Author describes getting rich in unconventional ways

The current real estate market is fantastic, and every time the price of oil shoots up it's a wonderful thing, in the opinion of Robert Kiyosaki, best selling author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad."

"Real estate is making me richer than ever before, and for others, real estate is making them poor," he said. "Every time the price of oil goes up, I just cheer because my cash flow increases."

Kiyosaki is happy to say his staggering net worth and substantial income (more on that later) is not due to luck or inheritance. He got richer by getting smarter, which is the point of his latest book, "Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter With Your Money," the 14th installment in the wildly popular "Rich Dad" series.

While his newest release repeats many key points made in the earlier books -- your house is not an asset, savers are losers and debt can lead to financial freedom -- this one provides more details of the life experiences that have shaped his nontraditional point of view on personal finance.

In the book's opening chapter, Kiyosaki describes a painful conversation he had with his dying father in 1991 as he was sadly reflecting on his life of financial failure and washed-out dreams. His father (the poor dad), apologized for having no money to pass on, and in a life-defining moment, they cried together.

With the passage of time, Kiyosaki said, he had gained more appreciation for the things his poor dad left that money can't buy -- honor, dignity and a legacy of public service. But two decades ago, his poor dad's insolvency only reaffirmed his desire to live his life a different way.

"He and I didn't agree," Kiyosaki said of his dad, a former superintendent of education for the state of Hawaii. "He wanted me to go back to school, get my master's degree and Ph.D. and go work for the government. Job security was very important to him. I was already an entrepreneur. I was still struggling, but I knew I could do it."

The non-biological rich dad he describes in his seminal book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," was his best friend's father, an uneducated man who became wealthy by following the unconventional techniques and philosophy that Kiyosaki came to embrace, preach and publish around the world.

Like the previous books, the latest one predicts hard times ahead for the masses of hardworking people who are following the old advice of saving money, getting out of debt and investing for the long haul in bonds, mutual funds and low-interest savings accounts. Instead, it encourages readers to borrow money to buy rental real estate and businesses.

But unlike his other books, this one includes what appears to be a disclaimer in an early chapter that acknowledges that his method of investing might not be suitable for everyone.

Being known as the financial guru who turns traditional thinking upside down has earned Kiyosaki a fortune in motivational speaking engagements and book sales, but he is largely dismissed by traditional investment advisers who sell the very products he criticizes.

A quintessential American success story, Robert Toru Kiyosaki started with nothing but a will to succeed and now travels in the same circles as old money moguls such as Donald Trump, with whom he co-authored a book, and Steve Forbes, with whom he teamed up recently on Forbes.com to share views on the state of the economy.

Kiyosaki lives with his wife, Kim, in Scottsdale, Ariz. He estimates his net worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars but says net worth is not as important to him as cash flow. "Net worth is always 'worth-less,'" he said. "I measure wealth in terms of cash flow.

"I have cash flow of $7 million annually whether I work or not, just from my investments. It's not Donald Trump money, but I don't have to work for it. I also still have income from other sources.

"People say the real estate market is terrible. But it's great for me because more people are renting now, not buying. Also, my apartment homes are in Oklahoma and Texas, where there's oil and rents are highest. Real estate is only good where there's jobs, which is why I don't invest in Detroit, where jobs are disappearing."

He said he also owned oil production fields. He holds his savings in physical gold and silver rather than cash because he predicts the dollar's value will continue to fall against other currencies.

E-mail Tim Grant at tgrant(at)post-gazette.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com