In my opinion, one of the most interesting principles that Robert Kiyosaki (the author of the best-selling book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”) teaches is about the lack of financial education in our youth's curriculum. As a father of young children, one of my main goals and greatest ambitions is to provide my own children with the foundation that Kiyosaki says is lacking in today’s educational system. If you think about it, it really is true that schools only teach basic skills such as math, science, history, language, art, and health. While obviously necessary building blocks for a strong foundation in life, these skills are really only that...“building blocks.” What about the mortar? What's keeping it all together? What's lacking here?
The answer, in Kiyosaki's words, is simply "financial intelligence."
It’s true that the skills currently taught in schools is paramount in helping someone to get a good job and start earning money. But what about once that money is accumulated? What then? There really is no formal curriculum that teaches how that money can (and ought to be) intelligently spent. There’s no education about how to most effectively invest, how to truly save, or how to powerfully leverage money. These skills are the mortar that keep the building blocks together. This is what’s missing. These are skills NOT taught in the current education system. It’s really like teaching someone how to hunt for game, and neglecting to teach them how to properly prepare and cook their catch. Dangerous and stupid.
Think of it this way; by learning skills of language and history, for example, one might develop an aptitude for, and interest in, say, practicing law. Becoming an attorney is potentially a very lucrative profession. However, there are many VERY well-paid attorneys out there who, despite their high salaries, still have mountains of debt and financial stress. This is a good example of what is meant by one lacking financial intelligence. Individuals like this lack a foundation in the education (or at least the practical application) of how to SPEND money wisely. This point can be accentuated by the fact that there are also a lot of moderately-paid individuals out there who, regardless of their relatively conservative incomes, go on to live quite comfortably, having little or even NO debt. Smart.
Having said all that, one of my goals as a father is to teach my own children what they will probably never learn in a public school - financial literacy. I want them to have more than I have. I want them to know more than I did when I started out with my first job. I want them to have a heads up on the pitfalls involved with financial life.
There is, of course, one major problem with my ambition. See, I grew up in, what I believe to be, the lower middle class. As a member of the middle class, I had middle class parents, friends, and teachers. This middle class environment (although rich in good morals, values and experiences) just taught me (via osmosis) how to continue being middle class. And unless some kind of intervention took place, I would be destined to perpetuate all my middle class opinions, tendencies, fears, habits, and mindsets. As a product of the middle class, what qualifications do I have to teach my own kids anything OTHER than middle class principles and dogma? As Kiyosaki puts it, "What can a poor person teach his kids about being rich?" I wrote the following poem to illustrate this point in a more elementary way for my kids:
What can a Duck teach a Duck?
Near a forest thick with trees,
A duck lived by a pond.
Though many sounds came through the trees,
Of one he grew most fond.
The Lion is the jungle king
As everybody knows,
And the roar he makes commands the beasts
And keeps them on their toes!
To Duck, this sound was bold and strong,
And demanded his respect.
He marveled as he said aloud,
“That’s such a cool effect!”
Now, Father Duck had overheard
The musings of his son,
So he waddled over to the lad
And knew what must be done.
“Son”, he said, “I heard your quack,
And as your father duck,
I feel that I should show you how
That mighty pitch is struck.”
Excitedly the lad sat poised
For the lessons to be begin.
As Father Duck perched on a rock
The boy began to grin.
“Lesson one,” said Father Duck,
“To roar you need webbed-feet.
Not so much to make the sound,
But more to keep the beat.”
“Second then, to make a roar,
You’ve got to have a bill.
With that a duck can roar with ease,
Without, he never will.”
“Finally, son, to roar with skill
Your feathers are a must!
For each keeps water off your back.
You have them all, I trust?”
With a nod, he left his perch
And patted Little Duck.
“That roar is yours with tips like these,
And, of course, a little luck.”
The little duck, with hopes set high,
But now a bit confused,
Stood up and climbed the little rock
That Father Duck has used.
With flapping wings, he stomped his feet,
And felt a sudden chill.
Then, imagining the roar inside,
He opened up his bill.
“QUACK! QUACK!” Burst from the duck,
And sorrow lined his bill.
“You’ll get it, son”, said Father Duck,
“With practice and some will.”
He hadn’t learned to roar, but yet
The duckling understood.
He’d never heard his father roar,
And probably never would.
A duck can teach you how to quack,
But what about to roar?
Does he qualify to teach you that,
Having never tried before?
When taught to roar by other ducks
Experience might lack.
