Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom

Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck?

In the world of money there are two mindsets, those that see scarcity and need security, and those who see abundance and thrive on financial adventure – the mindset of the employee or self-employed, and the mindset of the business owner or professional investor.

In The CASHFLOW Quadrant, the sequel to Robert Kiyosaki’s smash hit, Rich Dad Poor Dad, you learn how the role you play in the world of money affects your ability to become financially free.

There are four types of people who make up the world of business: employees, self-employed, business owners, and investors; but it’s only the business owners and the investors who can create great wealth by accelerating their cash flow through assets.

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant is perfect for employees or self-employed individuals interested in finding new ways to generate cash flow. If you’re already a business owner or real estate investor, this book also delivers tools for even greater success.

The definitions of these four quadrants are important. As an employee, you have a job. As a self-employed person, you own a job. As a business owner you have a system (such as a franchise like McDonald's) that produces cash flow for you and others work for you. As an investor, your money works for you. Rich people are getting more than 70 percent of their cash flow and income by having money work for them.

One of the strengths of the book is that it deals with the subtle psychological differences among people in the four different quadrants, especially on subjects like security and freedom. Kiyosaki and Lechter then do a nice job of helping you understand the difference between risky and taking risk. The latter is a good idea, when you know what you are doing, and the former is always to be avoided.

The book is not dogmatic, pointing out that good results can be reached in a variety of ways. You have to decide which ones are right for you. In general, you are encouraged to move from the employee and self-employed side for your income to the business owner and investor side. Then, take your cash flow and expand it into investments.

Another of the strengths of the book is to make it clearer what the advantages of income property are. In these Internet stock-crazed days, many are looking only to stocks and missing good commercial property opportunities.

There are lots of good questions you can use to help frame your road through the cash flow quadant. At a minimum, you will become much more financially literate. With the help of the 7 steps here for making the necessary changes, you should begin to make the transition.

The book has a nice conversational tone that turns personal economics into common sense examples and principles.

The downside of any book about changing your life is that you can read it much faster than you can master the lessons and apply them. I suggest that you schedule time to reread this book over the next 10 years. That's the best way to check up on yourself and how you are doing.

I do recommend that you read Rich Dad, Poor Dad first. You'll get much more out of this book if you do that. Then you'll begin to see opportunities where others see difficulties. Good luck with fulfilling your goals!


Outstanding book - perhaps his best   October 6, 2003
Frank Blassie (Newark, NJ)
138 out of 142 found this review helpful

CFQ was worth every dollar and every minute. Jam packed with information on entering the CAsh Flow Quadrant. This book is especially good for the financially handicapped (those with college and especially advanced degrees and only understand a 9-5 existance)

CFQ helped take me from paycheck to paycheck to paycheck and 9-5 to self employment.

I highly recommend this book along with Rich Dad Poor Dad and other books in the RD series. They are all great.


This guy can write. Powerful book!   March 14, 2002
190 out of 198 found this review helpful

Not since "Who Stole the American Dream" by Burke Hodges has anone written a book that dispels the notion of go to college, get a job and work hard--ENT!Not since How to Make Nothing But Money, a NY times best seller by Dave DelDotto has anyone explained with clarity the power of paper; Real Estate, Tax Liens and Discound Mortgages.Self employment is the way to go and this book proves that the American Dream is ALIVE & WELL.In this decade and beyond, more money will be made in network marketing, real estate and the stock market than ever before.Anyone who wants to participate in that growth must read this book.I also recommend Wall Street Money Machine for the new Millenium for powerful cash flow strategies.


Better than the first book   May 31, 2003
145 out of 150 found this review helpful

I disagree with the readers who feel that CFQ is inferior or at best, just RDPD in another cover. CFQ goes into more detail the whole Cash Flow concept. Of course, anyone who has actually read the books already knows this which tells me that the bashers at best probably just skimmed the free sample pages here on Amazon and didn't even bother to read CFQ.

Good book. I highly recommend it.