'Rich Dad Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki warned a historic market crash is coming, trumpeted bitcoin, and channeled Warren Buffett in a recent interview. Here are the 10 best quotes.
- Robert Kiyosaki expects financial markets to suffer their most devastating crash ever.
- The "Rich Dad Poor Dad" author said he bought bitcoin at $9,000 and wanted it to get cheaper again.
- Kiyosaki dislikes stocks, and encourages young people to become entrepreneurs instead of employees.
Robert Kiyosaki said financial markets were careening toward their worst crash ever, celebrated the bitcoin sell-off because he wants to buy more, and compared Warren Buffett's investing philosophy to his own in a recent Yahoo Finance interview.
The "Poor Dad Rich Dad" author also said the US government borrowed too much and devalued the dollar, trumpeted the value of debt to investors, and encouraged young people to start businesses instead of becoming employees.
Kiyosaki - a personal-finance guru - has for several months been criticizing federal stimulus programs, warning of a historic market bubble, and urging investors to stockpile bitcoin, gold, and silver.
Here are Kiyosaki's 10 best quotes from the interview, lightly edited and condensed for clarity:
1. "The next crash is basically an avalanche waiting for the last snowflake. Since 2008, all the federal government has been doing is piling more debt on the mountainside, and they're just waiting for the next snowflake to hit. It's going to be the biggest crash in world history." - Kiyosaki attributed the snowflake analogy to "Currency Wars," a book by the economist and author Jim Rickards.
2. "They teach you to go to school, get a job, and work for this garbage. I just compare this garbage to what gold, silver, and bitcoin is." - predicting the US dollar will become as worthless as the Zimbabwean dollar and arguing gold, silver, and bitcoin will retain much more of their value.
3. "I entered at $9,000. I'm still in the money, and I'm very happy it's coming down so I can buy more, simple." - commenting on bitcoin's price tumbling from north of $60,000 in April to about $34,000 today.
4. "When the yuan becomes crypto, when the dollar becomes crypto or the fedcoin, what will that do to the banking system? That's the most important question you can ask today." - discussing the potential effects of central-bank digital currencies.
5. "I don't own any stocks. I don't like stocks. I don't have to own stocks because I'm an entrepreneur. I build my own assets like the Rich Dad company, an international brand. A brand is what Warren Buffett invests in, like McDonald's or Gillette or Coca-Cola."
6. "To the young people I say, 'Don't be an employee. Become an entrepreneur like Bill Gates or Elon Musk or those characters, then you get really rich.' But if you can just sit there and play the stock market, you may as well play bitcoin too."
7. "Build a business that does well in crashes, booms, or busts. Young people shouldn't go to school and become employees. They should become entrepreneurs and capitalists, and build businesses that create jobs."
8. "These other goofballs are saying, 'Get out of debt. Live debt-free.' Every time I have a chance to buy real estate, I borrow as much money as I can. I think I'm about $1.2 billion in debt. I make millions of dollars a month in cash flow, and I pay no taxes because the tax system incentivizes people who use debt. Everything they teach you in business school is a bunch of BS."
9. "The real guys like Trump and me, we're in debt up to our eyeballs, and we pay no taxes. That's what we teach, and it's different than everybody else."
10. "I'm not saying that having a stock portfolio is right or wrong, but there are other alternatives. Just open your eyes and see how the rich are really getting richer."