Robert Kiyosaki is best known for his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. One of the top financial books that I recommend here. It this book he describes how he has been raised by two “dads”. They both learned him a different approach on how to live life. And how to handle your career and finance.
He has written several more books about this subject and has created a board game The Rat Race 
One of his boldest statements in his early years was that your house is not an asset. That it won’t make you money, but instead it only costs you money. To fully understand his philosophy I recommend reading his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It is very simple to read but it has some amazing insights that will change your view on your finances.
Here is a selection of some of the great things Robert Kiyosaki has said or written in one of his books. These are some of the lessons he has learned from his two dads.
01. “Money is just an idea.”
When you take a good look a money it is some worthless piece of paper. There’s one thing that makes it worth something and makes that you can use it in stores. That is the idea we, all the people in the world, has given to it.
We all agreed that that piece of paper represents a certain value. And we are all willing to exchange goods or our time for that piece of paper because of that value.
To you money is also just an idea. You give it meaning in your life. You make the decision how important it is for your luck. Do you fully depend on it? Or can you easily let it go? Be aware of your idea of money to be able to handle it in the right way.
02. “When it comes to money, the only skill most people know is to work hard.”
Most people only know one option to get more money. That’s working hard. Or working harder than they do to try to get more money. It is bad if you think that is the only way to get money.
Sure, it is the most common used method among the middle class to get money. But take a look at the rich and upper class. Most of them don’t “work” hard in the way of a job. The top earners of the world are business owners. They let money work for them.
03. “Skills make you rich, not theories.”
Theories are a good starting point to know what you should do. When you only know what you should do, but you never really do it, those theories will never become practical. By executing on your theories you will gain skill. You’ll learn from doing and failing.
It is easy to get rich by theory, there are a lot of simple procedures that you can follow to become rich. The only trick is to turn these theories into practice and execute them. So theories will never make you rich. Only your skills you get from executing and taking action can make you rich.
04. “Never say you cannot afford something. That is a poor man’s attitude. Ask HOW to afford it.”
It is easy to look at a price tag of something you want and say that it is too expensive. Do nothing to change it and continue with your life. Every now and then you’ll be thinking about what you wanted to buy, but couldn’t afford. And every time you’ll get a bad feeling about it because you feel poor.
You should turn this thought around. Not thinking about what you can afford at the moment, but decide what you want to buy. Then you’re going to find out how you can get to money to buy it. Now you’ve set a goal to work for and to earn your money for. You’re more motivated to put some money aside because you know what it is for.
05. “Money is a powerful force. don’t use it against you. If your self-discipline and financial intelligence are low, money will run over you. It will be smarter than you to take over your life.”
Most people hate to do their finance. They look up to handling all their bills and doing taxes each year. The best option is to ignore it as much as possible and let someone else handle the things that really needs to be done. In that case you don’t have any grip on your situation and money will run over you.
Even if you don’t like finance at all, it is important to get some basic understanding of it. Simply because it is one of the main things our society runs on. So take the time to learn about it, become smart in financial intelligence. It will give you so much more option to live with.
06. “The poor get up every day and go work for money, not taking the time to ask the question, ‘Is there another way?”
Do you ever question the way you live your life? Most people don’t. They never take some time off to reflect on their life. And if they do, they don’t think about whether a job is the right way to go.
Lots of people don’t like their current jobs, but they’ll be ending up in a different job that will be boring in a few years as well. Only the ones that really think about it come to the conclusion that a job is not the best way to go. There are so much more opportunities in the world that they’re not taking. So don’t think like a poor person, start questioning your way of life.
07. “There is a difference between being poor and being broke. Broke is temporary. Poor is eternal.”
It is good to be aware of the difference between being poor and being broke. Being broke means that you don’t have any money or assets at the moment. There will be a time that this changes, because being broke is often caused by some specific circumstances.
