Robert Kiyosaki: 6 Ways To Survive a Market Crash
Written by
G. Brian Davis
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Amber Barkley
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In 2024, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki posted on X that he sees a market crash looming on the horizon. “Good news: Crashes are the best time to get rich. Bargains will float to the surface.”
He went on to outline six tips for not just surviving a market crash, but coming out ahead when the dust settles.
Don’t Buy on the Downward Crash
Kiyosaki reiterated a common expression in the investment industry: Don’t try to catch a falling knife. “Just because prices are falling, do not get greedy. Wait until prices have bottomed and no one wants the asset you want.”
Of course, it’s not easy to tell when the market has reached the bottom. But one way to spot it is looking for a sudden upward trend in transaction volume, after a period of relatively stable volume through the crash. Buyers start coming out of the woodwork, while sellers have declined.
You can also look at the stock market volatility index VIX. The index spikes during market crashes, but when it reaches its peak and starts coming down again, it can indicate that a market has reached its bottom.
Study Investing (and Investments)
“YouTube is a great source for real and fake teachers,” Kiyosaki wrote. “Invest time to get into the head of the teacher.”
Learn the fundamentals of your investing strategy of choice. If you want to pick individual stocks, learn fundamental analysis. If you want to invest passively in real estate syndications, learn how to analyze them for risk.
Once you learn the basics of investing in your chosen strategy, you can then turn your focus to studying specific investments or deals. That could mean specific stocks, ETFs, rental properties, passive real estate investments, precious metals, cryptocurrencies or any other type of asset.
Of course, the internet is flooded with bad advice, too, which means your first order of business must be to identify great sources for education.
Choose Great Teachers
Kiyosaki offered a few starting points for people he likes learning from for specific assets: “My real real estate teacher is Ken McElroy. Taxes: Tom Wheelwright. Stocks: John MacGregor. Oil: Mike Maucelli.”
Plenty of great educators exist in the space — and so do many charlatans.
“Be very careful who influences your brain, your attitude and your spirit,” Kiyosaki wrote.
Surround Yourself With Successful People
You’ve heard it before: Spend more time with the type of person you want to be like, and less time with those whose lives you wouldn’t trade for your own. But most fail to heed that advice, because it’s hard to change your social circle.
“Seek new friends who are on the same path you are on,” Kiyosaki wrote. “Stay away from victims: people who blame others for their problems … [and] Marxists: people who expect the government to solve their problems.”
Instead, look for self-made successful people, who fly on the same trajectory you want to follow. Not only can they introduce you to others who might help you along your journey, but they’ll share invaluable advice, mindset shifts and tactical tips to speed up your success.
Start a Side Hustle
Kiyosaki urged readers to start a side hustle that they control, so they don’t rely on their day job as their sole source of income. “Own your own business. AI is going to wipe out millions of jobs. Start a small business and become an entrepreneur… not an employee afraid of losing their job.”
Owning your own business puts you in a position to benefit from rapid changes in technology and the economy. Rather than seeing threats and playing defensively, you can chart your own course. In time, you may discover that your side hustle evolves into a passion business that pays enough for you to quit your day job entirely.
Invest In Real Assets
It sounds counterintuitive in a market crash, but Kiyosaki urged readers not to save money — at least not in cash. “Fake money — U.S. dollar, euro, yen, peso — goes down in value. Save gold, silver, bitcoin, real money that goes up in value, especially in a market crash.”
Kiyosaki remains an outspoken skeptic of fiat currencies. To guard against inflation, he loves real assets, such as precious metals and real estate. More recently, he has embraced cryptocurrencies as another alternative to fiat currencies vulnerable to inflation.
You can think of market crashes as a catastrophe. Or you can think of them as an opportunity to buy stocks and real estate investments at bargain prices.
Kiyosaki concluded, “Take care and make this crash the best thing that ever happened to you.”
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