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the financial education required for the real world, a world that runs on money.

Part OneARE SCHOOLS PREPARING YOUR CHILD FOR THE REAL WORLD?Modern-Day Version ofThe Adventures of Tom SawyerMark Twain, 1876

Part OneIntroductionSchool is a great experience for some children. For others, school is the worst experience of theirlives.Every child has a genius. Unfortunately, their genius may not be recognized by the educational system.Their genius may even be crushed.Thomas Edison, one of the great geniuses of modern times, was labeled "addled" by his first teacher.Addled means "mixed up or confused." He never finished school, and instead became an inventor andan entrepreneur. The company he founded, known today as General Electric, creates products thathave changed the world. A few of Edison’s early projects were the phonograph, the motion picturecamera, and the electric light bulb.Albert Einstein also failed to impress his teachers. From elementary school through college, histeachers thought he was lazy, sloppy, and insubordinate. Most of his teachers said, "He will notamount to anything." Yet Einstein became one of the most influential scientists in history.Genius is an acronym for "Geni-in-us"—the genie or magician in each of us.All parents have met the genius in their child. Most parents know that a child’s true genius is found intheir dreams. We see glimpses of it from an early age the ideas and things that delight them,fascinate them, and challenge them.Protecting and nurturing the genius in your child is a parent’s most important job.This book is written as a guide to help you develop child’s financial genius.

Part One Chapter OneLesson #1:An Educational CrisisThe 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign between President Barack Obama and former MassachusettsGovernor Mitt Romney brought to light the difference in their levels of financial education.While both are highly educated men, one candidate was financially sophisticated the other less so.Obama vs. RomneyDuring the campaign, President Obama disclosed that he paid 20.5% in taxes on approximately 3million in income. Mitt Romney paid 14% on 21 million in income.This gap in income and taxes angered many voters, especially the poor, middle class, and youngervoters. Rather than ask why and how Romney made more money and paid a lower percentage intaxes, many voters just got angry. Most failed to ask, "How did Romney do that?" Or "How did heearn 21 million and pay 14% in taxes?" Or "How is that legal?" Or "Who is smarter when it comesto money President Obama or candidate Romney?"In his second term as President, Mr. Obama seems determined to and already has raised taxes on therich—rather than teach kids about money and capitalism, which is how and why the rich get rich andstay rich and often pay less in taxes. Rather than teach kids to fish, it seems President Obama prefersto give kids fish.This book is about teaching kids to fish.What Does It Take to Become Rich?Many people believe the rich are crooks, and some are. Yet there are far more rich people who arehonest, hard working people and are not crooks. They achieved the American Dream the oldfashioned way—through education, hard work, budgeting wisely, building businesses, creating jobs,and paying their taxes as little as, legally, possible. They also acquired this wealth by studyingsubjects not taught in our schools.This difference in education is reflected in President Obama and Mitt Romney.Both men went to great schools. President Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and HarvardLaw School. Mitt Romney is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School.The primary difference between President Obama and Romney is that President came from a poorfamily and the former governor comes from a rich family.Their story is similar to the ones found in Rich Dad Poor Dad.The lesson of financial education is taught at home not in school.This book is written for parents who want to give their child a financial headstart, at home, studyingsubjects most students—even "A" students—never study.Making the CaseThe "business" of education is one of the biggest industries in the world, impacting the lives of nearly

every person on the planet in one way or another. In the United States public elementary andsecondary schools alone—which employ 3.3 million full time teachers— 571 billion will be spentfor the 2012-2013 school year. That’s only in the United States, a country where approximately fivemillion students entered high school in the 2010-2011 school year. Globally that number growsexponentially. I often ask myself how many of these kids finished high school and how manydropped out? How many went on to college or university and how many actually graduated? Thestaggering statistics on the college loan debt they’re saddled with have made headlines around theworld. And how many went on for an advanced degree—at even greater cost—in the hope ofproportionately higher salaries when they joined the global workforce?Not only are hundreds of billions of dollars spent on elementary through university education, but themilitary also spends billions of dollars to train young men and women to serve their country.Corporate training of employees is another billion-dollar industry as are the tradeschools that teachfuture technicians to repair and maintain our cars, refrigerators, electrical systems, and computers.But financial education, at least in the established, formal arenas of school systems and curricula, islargely ignored. I’ve asked myself again and again: Why is that?Could the lack of financial education be one of the reasons behind our financial crisis?How much of the subprime mortgage crash was caused by a lack of financial education?How many of the millions of families who lost their homes lost them, in part, due to a lack offinancial education?Could the lack of financial education be the reason why so many people are dependent upongovernment programs like Social Security, Medicare, military and public service pensions—pensions which are bankrupting cities, states, and entire countries?Is the United States—like countries around the world—heading for bankruptcy because millionsof Americans need the government to take care of them socially, medically, and financially?Is our escalating national debt a reflection of our corporate and political leaders’ lack offinancial education?Is the United States decaying into the same economic demise countries such as Greece, Italy,France, Japan, England, and Spain are facing?Welfare for the RichWe all know there are welfare programs for the poor, but what about welfare for the rich?Why do our leaders—the President, Congress, and other political bureaucrats—vote themselvesgiant pensions and generous benefit packages while the number of families on public assistancegoes up? Are our leaders as financially needy as those who rely on the government to meet theirmost basic needs?What would happen if we had leaders who knew how to create wealth rather than just knowinghow to spend other people’s (the taxpayers’) money?Why do CEOs grant themselves massive pay increases, stock options, and perks at the same timethey lay off workers? Are CEOs greedy due to a lack of financial education, or did they go to

