PBS Joins the Kiyosaki Cult?
Technically I can’t really give PBS too bad a time, because they offer so much good stuff that the occasional piece of crap should really be allowed to slide. I mean, how else could I stay up into the wee hours, show up to work an hour late and explain to my coworkers that I got sucked into a show about String Theory and had a tough time waking up the next morning? That being said, it’s particularly sad to see PBS eagerly promoting Robert Kiyosaki and his book/motivational presentation “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. If only PBS had done a little research before booking this guy, perhaps they might have had some second thoughts. Then again, despite the obvious problems with Kiyosaki’s work, the fact that he sells a ridiculous number of his “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books and is a popular motivational speaker must have been a strong temptation for PBS; what better way to get people to shell out some cash during donation drives than pimping this guys’ work, books and DVDs?
The first time I ever heard about Robert Kiyosaki was just the other week when, flipping between the three PBS stations I can view, I caught Kiyosaki’s presentation midway-through. I watched a bit and was intrigued to hear what this guy was saying. Anyone who said that savings and 401K investments were, effectively, useless must have some pretty unique viewpoints. I started to get a little nervous when, during one of the breaks for the donation drive, the host and his wife started talking about real estate investment. This started me wondering if Kiyosaki was nothing more than yet another late-night informerical host with a plan for sale. The fact that he kept boasting how he was not that smart and didn’t believe education was all that important also had me concerned: I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to get advice on complex subjects, live finance and investment, from intelligent people who’ve trained in their subject matter. The “we’re better than the smarties” attitude Kiyosaki was pushing, and which the audience was eating up (case in point: where he talks about how the C students can now do better than the A students, so there is a God out there somewhere) strikes me as nothing more than posturing and an attempt to connect with the “regular folk” out there in order to get them to buy what you’re selling.
This started me on a few other questions. If this guy is so wealthy and could retire at age 47, why is he so actively pushing what appears to be a huge line of books and speaking engagements? I can understand publishing books because you’re interested in sharing your knowledge, but check out Amazon.com for the sheer number of different books this guy has published. That’s not a hobby, that’s a business. So apparently he’s still looking for income.
Which led me to the question that I ask of all informercial pimps: if you’re business is so successful, why are you working so hard to sell your knowledge? It strikes me that the primary source of their income is not in the actual business they’re promoting, but the business of selling the business they’re promoting. This seems obvious, but apparently not enough people go down this path, because these guys keep popping up on TV.
Which led me to another question: when is this guy going to give some concrete advice? As far as I’m concerned, anytime someone tells you that they’ve got some advice that a certain group of people “don’t want you to hear”, they’re selling snake oil and/or miracle cream. Kiyosaki was certainly pushing that angle, which immediately send up red alerts in my mind. So after promising these revelatory secrets, he proceeds to do nothing more than doodle on his endless supply of white boards and tell us some pretty common sense stuff about assets and liabilities, risk and control, and so forth and so on.
I’m the first to admit that I don’t manage my money well. I know that I need to do better, and this is why the show snared me in the first place. But after the snake oil salesman got started, and later when he trotted out his wife who presented a very vague and generalized commentary about women and real estate investment, I wondered if there was anything useful in what this guy was selling. So I started doing research. It turns out that there are a lot of questions about Kiyosaki that people ought to be concerned about before taking his advice. I also found sites where people raised the same concerns I have raised above and who have even deeper and more thought-provoking questions about Kiyosaki and his instructions.
The final nail in the coffin for me was when PBS started talking about what you’d get with different donation levels. I expected the books, I expected the DVDs and I expected the combo packs for the higher level donations. What I didn’t expect were tickets to a real estate seminar featuring not only Kiyosaki and his wife, but Donald Trump, George Foreman and Anthony Robbins. If ever there was a line-up of people from whom I would NEVER take advice, it’s that crew.
So PBS please do me a favor: in the future when you are searching for donation money, continue your tried and true method of presenting honest, thought-provoking, enriching programming instead of selling your soul to the cult of personality crowd. You’re smart people and you must understand that anyone who tells you that an inherently complex process like investing and financial management is simple and easy is lying to you, probably to sell you something. That’s exactly what Kiyosaki is doing. Show a little more respect for your audience, so we can find you respect-worthy in return and donate cash to keep you running (which I’m not sure Kiyosaki would do unless he could wring a financial return out of it, which is exactly what he’s getting because you’re pimping his work for him).
