CHAPTER ONE

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Read by Alison

2018.1.18

As narrated  by Robert Kiyosaki

I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One was highly educated and intelligent; he had a Ph.D. and completed four years of undergraduate大学，大学生 work in less than two years. He then went on to Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University to do his advanced studies, all on full financial scholarships. The other father never finished the eighth grade.

Both men were successful in their careers, working hard all their lives. Both earned substantial  [səb'stænʃ(ə)l]incomes  ['ɪnkʌm]. Yet one struggled financially all his life. The other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii [hə'waii:]. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities and his church. The other left bills to be paid.

Both men were strong, charismatic英 [kærɪz'mætɪk] 超凡魅力的；神赐能力的 and influential . Both men offered me advice, but they did not advise the same things. Both men believed strongly in education but did not recommend the same course of study.

If I had had only one dad, I would have had to accept or reject his advice. Having two dads offered me the choice of contrasting points of view; one of a rich man and one of a poor man.

Instead of simply accepting or rejecting one or the other, I found myself thinking more, comparing and then choosing for myself.

The problem was, the rich man was not rich yet  and the poor man not yet poor. Both were just starting out on their careers, and both were struggling with money and families. But they had very different points of view about the subject of money.

For example, one dad would say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." The other, "The lack of money is the root of all evil."

As a young boy, having two strong fathers both influencing me was difficult. I wanted to be a good son and listen, but the two fathers did not say the same things. The contrast in their points of view, particularly where money was concerned, was so extreme that I grew curious and intrigued  [ɪn'triɡd  好奇的；被迷住了的.  I began to start thinking for long periods of time about what each was saying.

Much of my private time was spent reflecting思考, asking myself questions such as, "Why does he say that?" and then asking the same question of the other dad's statement陈述. It would have been much easier to simply say, "Yeah, he's right. I agree with that." Or to simply reject the point of view by saying, "The old man doesn't know what he's talking about." Instead, having two dads whom I loved  forced me to think and ultimately 最终 choose a way of thinking for myself. As a process, choosing for myself turned out to be much more valuable in the long run, rather than simply accepting or rejecting a single point of view.

One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles in debt  is because the subject of money is taught at home, not in school. Most of us learn about money from our parents. So what can a poor parent tell their child about money? They simply say "Stay in school and study hard." The child may graduate with excellent grades but with a poor person's financial programming方案 and mind-set思考方式. It was learned while the child was young.

Money is not taught in schools. Schools focus on scholastic [skə'læstɪk] and professional skills, but not on financial skills. This explains how smart bankers, doctors and accountants who earned excellent grades in school may still struggle financially all of their lives. Our staggering 令人震惊的national debt is due 归于 in large part 很大程度上to highly educated politicians  [,pɒlə'tɪʃənz] and government officials  making financial decisions with little or no training  on the subject of money.

I often look ahead to the new millennium  and wonder what will happen  when we have millions of people who will need financial and medical assistance. They will be dependent on their families or the government for financial support. What will happen when Medicare医疗保险 and Social Security社会保险 run out of money? How will a nation survive if teaching children about money  continues to be left to parents- most of whom will be, or already are, poor?

Because I had two influential fathers, I learned from both of them. I had to think about each dad's advice, and in doing so, I gained valuable insight  into the power and effect of one's thoughts on one's life. For example, one dad had a habit of saying, "I can't afford it." The other dad forbade 禁止those words to be used. He insisted I say, "How can I afford it?" One is a statement, and the other is a question. One lets you off the hook脱离困境, and the other forces you to think. My soon-to-be-rich马上有钱的 dad would explain  that by automatically saying the words "I can't afford it," your brain stops working. By asking the question "How can I afford it?" your brain is put to work. He did not mean buy everything you wanted. He was fanatical 狂热的 about exercising your mind, the most powerful computer in the world. "My brain gets stronger every day because I exercise it. The stronger it gets, the more money I can make." He believed that automatically saying "I can't afford it" was a sign of mental laziness['leɪzɪnɪs]

.