school to learn to be greedy?Did the bankers who lost billions have an adequate financial education?Why were millions of employees laid off, and thousands of small businesses closed, while thebankers who caused the crash were paid multi-million dollar bonuses?Why do teachers’ unions and government bureaucrats determine what our children learn? Whatabout asking the kids and their parents what they need to learn?Why are many of America’s highest paid workers no longer from the private sector? Why are somany well-paid employees, so called public servants, some of the highest paid workers inAmerica today? Why are firefighters and police officers retiring with millions in lifetimebenefits? What has happened to government service?Who caused this financial crisis?Today’s financial crises were not caused by poor, uneducated people. Behind the chaos are some ofthe most well-educated people in the world, people such as Federal Reserve Chairman BenBernanke, a former Stanford and Princeton professor, a student of the Great Depression, but,unfortunately, someone without much financial education or real life business experience.This book is about education. But not the education taught in our schools.An Educational CrisisWe are not in a financial crisis. We are in an educational crisis. This crisis begins when our childrenenter school, spending years—sometimes decades—learning nothing about money and being taught bypeople who know little about money.For some reason, our schools have a quasi-religious view about money.Schools seems to believe:"For the love of money is the root of all evil."–Timothy 6:10Schools ignore the passage that reads:"My people perish from a lack of knowledge."–Hosea 4:6People are perishing economically due to a lack of financial education in our schools.Lao Tzu, the Chinese founder of Taoism in the 5th Century BC, stated:"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime."Unfortunately, rather than teach people to fish, we are teaching kids the Robin Hood philosophy ofeconomics:"Take from the rich and give to the poor."That’s also known as socialism.Ultimately, all that this generosity does is create more poor people. On November 2, 2012 a headlinein The Weekly Standard stated:"Food stamp rolls grow 75 times faster than jobs."As expected, the Republicans blame President Obama for this crisis and the Democrats state that

Republicans are to blame.This book is not about politics. It is about education, and about how the lack of financial education isthe true cause of financial crisis.Lag TimesMost schoolteachers are great people. The problem is that most teachers, and parents, are products ofthe same educational system.Many teachers are frustrated. Many teachers are pushing for change. Unfortunately, the educationindustry seems to be an industry that has one of the slowest rates of change.Different industries have different lag times. One definition of lag time is the time delay between anew idea being proposed and its adoption. For example, I’ve been told that in the world oftechnology, lag time is around 18 months, the time between a new idea and that idea taking the form ofa new product. That’s why competition can become so fierce in bringing a new product to market and why new companies soon find themselves out of business because someone else can deliver newproducts or technology faster, better and cheaper.Lag times in the Agrarian Age were measured in hundreds of years. Lag times in the Industrial Agewere measured in fifty-year increments. Lag time in the Information Age is measured in half-years.I’ve heard that the auto industry has a lag time of 25 years. This means the new ideas you see on carstoday were conceived 25 years ago ideas such as hybrid cars. And that the business of governmenthas a lag time of approximately 35 years.The reason many teachers and parents are frustrated is because, among all industry sectors, theeducational industry has the second-longest lag time—50 years.The only slower industry is the construction industry, with a lag time of 60 years.Notice that the automobile, government, construction, and educational sectors all have strong laborunions and labor unions are products of the Industrial Age.The Future of EducationThe lag time in education means that children starting school today will be grandparents before theeducational system adopts the changes this book offers.By teaching your kids the lessons in this book, you are giving your child a financial headstart. If lagtimes hold, it will take until the year 2065 before the ideas in this book enter most classrooms. I don’tbelieve we can afford to wait.This book is written for parents, parents who know that it’s up to them—not the school system—toprepare their child for the real world. And that world is a fast-paced, ever-changing, Information-Ageworld a world unlike any of us have ever experienced.This book is also written for parents who know their children face larger financial challenges, thefinancial garbage heaps previous generations have left behind.This book is written for parents who want to understand why President Obama earns 3 million andpays 20.5% in taxes while Mitt Romney earns 21 million and pays 14%.Once a parent knows and understands the differences in what the two men know, they can pass thatknowledge on to their children.My Story

