Why Smart People Stay Broke (And What to Do Instead)

0:00This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states. 43 % of millennials are using a very specific strategy for building wealth. A 2026 study just proved it. Today I'm going to show you how to beat their strategy. Stay with me. This is the Rich Dad Radio Show.

0:40The good news and bad news about money. Here's Robert Kiyosaki.

0:47Welcome to the Rich Dad Radio Show. The good and bad about money. This is Robert Kiyosaki, and today is just you and me. And we're talking about what the rich are teaching their kids about money. But first, I need to tell you something. A study came out in 2026, and when I read it, I didn't get angry. I got quiet. Because what it described wasn't a financial problem. It was a thinking problem. and thinking problems are the most expensive problems in the world. Here's what the study found. 43 % of Gen Z, nearly half of an entire generation, is using manifestation as their primary financial strategy.

1:36Not budgeting, not investing, not building assets, wishing. They are closing their eyes, visualizing wealth, and waiting for it to arrive. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, that's a Gen Z problem. That's not me. I'm smarter than that. Am I right? Stop. Because before you get comfortable, let me ask you something. How many people do you know right now who are waiting? Waiting for the right time to invest. Waiting for the economy to calm down. waiting for their ship to come in, waiting for something to change. That is manifestation with a different name, that is hope dressed up in grown-up clothes.

2:22And I want to say something about hope and about wishing, something that is going to make some of you uncomfortable, something that people get angry at me for saying. Hope is a four-letter word. Wish is a four-letter word. And I mean that literally and I mean it financially because in the real world, in the world of money, hope and wish do one thing. They keep you exactly where you are. They are the language of the victim and nobody who ever built real wealth ever built it on hope. People get angry when I say this. They say, Robert, hope is important. Hope keeps people going and I understand that.

3:02But let me show you what hope actually does to your money. You hope the stock market recovers. Your savings erode. You hope your job is secure. Your income stays flat. You hope things will be different next year. Next year looks exactly like this year. Hope is passive. Hope asks nothing of you. Hope requires no decision, no action, no change. Hope is the most comfortable place in the world to live and the most expensive. Think about it. The school system taught you to hope, work hard, save your money, hope for a pension, hope Social Security is there, hope the market goes up. That is the entire financial curriculum they gave you.

3:48And it didn't just fail you, it stole something from you. It stole your freedom to choose a different future. It briefly, that freedom, before you were old enough to know, a choice existed. And it replaced it with hope, with wish, with weight. And most people never questioned it. Because when everyone around you is hoping, hope feels normal. Hope feels responsible. Hope feels like the smart thing to do. But here's what the rich know. What my rich dad taught me when I was nine years old. Hope is not a strategy. Wish is not a plan. And waiting is the longest road to nowhere ever built. So what do you do instead?

4:36You choose. That's it. That is the whole answer. Not hope, not wish, not wait. Choose. My rich dad said it to me plainly. He said, Robert, I choose to be rich. And I make that choice every day. Every day. Not once, not in some dramatic moment of transformation where everything changes overnight. Every single day. Because wealth is not an event. Wealth is a series of choices that compound over time. And here is the most important thing I can tell you today. The most important thing on this entire show. Wealth is not a function of your income. Let me say that again. Wealth is not a function of your income.

5:25I have met people earning$30 ,000 a year who are building real wealth. And I have met people earning$300 ,000 a year who are completely broke. The difference is not the number on the paycheck. The difference is the choice. The choice of what to do with every dollar that passes through your hands. the choice of what to put in your mind, the choice of who to learn from, the choice of how to see money. That is it. That is the whole game. Rich Dad didn't start rich. He started with a choice, and he kept making it. Every morning he woke up, he chose again. And the people who are winning right now, they are not smarter than you, they are not luckier than you, they made a different choice.

6:24And they keep making it. We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, I'm going to show you what choosing actually looks like. Not theory, not philosophy, real, specific decisions. the ones the rich make that most people never even consider. Because choosing to be rich isn't a feeling. It isn't a vision board. It is a thought pattern. And that thought pattern can be learned. Don't go anywhere. Thanks for listening to today's show. I want to change the topic for one second and tell you about a unique man who makes money in a unique way. The only guy I know who has truly figured out how to cash flow Bitcoin is my friend Dan Ryder.

