Robert Kiyosaki Says Don’t ‘Work for Money’ — Do This Instead

ROBERT KIYOSAKI speaks at the 2024 FreedomFest at the Caesars Forum Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Gage Skidmore / ZUMA Press Wire / Shutterstock.com

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Most of us work for the explicit purpose of making money, but “Rich Dad Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki said that this is not what we should be looking to get out of work.

“When you work just for money, you become a slave to your job — stuck in the rat race, living paycheck to paycheck,” he wrote on Instagram.

Here’s why he believes working for money is a mistake, and what you should be doing instead.

Stop Chasing Paychecks and Do This Instead

Kiyosaki believes that many of us approach our jobs with the wrong motivation, and that this behavior is stopping us from building wealth.

“Are you working for money? Or working to learn?” he wrote on Instagram. “Most people chase paychecks, but the rich chase knowledge.”

Working for money keeps you trapped in a paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, Kiyosaki said.

“But when you work to gain skills, connections and experience, you build the foundation for true wealth,” he wrote.

Working for Knowledge Is the Key To Achieving Financial Freedom

If you want to achieve financial freedom, focus on what you can learn at your job rather than on how much you are getting paid, Kiyosaki said.

“The rich don’t work for money,” he wrote. “They make money work for them. Stop trading time for dollars. Start working for knowledge. That’s the real path to financial freedom.”

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Mark Cuban Has Shared Similar Advice

Kiyosaki isn’t the only financial expert who believes the real value of a job is how much you can learn from it. In a post on Bluesky, serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban shared his career advice for new college grads looking for their first jobs out of school, and it echoed a lot of Kiyosaki’s sentiments.

“I tell every kid that asks that you paid money to learn. Now it’s time to get paid to learn,” he shared. “You don’t need a perfect job. You need to be the best as you can at your job. People like jobs they are good at, but you are always a free agent. You can always be looking and learn more in a new job.”

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