I have been an advocate for financial education for most of my adult life.In 1973, I returned home to Hawaii from the Vietnam War and found my dad, the man I call my poordad, unemployed. He had been the Superintendent of Education for the State of Hawaii. His problemsbegan when he ran for Lt. Governor as a Republican against his boss, a Democrat. In losing theelection, he also lost his job.My dad committed professional suicide by running for Lt. Governor. He risked his "job security"because he was a man of principle. Once he reached the top of the school system’s ladder, as head ofthe Department of Education, he was outraged at the corruption he found in Hawaii’s government, agovernment Forbes magazine has since called "The People’s Republic of Hawaii." That same articlestated, "The state taxes everything that moves. Fidel Castro would feel right at home here."President Obama grew up in Hawaii. He is the first U.S. President from Hawaii. The Forbes articlemay explain why the President has the views he has on government, business, and taxes.The End of EmpiresI am not a Republican or a Democrat. And I do not blame President Obama for the crisis we face.This crisis has been brewing for decades and similar crises have occurred throughout history.Financial ignorance and political corruption have brought down empires for centuries. The samefinancial ignorance and corruption threatens to bring down America.Military-Industrial ComplexOn January 17, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower gave the nation a dire warning aboutwhat he described as a threat to democratic government. He called it the military-industrialcomplex, a formidable union of defense contractors and the armed forces. Eisenhower, aretired five-star WWII Army general who led the allies on D-Day, made the remarks in hisfarewell speech from the White House.Economics of WarEmpires also end when empires fight too many wars in far away places. In doing that America isproving we’ve failed to learn from history.While in junior high school, I listened to President Eisenhower’s warning to the nation about thethreat of the "military-industrial complex." I was in my early teens, and his warning meant little to me.Returning from Vietnam in 1973, I understood the President’s warning. We were not fighting for thefreedom of the Vietnamese people. We were fighting for money. We had been lied to by the elites.We had no business fighting in Vietnam, apart from the issue that war is big business. When I returnedfrom Vietnam, I knew it was time to stop blindly following orders. I knew it was time to start thinkingfor myself.I do not criticize my fellow sailors and soldiers. Most of the young men and women I met in theservice were great people dedicated to their country. Our problem was that we were fighting wars tomake the military-industrial complex richer. Anytime the military-industrial complex needs moremoney, they simply start another war.We are making the same mistakes, in my opinion, when it comes to printing money.

The Roman Empire crumbled when the Romans began destroying their own money, fighting wars infar away lands, and raising taxes on its workers.The United States is repeating the mistakes of the past, proving the old saying:"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."Studying Subjects "A" Students Don’t StudyIn 1973, I informed my dad I was leaving the military service. He was disappointed because hewanted me to stay in the military for the retirement and medical benefits. Counting my time at themilitary academy, I had 10 years accrued toward retirement. I only had 10 more to go.When I nixed that idea, my poor dad suggested I fly for the airlines, as many of my fellow Marinepilots were doing. When I told him I was through flying, he finally suggested I go back to school, getmy Masters Degree, possibly my PhD, and climb the corporate ladder.I loved my dad dearly, but he was suggesting I do what he had done, follow in his footsteps proving, once again, that we repeat mistakes if we do not learn from them.And while I loved my dad, I did not want to make the same mistakes he had made.If I had followed my poor dad’s advice, I might be like him today a highly educated but poor 60 year-old, hoping my savings, pension, Social Security, and Medicare would take care of me.In 1973, I decided to follow in my rich dad’s footsteps. I began by studying subjects my poor dad hadnever studied. This book is about the subjects I studied and the courses most people do not study,including "A" students. Because there is a big pay-off for studying subjects "A" students do not study.In 1997, the book Rich Dad Poor Dad was self-published because every publisher we offered it toturned it down. As you might expect, most publishers are "A" students, like my poor dad. Mostpublishers me sent rejection letters stating, "We are not interested in your book at this time." A fewmore honest publishers stated, "You do not know what you are writing about." Or, "Your ideas areridiculous.""Your House Is Not an Asset"Rich Dad Poor Dad was harshly criticized due to statements such as "Your house is not an asset."Ten years later, in 2007, millions of homeowners all over the world found out the hard way that theirhome was not an asset. As property values plummeted all over the world, millions were pushed intobankruptcy expe

system trains students to be "A" students—academics—or "B" students—bureaucrats. Our schools do not train our young people to be "C" students: capitalists. Furthermore, it's these "C" students who so often follow an entrepreneurial path, carrying the torch of capitalism and creating new jobs.