A glimpse of 'Why We Want You To Be Rich'

The much-ballyhooed book of Trump and Kiyosaki "Why We Want You To Be Rich" is finally out in the shelves. Thanks to my boss, we were lucky to get a copy for everyone to read.

To be honest, I wasn't able to read all of it but I have read most of it. But I simply stopped reading because the book overwhelms me with a "eschatology" of the next-decade US of A heading for a two-class system - the rich will live above the fray of national collapse while the rest of us gnash our teeth and dozens of concepts and predictions that an ordinary man can hardly absorb.

The authors: Robert Kiyosaki is New York Times' best selling author of "Rich Dad Poor Dad." He is an investor, entrepreneur, and educator whose views on money and investing is said to "fly in the face of conventional wisdom" and has a reputation for straight talk and irreverence. While Donald Trump - well who doesn't know Trump - is an accomplished mega-developer billionaire and TV host of a reality show The Apprentice.

Why We Want You To Be Rich is for most part of Kiyosaki's views. Trump only spins plenty of anecdotes and some insights about his golfing flair and the baseball player he was in his youth and his fascination for Los Angeles.

If this book were a football broadcast, Kiyosaki would be the play-by-play announcer and Trump would do color. At the end of each chapter, The Donald meditates on the wisdom Kiyosaki has set forth.

The book, although seems to encourage individuals to become financially literate, but it points you to the negative side of things mostly about the shrinking middle class and the entitlement mentality.

At first it scares you silly. The middle class, according to the authors, is shriveling, sapped by the falling purchasing power, rising national debt, lower wages, higher oil prices and "baby-boomer retirement."

The book is also strongly against "get a good job, work hard, save money, get out of debt, and invest for the long term" and reviles it as obsolete and "flawed" and seeks to tell readers the indignity of middle-class financial life - and the folly of most personal-finance advice.

Kiyosaki tells you to forget mutual funds and modern portfolio. Instead it tries to suggest on real estate investments, especially if you borrow money from the bank to do it. Just leverage your way to a portfolio of real estate and small businesses that will generate enough income to retire to the Bahamas.

The problem with the book is that people were expecting that it is a how-to book. As it turned out, it keeps referring to other books and thinly veiled with infomercials or financial-advice products from Kiyosaki, Trump and their disciples. They sell positive thinking and self-help materials where specific details cost extra.

My suggestion, save your money and buy something else.

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