Kim Kiyosaki on Marriage, Money and Robert – p3 of 3

THE SECOND COMING OF RICH DAD

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

As noted in my interview with your husband; in 1997, the Rich Dad phenomenon occurred; becoming a New York Times Best Seller and has remained on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Robert has sold out Madison Square Garden and now the book has come back to number one which I believe has never happened in the history of publishing. How do you handle that success?

Kim Kiyosaki

“It’s amazing and has definitely hit a chord; we’ve actually tried to put into words what that chord is and we haven’t been successful at that. I think it may be different for everybody. We do know that people want control over their lives and when you feel out of control financially, you can’t have freedom until you have financial freedom and I really believe that. I think the chord is people are tired and don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. They are working until the day they die and I think Rich Dad gives them hope that there is something they can take control of and they can have the lifestyle they want and not be a slave to the system.”

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

With the book Prophecy, you and your team went head to head with Wall Street. It got kind of rough in the media for all of you, didn’t it?

Kim Kiyosaki

“That’s a really big question and a really good question because Prophecy took on Wall Street and we were saying things that flew in the face of what Wall Street was teaching but more importantly with the media, especially print media; they were the toughest. We were going against what their advertisers were promoting and that was stupid to be honest! We had to sit down and ask ourselves, why are we taking on Wall Street, is that really what we want to do? Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here because these magazines are coming after us and do we want to spend our time fighting Wall Street or do we want to spend our time educating people? Actually, it was a good wakeup call for us because we made our point — got the attention — now lets make it the most productive so we can educate the most amount of people rather than fight battles that may not make the most sense. Wall Street has been around a little longer than us. Now what’s happening because we backed away from that, financial experts are now coming around and saying that what we said was actually true. We got quiet and then history supported what Robert said in his book.”

KIM ON INVESTING

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

I remember interviewing Rabbi Benjamin Blech and he wrote a book called Taking Stock where he lost 7 million in the stock market which Robert predicted would happen in Prophecy. If you don’t know how to invest, you have no where to go.

Kim Kiyosaki

“I think you are absolutely right and it’s easy to buy and sell stock but it’s also the riskiest thing people can do. People’s biggest fear is the fear of losing money. That is why they are so afraid to invest. I’ve had people say, ‘I’m not going to invest.’ I would say, ‘Why not?’ They’d say, ‘Because I’ll lose money.’ They think investing means they are going to lose money so there is this huge fear and it’s everywhere. USA Today came out with a study and they found that the number one fear in America was people were afraid of running out of money by retirement.”

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

How important are assets?

Kim Kiyosaki

“Robert called me one day and was serious. He said, ‘Tell me what you are passionate about?’ Wow, that’s a big question. I thought about it and then said, ‘Passive income.’ He says, ‘I knew it! Me too!’ To me that’s what assets are, assets are; freedom. We went to New York City a couple of weeks ago and saw this condo for sale. Beautiful condo, two stories looking down on Times Square, we made the offer. Lets just go and buy it and we’ll use when we want to use it and for some reason I just could not get my mind around it. I thought, if we buy that, it’s not going to give us any cash flow and we could put all of our money into something that could give us cash flow. Robert says, ‘We’ve made enough money, we can buy stuff without it giving us cash flow,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know if I can.’ We were looking at this condo in Hawaii and I had the same dilemma going on in my head. I have been so trained and inundated with this thinking that it is hard to shift out of it. Most people have investments but not necessarily assets. They may buy an investment property that is losing money and call it an asset but it is an investment. Your home could be an investment depending on how the market goes but I would not call it an asset.”

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

Talk to me about the difference between capital gains and cash flow.

Kim Kiyosaki

“We don’t typically buy a property because it is going to appreciate. We buy a property that is going to make us money the day we buy it. It’s going to put money in our pocket every month whether we work or not. So many people buy property and stock thinking that it’s going to go up and that they are going to get the capital gains. What happens is they sell it, get the capital gains and blow the money. My assistant who worked with me a couple of years ago bought a little duplex that was giving her nice cash flow and she decided she was going to sell it and take the cash to pay off her school loans then she would be out of debt. I said, ‘No you’re not! You don’t want to do that because then you have no asset and you are back at ground zero with no cash.’ She refinanced it, got better cash flow and her cash flow is now paying off her school loans. People have been so trained to buy things for capital gains but to me cash flow is wealth. Cash flow says, ‘I can live and survive this many days, this many years without having to work and the cash flow is just going to keep coming in. its freedom verses the quick flip.”

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

You said something very intriguing and that is neither of you ever have to work another day in your life. So what motivates you to stay in the game?

Kim Kiyosaki

“We love the game! That’s the bottom line, I read an article that talked about retirement and it’s not all its cracked up to be. You can only play so many rounds of golf and tell the same old stories over and over again. That’s why I look to our new rich dad, Frank, we’ve known him since 1996 and he’s 84 and he’s traveled to China for our gold deal and he’s traveled to Canada and all over the US, his mind is sharp as a tack and he will work forever because that is what keeps him young. It would be nice to take a break though.”

Philippe “SHOCK” Matthews

To Kim Kiyosaki a break might be a little different than what most people would consider to be a break. What is your definition of a break?

Kim Kiyosaki

“A break might be if I took a year off and spent some time in Hawaii, a few months in New York, play some golf, buy real estate. I love real estate. It’s hard for me and Robert to go to any city and not look at the real estate and make an offer somewhere. In our business, my love is the marketing and PR. What would be the vacation would not to be involved in the day-to-day operations of it, that would be a break.”

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Read Part 1 of 3 – The Currency Couple: