Robert Kiyosaki’s Most Outdated Piece of Advice (But Can It Still Work?)
Written by
Nicholas Morine
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Finance guru and noted author Robert Kiyosaki — most famous for 1997’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad” — is known worldwide for his concise advise related to all money matters. A frequent critic of fiat currency as “fake government money” in favor of investments in precious metals, cryptocurrency, and real estate, Kiyosaki has not historically shied away from controversial takes.
Among his comments on cash (and more particularly, the saving thereof): “Savers are losers. Cash is trash,” as well as “Adding to my gold, silver, Bitcoin, and Ethereum stack. Savers of U.S. dollars are losers. Be a winner.”
GOBankingRates unpacks Kiyosaki’s advice and find out whether it still holds merit, especially amid current economic realities.
Does Kiyosaki’s Advice Still Hold Up?
This advice comes as a double-edged sword. While it’s true that inflationary pressure can seriously erode cash savings — unless placed in a well-chosen high-yield savings account, the likes of which fellow finance personality Ramit Sethi outlined — Kiyosaki’s advice to ditch cash holdings can also come across as outdated in the sense that it is eminently dangerous during a period of macroeconomic turbulence and/or uncertainty.
Cash savings are more liquid than crypto assets, as well as precious metals holdings, although both of these asset classes have their own advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) strongly advocates for an emergency fund — “a cash reserve that’s specifically set aside for unplanned expenses or financial emergencies” — as a bare minimum for savers.
In fact, echoing Sethi’s list of preferred cash savings accounts, the CFP Board outlined a situation in which a hypothetical family, the Millers, cap off their investing journey by moving these saved dollars into a “higher-yielding FDIC or NCUA-insured savings or money market account.”
Could Kiyosaki’s ‘Outdated’ Advice Actually Generate Wealth in Today’s Market?
By curbing some of Kiyosaki’s all-or-nothing rhetoric on the nature of cash savings and considering the remainder of his advice, several potential gains present themselves.
First, he’s not wrong about gold and silver investment. Both precious metals have recently notched all-time price highs, meaning that those who heeded Kiyosaki’s calls over the years and bought in on gold and silver have seen record returns. In fact, gold has returned nearly 300% on initial investment over the course of the past decade, and silver has done even better, returning 335.8% on initial investment.
One caveat: Having registered at all-time highs, and having been noted as notorious hedges against inflationary pressure, it is possible — though unlikely — that short-term investors who buy in at this high-water mark could lose substantial amounts of money if metals markets dip.
On crypto, more specifically Bitcoin, things are a bit shakier. Cryptocurrencies do not represent a tangible physical asset in the same way that, say, silver does — silver being a vital industrial metal in addition to its usage as a jewelry component. If one had purchased Bitcoin (as Kiyosaki frequently suggests) at its all-time high of ~$125,00 before its recent fall to ~$90,000 in any appreciable measure, a great deal of your investment has been lost, albeit unrealized as long as you hold.
With that being said, several Bitcoin bulls remain unfazed — with J.P. Morgan detailing the possibility that BTC could reach $170,000 in 2026, erasing recent losses and breaking even further into uncharted pricing territory, according to The Motley Fool.
“Gold and silver have been money for thousands of years. Bitcoin for nearly 20 years. Fake money has brought down empires for thousands of years,” Kiyosaki reiterated in a Dec. 10 X post.
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