Why We Want You to be Rich

I admit I enjoyed some of Donald Trump's books when I was younger. I admit to have deliberately looked for and visited Trump tower in NY when I went to Wall Street last time. I even admit watching the nightly re-runs of The Apprentice on an obscure television channel, a program no serious TV channel in the Benelux wants to air.

So when I saw this book on the shelves in the UK a few months ago, with the following words of Steve Forbes on the back cover "In these uncertain economic times, these two titans of business have joined forces on a book that underscores the pressing need for financial literacy." I thought, what the heck, you never know what I could learn.

That is probably what thousands of other people thought a split second before they bought the book (for about 22 Euros, already an indication how the authors are getting rich).

Another element that made me buy the book was the co-author of Donald Trump, Robert T.Kiyosaki. I admit, I had never heard about him before.

The set up of the book is actually interesting. The two authors constantly switch 'views'. Each author uses another font to illustrate his 'view' (Font of Donald big, too big, with a lot of white border space, Kiyosaki small thoughtful page filling). Apparently Kiyosaki made fortune as an entrepreneur and author of the 'Rich Dad' book series, most well known title being "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".

The book has 340 pages, and after reading them I had the feeling having eaten too much air. Apart from an overview of some management techniques that were quoted I didn't learn anything, except for the fact that Trump knows his classical business quotes. It is amazing to see how he lives by quotes of others. I might even jump to the conclusion he uses their thoughts of wisdom to make him look more intellectual. Too much quotes equals a bad professor in my opinion.

Kiyosaki struck me as a successful businessman but he doesn't deliver when it comes to share the stuff we are all looking for. It all stays superficial and except for a few graphs for 3th graders no secrets are revealed that would have helped me become as rich as they claim to be.