7:07And that's important because most Bitcoin investors are making the same mistake. They think the money is in buying Bitcoin. Dan thinks the money is in becoming the bank. Now, what's the difference? Well, when you buy Bitcoin, you're hoping someone pays you more for it later. That's called speculation. But when you're the bank, you get paid when money moves. That's called cash flow. My rich dad taught me something years ago. The rich don't work for money. They build assets that put money in their pocket every month. That's why I became interested when Dan showed me what was happening inside the new blockchain economy.

7:43You see, every day, billions of dollars move through crypto markets. Transactions happen, currencies are exchanged, liquidity is needed, and somebody gets paid for making those transactions possible. For decades, that somebody was the bank. Today, blockchain technology is changing the rules, and Dan has spent years teaching ordinary people how this system works. Not traders, not computer programmers, regular people, business owners, retirees, people who want to stop relying solely on appreciation and start understanding cash flow. Now, I'm not saying don't own Bitcoin. I own Bitcoin. But what if there was a way to do more than simply hold it?

8:24What if you could learn how to put it to work? That's why I want you to watch Dan's free presentation. Go to robertscryptocoach.com. That's robertscryptocoach.com. You'll discover why the next generation of wealth may not be built by people who simply own crypto, but by people who understand how to cashflow it. Again, that's robertscryptocoach.com. Welcome back. Before the break, we talked about choice, the only word that separates the people building wealth from the people waiting for it. Now I want to show you what choosing starts with. It starts in your mind. before any action, before any investment, before any decision about money, it starts with how you think.

9:10Here's the problem. Most people were handed a thinking system before they were old enough to question it. And that thinking system has one core belief at the center of it. Money is something that happens to you. You earn it or you don't. You get lucky or you don't. The economy is good or it isn't. Your boss gives you a raise or they don't. Money is always coming from somewhere outside of you, always dependent on something you don't control. That is the employee mind. That is the thinking system school installed, and it is the most expensive software running in your head. The rich think differently, not because they're smarter, because they ask a different question.

10:02Most people ask, how much does it cost? The rich ask, how do I make it pay for itself? Most people ask, can I afford this? The rich ask, what asset could I build that affords this for me? Most people look at a dollar and see something to spend. The rich look at a dollar and see something to deploy. Same dollar, completely different mind. And here's what nobody tells you. That mind is not inherited. It is not given to you at birth. It is not reserved for people with degrees or connections or a head start. It is chosen. My rich dad didn't come from money. He came from a decision. a decision to see money differently than everyone around him, to ask different questions, to refuse the thinking system he was handed, and to build a new one.

10:57That is where wealth begins, not in the market, not in the economy, in your mind first, always. But mindset alone is not enough. And people get angry when I say that too. They say, Robert, you just told us it's all about how we think. Now you're saying thinking isn't enough? Yes. Because here's the truth. You can think like an investor all day long. If you don't know what an asset is, you will keep buying liabilities and calling them investments. And that mistake is costing millions of people their financial future right now. Most people were never taught the difference between an asset and a liability.

11:41I mean really taught it. Not the accounting definition, the real definition. Rich Dad made it simple. An asset puts money in your pocket, a liability takes money out of your pocket. That's it. And when you see the world through that filter, everything changes. Your house. Most people call it their biggest investment. But does it put money in your pocket every month or does it take money out. Mortgage, insurance, property tax, maintenance, that is not an asset. That is a liability wearing an investment costume. And the school system never taught you that. Your financial advisor never told you that.

12:25Because if you knew that, you might start asking very different questions about where your money is going. This is why financial education is not optional. It is the entire game. The rich are not just thinking differently, they're operating from a completely different knowledge base. They know how to read a financial statement, they understand cash flow, they know the difference between earned income and passive income, they know how debt can make you rich or keep you broke depending entirely on which side of it you stand on. That knowledge is not complicated, it is not reserved for experts, but you have to choose to learn it.

