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Book: Be Rich & Happy

What do people actually gain by going to school

Published: Jan 22, 2010 12:07:24 AM IST
Updated: Jan 22, 2010 12:10:31 AM IST

Be Rich & Happy is a self-help book first published in 1993, under the title If You Want to Be Rich & Happy Don’t Go to School: Ensuring Lifetime Security for Yourself and Your Children. It was Robert Kiyosaki’s first book, before he became famous for his Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

And it’s interesting to study the man before he became a celebrity. The core of the book is a questioning of the US education system. Kiyosaki wonders what people actually gain by going to school. He talks about how he was just an average student who cared only about football and lunch, but still managed to do well for himself in his later life; whereas friends who had good grades were never successful when they grew up.

He advises people to be generalists, not specialists: Generalists have a better chance of being successful, wealthy people, he says, with examples to prove his point. The book has enough anecdotes to keep readers occupied and even motivated; it’s an interesting read for the self-help book addicts. For a change, you might actually gain something!

(This story appears in the 05 February, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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