Robert Kiyosaki: Top 4 Tips To Save Retirees From Financial Disaster
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Jennifer Taylor
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Ashleigh Ray
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Retirement involves a major shift in your life, and if you haven’t prepared financially you could fall short of your retirement goals. If you’re leaving the workforce in the near future, Robert Kiyosaki — founder of the famous “Rich Dad” franchise — has some advice that might differ from the traditional guidance on padding your retirement accounts or utilizing Social Security.
Going into retirement planning fully informed by money experts like him can help you avoid financial disaster. Here are four of Kiyosaki’s top tips to help you enjoy a financially sound retirement.
Don’t Expect Your 401(k) to Last
Generally speaking, if you worked hard to put money aside in your 401(k) or other retirement savings throughout your career, you may assume it will last through retirement. However, Kiyosaki is adamant that this isn’t the case.
In a post on X, he shared a story about having dinner with a baby boomer friend who said many of his peers are coming out of retirement because inflation has depleted much of their 401(k).
“Printing fake money causes assets such as gold, silver, and Bitcoin to rise in price,” he posted. “Printing fake money also causes food, fuel and fun to go up in price too.”
He said printing money might make the Feds richer, but it causes the poor and middle class to lose money. “That’s why boomers are coming out of retirement,” he posted. “Their nest is filled with fake assets and fake money.”
Kiyosaki has long been a vocal critic of 401(k) plans. On his “Rich Dad” website, he has covered the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, which took place around the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act. He noted that defined benefit plans provided employees with a set amount of income, but in the post-ERISA shift, the responsibility for retirement income has fallen on employees.
This, he noted, has left people with no financial education in charge of investing their retirement funds. While they can work with a financial planner, he indicated this might not necessarily be in their best interest.
Consider Alternative Investments
Kiyosaki firmly believes in investing in assets that have cash flow and alternative income sources, such as real estate, oil wells, business, gold, silver and cryptocurrencies. This is due to his belief that traditional financial markets can be uncertain, so money markets, the stock market and central banks should not be fully trusted.
In his book “Who Stole My Pension?: How You Can Stop the Looting,” he dedicated a chapter to this type of investment. In it, he wrote, “Once you understand the words infinite returns, you will never have to work for money again.
Lower Your Tax Burden
Taxes are a part of life, but Kiyosaki says everyone doesn’t adhere to the same rules. On his “Rich Dad” website, he emphasized the importance of finding ways to invest your money in a manner that increases your wealth and lowers your tax burden.
While this won’t work for everyone, he explained that business owners are able to lower their tax burden by purchasing assets through their company and paying taxes on the leftover money. Conversely, employees are forced to pay taxes first, then invest what they can of any money left.
Presume You Won’t Spend Less in Retirement
It’s not uncommon to hear that you’ll need less money in retirement because your expenses will be lower. However, Kiyosaki said not to count on that.
In a LinkedIn post, he explained that due to longer life expectancies and healthier lifestyles, retirees can live longer, fuller lives than in the past. Therefore, people tend to spend more in retirement than when they were working — at least in the early years.
Additionally, he noted that — rightfully so — people don’t tend to want to lower their standard of living in retirement. Beyond that, costs such as healthcare tend to rise dramatically, requiring a notable amount of money.
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
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