Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Toru Kiyosaki was born on April 8, 1947, in Hilo, Territory of Hawaii. He is the eldest child of Japanese descent, with his father being an educator who served as Hawaii’s superintendent of schools. After attending Manoa Elementary School and Hilo High School, Kiyosaki graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1969 as a deck officer. He then joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War, and was once based in Kaneohe Bay.

Kiyosaki began his entrepreneurial journey in 1977 by founding “Rippers,” a company that marketed nylon and Velcro wallets. Following its bankruptcy, he worked as a sales associate at Xerox until June 1978. In the 1980s, he transitioned into a motivational speaker, running a course on Erhard Seminars Training (EST) techniques called Money and You, after attending the course himself in 1974. He expanded this business internationally, eventually leaving it in 1994.

A significant turning point came in 1993 with the publication of his first book, “If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don’t Go to School?” In 1997, he established Cashflow Technologies, which owned and operated the “Rich Dad” brand, including the “Cashflow” brand games designed to educate on business and financial concepts. He is best known for the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” series of personal finance books, with nearly 40 million copies sold by 2017. He founded the Rich Dad Company, which offers financial education through books, seminars, and online courses. In 2012, his company Rich Global LLC filed for bankruptcy, leading to a court order to pay $23.7 million to The Learning Annex.