Rich Dad Poor Dad self-help author Robert Kiyosaki is $1.2 billion in debt, but… | Today’s news
Robert Kiyosaki, the DIY mogul behind “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” is sitting on $1.2 billion in debt tied to his vast real estate portfolio, according to a report.
The 79-year-old author is far from hiding a staggering balance sheet, but he has actively flaunted it by making aggressive lending of cash-generating assets a staple wealth-building textbook.
“So I’m two billion in debt,” he told the “Get Rich Education” podcast. However, he added that people “shouldn’t do what I do, right?”
As ironic as it sounds, Kiyosaki said he has been studying debt since 1974. “If you want to learn how to use debt, you’d better educate yourself.”
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The truth behind the $1.2 billion debt
According to his ex-wife and business partner, Kim Kiyosaki, the massive debt figure is widely misunderstood. She told Vanity Fair that the amount does not represent money the best-selling author owes personally, but is tied to real estate.
“We have a lot of apartment buildings with our partners,” Kim said, listing the portfolio at about 1,500 units. “So technically yes, we have all this debt,” she said, noting that Kiyosaki’s personal share is small.
“He likes to say things that shock,” Kim told the magazine, adding that Kiyosaki is using the billion dollars to get attention before explaining “why investment debt is good.”
According to Vanity Fair estimates, Kiyosaki’s portion of the debt could be between $30 million and $60 million, if his claim that he withdraws roughly $3 million a year is correct.
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Kiyosaki’s investment strategy
According to Vanity Fair, Kiyosaki’s ten-figure debt is actually intentional: he’s using his growing real estate equity to unlock tax-free income through new loans. To manage the downside, each asset is housed within its own limited company, effectively protecting individual investments against default.
“If it all goes to hell, you can talk to my lawyer,” Robert Kiyosaki told the magazine. “Firewalls – that’s how the rich play the game.”
What do the experts say?
Financial experts weighed in on Kiyosaki’s staggering debt pile in a report by The New York Post that revealed a stark breakdown in that strategy.
Tax expert and real estate investor David A. Perez called the approach “a great strategy” and told The Post that carrying high real estate debt is “actually very normal.”
Because equity lending avoids outright sales, it creates tax-free liquidity, Perez explained — even as it raises mortgage costs and cuts into operating cash flow.
But wealth adviser John Poole urged extreme caution, telling The Post: “I think there’s good debt and there’s bad debt, and then there’s $1.2 billion of debt that you better know what in the world you’re doing.”
Poole pointed out that leverage acts “like a chainsaw that goes down financially” if values stall, and rejected the idea of relying on endless refinancing. “It doesn’t go on forever. There has to be a payoff… (Kiyosaki) may call it ‘rich dad’s debt,’ but for the average investor, it can turn out to be ‘poor dad’s bankruptcy’ really quickly.”
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About Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki has built a massive financial-education empire on the back of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ a title he first self-published in 1997 that has since surpassed 44 million sales, according to Vanity Fair.
The sensational book presents the contrasting life lessons of two mentor figures: Kiyosaki’s biological father, ‘Poor Dad’, and the father of his childhood best friend, the titular ‘Rich Dad’.
His biological father, Ralph Kiyosaki, was a Hawaii state superintendent of education who launched an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1970. The “rich dad” was later revealed to be Richard Kimi, a prominent Hawaiian businessman whose hospitality portfolio once included the Waikiki Biltmore Hotel.
Drawing on these influences, Kiyosaki has long advocated parking money in cash-flowing assets such as real estate, minimizing the tax burden, and drawing a hard line between “good debt” taken on to raise investment and “bad debt” used to finance personal consumption.
