The Man Who Wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad Is $1.2 Billion in Debt

Robert Kiyosaki, the bestselling author of modern financial literacy classic Rich Dad, Poor Dad, admits that he is $1.2 billion (about P66.7 billion) in debt, but the way he explains it is making some people think that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

According to the Japanese-American author and investor, whose net worth is estimated to be north of $100 million, unlike most people who use debt to buy liabilities, he uses debt to buy assets like gold and silver.

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“I drive a Ferrari,’ he says in an Instagram reel posted last December. “Guess what? It’s paid off 100 percent. I drive a Rolls-Royce. It’s paid off 100 percent. Because it’s a liability.”

“I use debt as money,” he adds. “That’s why I’m P1.2 billion in debt. If I go bust, the bank goes bust. Not my problem!” 

Kiyosaki says he immediately converts all the money he makes into investments.

“All the cash I make, I convert into silver and gold,” he says. “And I don’t save cash. Because I don’t trust the frickin’ dollar!”

Kiyosaki repeated his debt amount during an episode of the podcast called Disruptors.

"I'm a billion dollars in debt because debt is money," he said.

In essence, Kiyosaki advocates the strategic use of debt to increase wealth. He further classified debt into good and bad, with good debt the kind that helps people build wealth and bad debt sinking them further with liabilities. It was good debt, in particular, that the author and investor used to generate wealth, such as loans used to acquire income.

He also said that people should use debt as leverage in investments, especially in real estate.

A story on Yahoo Finance says Kiyosaki is averse to fiat money (basically regular currency or cash) and instead is a believer in investing in so-called “real assets” like silver, gold, Bitcoin, and even Wagyu cattle, which reflects his belief in diversifying his portfolio beyond traditional investments. 

While Kiyosaki has written a total of 26 books, he is perhaps best-known for Rich Dad Poor Dad, a book published in 1997 about financial literacy that taught readers about building wealth through investments and achieving financial independence. The book was a massive success both critically and commercially in the U.S. and across the world and established Kiyosakii virtually as a household name in personal finance.

He, however, was known to have filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after a legal tussle with a company that helped him promote his book and his brand early in his career.

Kiyosaki currently posts financial advice and predictions in his social media, particularly Instagram, where he has a current follower count of 3.6 million.