So however bold their sound comes out
They still sound like a “QUACK!”
The answer, in Kiyosaki's words, is simply "financial intelligence."
It’s true that the skills currently taught in schools is paramount in helping someone to get a good job and start earning money. But what about once that money is accumulated? What then? There really is no formal curriculum that teaches how that money can (and ought to be) intelligently spent. There’s no education about how to most effectively invest, how to truly save, or how to powerfully leverage money. These skills are the mortar that keep the building blocks together. This is what’s missing. These are skills NOT taught in the current education system. It’s really like teaching someone how to hunt for game, and neglecting to teach them how to properly prepare and cook their catch. Dangerous and stupid.
Think of it this way; by learning skills of language and history, for example, one might develop an aptitude for, and interest in, say, practicing law. Becoming an attorney is potentially a very lucrative profession. However, there are many VERY well-paid attorneys out there who, despite their high salaries, still have mountains of debt and financial stress. This is a good example of what is meant by one lacking financial intelligence. Individuals like this lack a foundation in the education (or at least the practical application) of how to SPEND money wisely. This point can be accentuated by the fact that there are also a lot of moderately-paid individuals out there who, regardless of their relatively conservative incomes, go on to live quite comfortably, having little or even NO debt. Smart.
Having said all that, one of my goals as a father is to teach my own children what they will probably never learn in a public school - financial literacy. I want them to have more than I have. I want them to know more than I did when I started out with my first job. I want them to have a heads up on the pitfalls involved with financial life.
There is, of course, one major problem with my ambition. See, I grew up in, what I believe to be, the lower middle class. As a member of the middle class, I had middle class parents, friends, and teachers. This middle class environment (although rich in good morals, values and experiences) just taught me (via osmosis) how to continue being middle class. And unless some kind of intervention took place, I would be destined to perpetuate all my middle class opinions, tendencies, fears, habits, and mindsets. As a product of the middle class, what qualifications do I have to teach my own kids anything OTHER than middle class principles and dogma? As Kiyosaki puts it, "What can a poor person teach his kids about being rich?" I wrote the following poem to illustrate this point in a more elementary way for my kids:
What can a Duck teach a Duck?
Near a forest thick with trees,
A duck lived by a pond.
Though many sounds came through the trees,
Of one he grew most fond.
The Lion is the jungle king
As everybody knows,
And the roar he makes commands the beasts
And keeps them on their toes!
To Duck, this sound was bold and strong,
And demanded his respect.
He marveled as he said aloud,
“That’s such a cool effect!”
Now, Father Duck had overheard
The musings of his son,
So he waddled over to the lad
And knew what must be done.
“Son”, he said, “I heard your quack,
And as your father duck,
I feel that I should show you how
That mighty pitch is struck.”
Excitedly the lad sat poised
For the lessons to be begin.
As Father Duck perched on a rock
The boy began to grin.
“Lesson one,” said Father Duck,
“To roar you need webbed-feet.
Not so much to make the sound,
But more to keep the beat.”
“Second then, to make a roar,
You’ve got to have a bill.
With that a duck can roar with ease,
Without, he never will.”
“Finally, son, to roar with skill
Your feathers are a must!
For each keeps water off your back.
You have them all, I trust?”
With a nod, he left his perch
And patted Little Duck.
“That roar is yours with tips like these,
And, of course, a little luck.”
The little duck, with hopes set high,
But now a bit confused,
Stood up and climbed the little rock
That Father Duck has used.
With flapping wings, he stomped his feet,
And felt a sudden chill.
Then, imagining the roar inside,
He opened up his bill.
“QUACK! QUACK!” Burst from the duck,
And sorrow lined his bill.
“You’ll get it, son”, said Father Duck,
“With practice and some will.”
He hadn’t learned to roar, but yet
The duckling understood.
He’d never heard his father roar,
And probably never would.
A duck can teach you how to quack,
But what about to roar?
Does he qualify to teach you that,
Having never tried before?
When taught to roar by other ducks
Experience might lack.
So however bold their sound comes out
They still sound like a “QUACK!”
Father Duck would be much better off doing one of two things; admit that he didn’t know the first thing about the “art of the roar”, or learn (from a Lion) how to actually roar before teaching that skill to someone else. THIS is my quest. This is the reason I have adopted the "Rich Dad" lessons with such enthusiasm and passion. I agree with it. And by USING it I can, in effect, break the middle class mindset cycle in MY OWN home. I might not be a creator of financial intelligence, but I certainly can be a student and perpetuator of it.
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