Sept. 21, 2026

Episode 574: Kiyosaki’s $1.2B Debt Warning

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Show Notes

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, has made headlines by saying he is approximately $1.2 billion in debt. For someone like me—a financial planner who teaches people to eliminate personal debt and build wealth without borrowing—that certainly gets my attention.

But it doesn’t change what I teach.

First, let’s add some context. Kiyosaki isn’t saying he ran up $1.2 billion buying clothes, cars, and vacations. Much of his borrowing is tied to investments, especially income-producing real estate. His philosophy has long been that he would rather use borrowed money to acquire assets than use his own cash.

I understand the strategy. I just don’t teach it.

Borrowing allows an investor to control a much larger asset with less of their own money. If everything goes according to plan, that can dramatically increase the return on the investor’s cash. But leverage doesn’t eliminate risk—it magnifies it. Properties can sit vacant. Tenants can stop paying. Insurance and property taxes can soar. Repairs happen. Interest rates change. Property values fall. And no matter what the investment is doing, somebody still expects that debt payment.

There’s also an important distinction when we see headlines like this. The financial infrastructure surrounding a sophisticated real-estate investor with hundreds of properties, business entities, partners, and professional advisers looks very different from the finances of the average household. Please don’t look at a wealthy investor carrying enormous amounts of leverage and conclude that your car loan, credit cards, HELOC, or investment-property mortgage suddenly doesn’t matter.

His debt may be measured in billions, but your debt can still control your life.

Every monthly payment represents money you’ve already committed before the next paycheck arrives. The fewer people who have a claim on your income, the more freedom you have to decide what happens to it. And yes, my philosophy includes investment debt.

This is where I differ from many financial educators. I don’t teach “bad debt versus good debt.” I teach getting out of personal debt—including debt used to purchase investments. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand leverage. It means I’ve made a different judgment about the kind of financial life I want to help people build.

There are ways to invest in real estate without signing up for decades of personal debt. There are ways to build businesses gradually instead of financing everything upfront. There are ways to invest consistently while increasing your income and acquiring assets as your resources grow. Will that sometimes mean growing more slowly than someone who is highly leveraged? Absolutely. But maximizing the speed of wealth accumulation isn’t my only definition of financial success.

I want the people I teach to reach a point where nobody owns their paycheck. I want you to have investments. I want you to own real estate if that’s one of your goals. I want you to build businesses, accumulate assets, and create generational wealth. I just don’t believe you have to owe somebody in order to become wealthy.

Robert Kiyosaki’s $1.2 billion in debt doesn’t make me reconsider teaching debt freedom. If anything, it gives us a great opportunity to discuss something we don’t say often enough:

Understanding how debt can be used to build wealth doesn’t obligate you to use it.

Sometimes the strategy that produces the biggest spreadsheet isn’t the strategy that produces the greatest peace, flexibility, and freedom. You don’t have to chase maximum leveraged growth if it costs you control of your life. Choose the path that helps you build wealth with confidence—and choose financial freedom over the biggest possible balance sheet.

Class Schedule:

Every 1st Thursday: Fireside Chat (Money Q&A)

Every 2nd Thursday: 7-Figure Business Building

Every 3rd Thursday: Real Estate Investing 101

Every 4th Thursday: Empowered Entrepreneur

Every 5th Thursday: Wildcard or replay

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