‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ author Robert Kiyosaki reveals $1.2 billion debt

Businessman-author Robert Kiyosaki, known for his ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ series of personal finance books, recently shared that he is under a debt of $1.2 billion.

“…so all the money I make, if I buy something with debt, I am a billion too in debt. Because if I go bust, the bank goes bust. Not my problem,” Kiyosaki said in a Reel uploaded to his Instagram recently.

Kiyosaki, who is also an investor, remarked while explaining his philosophy on debt. Revealing the reason behind amassing this much debt, he pointed to his practice of saving gold and converting his earnings into gold and silver, which he began doing following the detachment of the US dollar from the gold standard in 1971 under President Richard Nixon.

He added that unlike most people who buy liabilities using debt, he uses it to purchase assets, and gave examples of his luxury vehicles, categorising these as liabilities, rather than assets.

The 76-year-old elaborated, “So I drive a Ferrari. Guess what? It's paid off 100% because it is a liability. I drive a Rolls Royce. It is paid off 100%. Because it is a liability.”

He further talked about what he considers as ‘good’ debt. As per him, the money that falls under the ‘good’ category includes loans used to acquire income-generating assets such as real estate, businesses, and investments.

Additionally, Kiyosaki advocated investments in ‘real assets’ like Bitcoin, gold, silver, and Wagyu cattle. Bitcoin, in particular, is his favourite, as it is a ‘hedge’ against the deteriorating value of the US dollar.