Being poor on the other hand is a lifestyle. Poor people have a certain mindset and a certain way to live their life. Until they change their philosophy about life and finance they’ll always stay poor.
08. “The poor and the middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.”
The rich have found several ways to let their money work for them. Which is so much easier than to have to get to your job every day. When your money is placed in the right assets it will go to work for you. And it will come home with a paycheck for you as well. The only difference here is that you don’t have to get to work.
09. “The philosophy of the rich and the poor is this: the rich invest their money and spend what is left. The poor spend their money and invest what is left.”
By investing your money first you are always sure that you keep investing in your assets. And that you keep working on growing your wealth. What is left after investing can be used for spending. This order is important because investing will give you a return over time. While spending will give you something short term. Or it will get you a liability that will cost you even more over time.
10. “Rule One. You must know the difference between an asset and a liability, and buy assets. An asset is something that puts money in my pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of my pocket.”
It is vital to know the difference between an asset and a liability. More importantly you need to be aware of this every time you’re going to spend money. Decide which one of the two you’re going to buy and if that is the smart thing to do.
Assets are things that will cost you money to buy, but in time they’ll be earning money for you. Where liabilities also cost money to buy. Only they will cost you even more money over a longer period. So the initial cost is not the only money you’ll be putting into this.
11. “Rich dad said it was better to work years at creating an asset rather than to spend your life working hard for money to create someone else’s asset.”
If you’re looking to grow your wealth it is important to work on your own assets. Assets can make you money and will increase over time as well. Where working at a job is working for someone else’s asset. Your bosses business. When you’re aware of these things you start to rethink the way you’ve always thought about going to work.
12. “Often, the more money you make the more money you spend; that’s why more money doesn’t make you rich – assets make you rich.”
It is widely known that people that make more money also spend more money. A great example to explain this quote from Robert Kiyosaki are lottery winners. They suddenly get a lot of money, and for a moment they’re rich. But you often see that they spend or lose their money within a few years.
How is that possible? Because they still have a poor mindset. They only spend their money on liabilities and not on assets that will make them money in the long term. So the money alone won’t make you rich. The change in mindset and working on your assets will.
13. “It’s more important to grow your income then cut your expenses. It’s more important to grow your spirit that cut your dreams.”
When people can’t pay their bills anymore most of them will cut their expenses at first. This is the easiest way to save some money on the short term. The downside of this is that you are compromising your life, your dreams to your circumstances. You should never do that!
Never give up on your dreams. That’s why it is more important to work on growing your income. As said at the fourth quote, the rich focus on HOW to afford the things they want. This is true for your dreams as well.
14. “The moment you make passive income and portfolio income a part of your life, your life will change. Those words will become flesh.”
This is a mind changing moment in your life. The first time you’ll get an income from something different than your job. You’ve created a personal income stream by working on your assets. Now you’re on the right track and your work and mindset are going to pay off.
15. “To be a successful business owner and investor, you have to be emotionally neutral to winning and losing. Winning and losing are just part of the game.”
In business, as in life, you’ll win some and you’ll lose some. You must be aware of that. Also you must be emotionally strong enough to handle those things. Don’t get mad when your investments are going the wrong way. As long as you are thinking about what you’re doing and not just throwing some money around it will be OK. It might not be working out the way you’d thought. In that case you’ll have another lesson learned.
16. “Rich dad thought it best to go broke before 30. You still have time to recover”
To become successful and wealthy you’re going to need to take risks. Those risks will not always have a positive outcome. Don’t be afraid of that, especially when you’re still young. There’s more than enough time to recover and build new assets for yourself.
17. “You will never know true freedom until you achieve financial freedom.”
Freedom is something everybody is looking for in life. You can be free is so many ways, but true freedom is financial freedom. By not having to worry about your finances and income you can choose to do whatever you want. Being financially free will give you all the other ways of freedom combined.
What other inspiring quotes that changed your mindset about finance would you like to add?
