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A mother who was teaching her children about Kiyosaki's principles had a friend over to visit. The friend was newly divorced and was talking about her money problems. Finally, she asked, “When will money stop being a problem for me?”

The mother's 10 year old daughter, who was quietly playing in the corner, replied, without even looking up, "When your passive income exceeds your expenses."

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Wow. Wish I had known “all that stuff” from the age of 10! How different my life might have been.

Some of Kiyosaki's critics may already understand the principles of money and personal finance, but they are a very small minority. I grew up in a family where there was only one path in life: go to school, get good grades, get a good job, retire after X years. I am the first - and only - entrepreneur in my family and no one knows what to say to me (except, "When are you going to get a REAL job"?).

Did you ever learn about money in school? I sure didn't and I know why - because the teachers and administration don't know it either. And I can say that because I was a teacher for years and I didn't know it, either.

I tried learning it on my own. Every book I found had intimidating graphs of the Gross National Product and other such fun reading.

When I first read Rich Dad Poor Dad a light turned on for me. I hope that one of these days everybody is taught this kind of information from an early age. When you think about it, we live in a very peculiar society. Most so-called “primitive” cultures teach their young people what they need to know to perform well within the society, whether that is to hunt game, grow crops or become a fierce warrior and fight the tribal enemies. Yet, so much of our life revolves around money and we don't teach or learn much about it. It's basically 'figure it out as best you can'. That is truly a shame.