Although both dads worked hard, I noticed that one dad had a habit of putting his brain to sleep when it came to money matters, and the other had a habit of exercising his brain. The long-term result was that one dad grew stronger financially and the other grew weaker. It is not much different from a person who goes to the gym to exercise on a regular basis versus someone who sits on the couch watching television. Proper physical exercise increases your chances for health, and proper mental exercise increases your chances for wealth. Laziness decreases both health and wealth.

My two dads had opposing attitudes in thought. One dad thought that the rich should pay more in taxes to take care of those less fortunate. The other said, "Taxes punish those who produce and reward those who don't produce."

One dad recommended, "Study hard so you can find a good company to work for." The other recommended, "Study hard so you can find a good company to buy."

One dad said, "The reason I'm not rich is because I have you kids." The other said, "The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids."

One encouraged talking about money and business [ˈbɪznɪs] at the dinner, table. The other forbade the subject of money to be discussed over a meal.

One said, "When it comes to money, play it safe 求稳, don't take risks." The other said, "Learn to manage risk."

One believed, "Our home is our largest investment and our greatest asset." The other believed, "My house is a liability债务, and if your house is your largest investment, you're in trouble."

Both dads paid their bills on time, yet one paid his bills first while the other paid his bills last.

One dad believed in a company or the government taking care of you and your needs. He was always concerned about pay raises, retirement plans, medical benefits, sick leave, vacation days and other perks额外津贴（. He was impressed with对。。。印象深刻 two of his uncles who joined the military  and earned a retirement and entitlement package 权利；津贴for life after  twenty years of active service现役. He loved the idea of medical benefits and PX privileges the military provided its retirees退休人员. He also loved the tenure system  ['tenjə]任期制available through the university. The idea of job protection for life and job benefits seemed more important, at times, than the job. He would often say, "I've worked hard for the government, and I'm entitled to有权利 these benefits."

The other believed in total financial self-reliance依靠自己. He spoke out against 大胆抗议，公然反对the "entitlement"津贴、应得的权利 mentality  心态 and how it was creating weak and financially needy 贫困的，需要的people. He was emphatic[ɪm'fætɪk; em-]看重的，着重的 about being financially competent['kɒmpɪt(ə)nt].

One dad struggled to save a few dollars. The other simply created investments.

One dad taught me how to write an impressive resume  [rɪˈzjuːm    so I could find a good job. The other taught me how to write strong business and financial plans  so I could create jobs.

Being a product of two strong dads allowed me the luxury of observing the effects  different thoughts have on one's life. I noticed  that people really do shape their life through their thoughts.

For example, my poor dad always said, "I'll never be rich." And that prophesy  became reality. My rich dad, on the other hand, always referred to himself 把什么称作 as rich. He would say things like, "I'm a rich man, and rich people don't do this." Even when he was flat broke身无分文 after a major financial setback , he continued to refer to 把自己称为himself as a rich man. He would cover修饰，掩饰 himself by saying, "There is a difference between being poor and being broke. - Broke is temporary, and poor is eternal.  "

My poor dad would also say, "I'm not interested in money," or "Money doesn't matter." My rich dad always said, "Money is power."

The power of our thoughts may never be measured or appreciated, but it became obvious to me as a young boy to be aware of my thoughts  and how I expressed myself. I noticed that my poor dad was poor  not because of the amount of money he earned, which was significant, but because of his thoughts and actions. As a young boy, having two fathers, I became acutely清醒的看到 aware of being careful  which thoughts I chose to adopt as my own. Whom should I listen to-my rich dad or my poor dad?

Although both men had tremendous  大量的 respect for education and learning, they disagreed in what they thought was important to learn. One wanted me to study hard, earn a degree and get a good job to work for money. He wanted me to study to become a professional, an attorney [ə'tɜːnɪ] or an accountant or to go to business school for my MBA. The other encouraged me to study to be rich, to understand how money works and to learn how to have it work for me. "I don't work for money!" were words he would repeat over and over, "Money works for me!"

At the age of 9, I decided to listen to and learn from my rich dad about money. In doing so, I chose not to listen to my poor dad, even though he was the one with all the college degrees.