13:06Nobody is going to hand it to you. The school system proved that. Your employer proved that. The only person who is going to give you a financial education is you. We'll be right back, but when we come back, we're done talking about thinking. We're done talking about learning. We're going to talk about doing specific, real choices that change your financial trajectory. Not someday, not when the time is right. Now, because the gap between knowing and doing is where most people's financial future goes to die. Don't go anywhere. Thank you for listening to the Rich Dad Radio Show. As you know, I've had my friend Jim Rickards on my show a bunch of times.

13:49Now, Jim has a new message to share. According to Jim, a former advisor to the CIA and the Pentagon, with close ties to the Trump administration, President Trump is about to make a move that will shock the markets and open the doors to the world's single biggest gold deposit right here on US soil. Inside this deposit is the equivalent of more than 161 million ounces of gold, which at today's prices would be worth nearly one trillion dollars. And as gold continues to hit new highs this year, this deposit could make some people very, very rich. That's why Jim, a world-renowned gold expert with over 40 years as industry insider, just made a huge prediction about this Trump move and what he calls Donald Trump's secret$2 gold mine.

14:46And for For all the details in this little-known$2 gold company, simply go to offair26.com to watch this presentation. That's offair26.com. I'll also put the link in the show description. This message has been paid for by Paradigm Press. Welcome back. We've talked about how you think. We've talked about what you need to learn. Now let's talk about what you actually do. And I want to start with the most important thing I can say about action. Most people are waiting for the perfect moment to start. They're waiting until they have more money, more time, more knowledge, more certainty. And I want to tell you something about that wait.

15:34The wait is the problem, not the market, not the economy, not your income, the wait. because here is what the rich understand that most people don't. You don't start investing when you're ready. You get ready by starting. So what does starting look like? First, you stop paying everyone else before you pay yourself. Every paycheck that comes in, the government takes first. Your employer takes their cut. Your bills take theirs, and you get what's left. That is the employee system. The rich reverse it. They pay themselves first. They take a percentage before bills, before anything, and they direct it toward assets every single month, without exception, whether the market is up or down, whether they feel like it or not.

16:33That is a choice, a specific, repeatable, daily choice. Second, you start buying things that pay you, not things that make you feel rich, things that make you money while you sleep. A rental property, a business that runs without you, paper assets that generate cash flow. The question is never, can I afford this? The question is always, does this put money in my pocket or take it out? Third, you get around different people. This one sounds simple. It is not simple. The people around you right now are the ceiling on your financial thinking. If everyone in your life is in the E quadrant, working for a paycheck, hoping for a pension, waiting for retirement, that thinking will feel normal to you.

17:30Find people who are doing what you want to do. Study them, learn from them. Your network is your net worth. That is not a slogan, that is a law. Now let me bring this all the way home because this is the thing I want you to walk away with today. The one idea, the one truth that changes everything if you actually let it in. Wealth is not a function of your income. Say that again to yourself. Wealth is not a function of your income. I have watched people earn$200 ,000 a year and retire broke. I have watched people earn$40 ,000 a year and retire free. The difference was never the paycheck. The difference was always the choice.

18:23The choice of what to think. The choice of what to learn. the choice of what to do with every dollar that passed through their hands. People say, Robert, it's easy for you to say choose. You had a rich dad. You had a mentor. You had a head start. That is the victim talking. That is hope dressed up as an argument. My rich dad didn't give me money. He gave me a way of seeing. And that way of seeing is available to every single person listening to this show right now. It doesn't cost your income. It costs your attention, your time, your willingness to think differently than everyone around you. The rich are not a different species.

19:11They are not smarter. They are not luckier. They chose to see money differently. And then they chose again and again every morning. That choice is available to you right now, today. Not when your income changes, not when the economy changes, not when your circumstances change. The choice comes first. The circumstances follow. That is the whole secret. That has always been the whole secret. So here's the question I will leave you with. Not what are you going to do? Not what are you going to invest in? not what book are you going to read. The question is simpler than that and harder. Who are you choosing to be?

19:57Because every day that passes, you are making that choice, whether you make it consciously or not. The person who hopes and the person who chooses are living in the same world, the same economy, the same market, but they're heading to completely different places. And once you see that, you can't unsee it. That's the difference. Thank you for your time. Thank you for caring about your future. Thank you for understanding that you are the only one who cares about taking care of you. Take care.

20:57Thank you.

21:21This podcast is a presentation of Rich Dad Media Network.

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