabilities' all flow from this book. Read alongside [[think-and-grow-rich]] by anyone with a finance-bro Instagram.
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