How Did Robert Kiyosaki Shape His Life and Career?

Transcript

foreign here we go today we have Robert Kiyosaki one of the best-selling authors of all time uh the author of The Rich Dad Poor Dad series which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide and translated into 51 languages welcome to Vlad TV well thank you very much I'm honored absolutely I mean I read the book myself when I was younger and it definit... Read More

Key Insights

• Kiyosaki’s childhood combined educational privilege with academic difficulty. His father headed Hawaii’s education department and received an honorary Ph.D., while Kiyosaki disliked school, failed English, and flunked out at ages 15 and 17 before later becoming a bestselling author.
• High test scores created opportunities that poor grades might have blocked. Kiyosaki says his SAT performance helped him obtain congressional nominations to the Naval Academy and Merchant Marine Academy, demonstrating that his academic record did not fully represent his abilities or future options.
• The Merchant Marine Academy connected Kiyosaki’s education directly to maritime commerce. He attended Kings Point in New York, studied oil, worked aboard commercial vessels, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1969 before joining Standard Oil of California.
• Kiyosaki chose independence from organized labor over a higher starting salary. He says some Merchant Marine graduates could earn about $120,000 annually by sailing into Vietnam and joining a union, while he accepted a non-union Standard Oil position paying $48,000 per year.
• A former economics teacher strongly influenced Kiyosaki’s military ambitions. The teacher had attended West Point, flown B-17 aircraft, been shot down three times, and experienced captivity, stories that made Kiyosaki want a similarly intense test of character and leadership.
• Marine service required Kiyosaki to accept a dramatic reduction in income. He left a job paying $48,000 annually with five months off and became a Marine lieutenant earning about $200 per month, then entered flight training in Pensacola, Florida.
• Helicopter gunship duty placed Kiyosaki in an exceptionally dangerous role. He says he requested the fastest route to Vietnam, selected gunships after hearing their crews were frequently shot down, flew from a carrier by 1972, and was shot down three times.
• Kiyosaki’s political conclusions are personal interpretations drawn from his experiences. He argues that unions, taxation of wealthy people, opposition to private property, and parts of American education reflect Marxist ideas, while also acknowledging that his educator father had not read The Communist Manifesto.
• Related book: Rich Dad Poor Dad
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Questions & Answers

Q: How did Robert Kiyosaki perform in school?

Robert Kiyosaki says he disliked school and flunked out of high school twice, once at age 15 and again at age 17. He particularly struggled with English because he believed he could not write. Despite these difficulties, he had high SAT scores, graduated from Hilo High School in 1965, and later became a bestselling author.

Q: What did Robert Kiyosaki’s parents do for work?

Kiyosaki’s mother worked as a registered nurse. His father, whom he calls Poor Dad, became a professor and headed the education department for the state of Hawaii. Kiyosaki says his father completed a bachelor’s program in two years, attended Stanford, Chicago, and Northwestern, and received an honorary Ph.D. because of his intellectual ability.

Q: How did Robert Kiyosaki enter the Merchant Marine Academy?

Kiyosaki says his grades were poor but his SAT scores were high. Senator Daniel Inouye provided congressional nominations that gave him options including the Naval Academy and the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Kiyosaki chose the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, because he wanted to go to sea and work aboard commercial vessels.

Q: What did Robert Kiyosaki study at Kings Point?

At the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, Kiyosaki studied oil and prepared for work involving freighters, container ships, and other commercial vessels. He graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree. His first post-graduation position was with Standard Oil of California, a San Francisco-based employer that he selected partly because it was non-union.

Q: Why did Robert Kiyosaki accept a lower-paying job?

Kiyosaki says Merchant Marine Academy graduates could earn about $120,000 per year by sailing into Vietnam, but that route required union membership. After reading The Communist Manifesto in an economics class and observing his father’s role in a teachers union, he decided against joining a union and accepted a Standard Oil job paying $48,000 annually.

Q: Why did Robert Kiyosaki join the Marine Corps?

Kiyosaki credits a former economics teacher with inspiring his decision. That teacher had graduated from West Point, flown B-17 aircraft during World War II, been shot down three times, and become a prisoner of war. Fascinated by those experiences, Kiyosaki left his well-paid Standard Oil position in 1969 and joined the Marine Corps to pursue combat aviation.

Q: What did Robert Kiyosaki do during the Vietnam War?

Kiyosaki became a Marine lieutenant and trained as a pilot in Pensacola, Florida. After finding C-130 flying unexciting, he asked for the fastest route to Vietnam and chose helicopter gunships. By 1972, he was flying from a carrier in Vietnam. He says his aircraft went down three times and that he participated in operations that killed many people.

Q: How did military service influence Robert Kiyosaki’s views?

Kiyosaki says Vietnam gave him direct experience with combat, leadership, large-scale military coordination, and what he interpreted as communism in practice. He describes coordinating support from Air Force, Navy, Marine, and Army units. These experiences reinforced his criticism of Marxism, unions, taxation of wealthy people, and educational ideas that he believes undermine private property.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Robert Kiyosaki grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, with a father who led the state education department and a mother who worked as a registered nurse. Although his father received an honorary Ph.D., Kiyosaki disliked school, failed English, and flunked out twice before graduating from Hilo High School in 1965.

• Despite poor grades, Kiyosaki says his high SAT scores helped him receive congressional nominations to military academies. He chose the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, studied oil, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1969, and accepted a lower-paying, non-union position with Standard Oil of California.

• Kiyosaki left Standard Oil and joined the Marine Corps, trading a salary of $48,000 per year for roughly $200 per month. Inspired by a former economics teacher’s wartime experiences, he pursued helicopter gunships, served in Vietnam, and says he was shot down three times while participating in destructive military operations.