Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad is a worldwide reference in financial education. In the book, he says he was influenced by two fathers: his poor dad, who went to college, looked for a job, and spent his life in debt; and his rich dad, who never finished high school but became the richest man in Hawaii.
The two fathers had different views on financial education, and their worldviews differed as well. In this first review of Rich Dad Poor Dad, I will focus only on their initial, conflicting opinions about money.
The poor dad said, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Meanwhile, the rich dad said, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
In common usage, the poor dad’s statement is often taken to mean that we should be averse to money, because its origin and context are not explored. The rich dad’s opinion opposes the poor dad’s only from a financial perspective, saying that the cause is a lack of money.
The poor dad’s statement comes from Paul’s first letter to Timothy in the Bible (1 Timothy 6:10). The passage emphasizes that it is not money itself that causes evil, but an excessive love of money and greed, which can lead to a loss of faith and personal suffering.
However, it is clear that in the collective popular imagination this statement has been generalized to mean that money is the source of all evil. This is also due to a misinterpretation of another passage, Matthew 19:24: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” This passage is often wrongly interpreted to mean that rich people do not go to heaven and, consequently, that we should avoid wealth. This verse calls for a deeper explanation. The Church Fathers suggest two more well-founded interpretations:
- The first suggests that in Jerusalem there was a gate called the Needle’s Eye, through which a camel could pass only on bent knees and after its load had been removed. Therefore, the rich person could not travel the narrow path to salvation without first laying down the burden of sin and attachment to wealth.
- The second is a literal interpretation: the camel is a real camel, and the needle is a very fine, pointed instrument. In other words, this is hyperbole describing that it is possible, but extremely difficult, for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven because of the tendency to fall in love with the seductive power of wealth.
Luke 19:1–10 tells how Zacchaeus was very rich and told Jesus he would give away half of his possessions, yet he remained rich. Jesus made no demands of Zacchaeus; he simply said that salvation had come to that house that day and also declared Zacchaeus a son of Abraham. We know that Abraham is in the kingdom of heaven despite being rich. Genesis 13:2 says, “Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” So we have two biblical examples of rich men who did not allow themselves to become enamored of or attached to their wealth: Abraham and Zacchaeus.
On the other hand, in Matthew 19:21, Jesus tells the rich young man, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth. It is interesting that Jesus made this demand of the rich young man but made no demands of Zacchaeus. The answer is in Psalm 62:10: “Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” Jesus saw that the rich young man was attached to material possessions, while Zacchaeus was not.
So the problem is neither money nor the lack of it. The problem is how we respond to wealth; it is our attachment, our passion for riches. A person can be poor and cling to the little they have, or be rich and remain detached.
Returning to the question in the title: Is the love of money or the lack of money the root of all evil? It is the love of money, not money itself. However, the way both fathers express themselves is mistaken. Both rely on expressions shaped by a limited, commonplace point of view. Although the poor dad uses the familiar phrase correctly, it is clear that he takes it to mean we should turn away from prosperity because he sees it as something negative. The rich dad, in the way he expresses himself, counters this only from a material point of view. The author does explain that the rich dad demonstrated detachment: when he died, he left a great deal of wealth to his family, charitable institutions, and his church. The mistake, then, was only in the way the idea was expressed: “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”
If the poor dad had understood the phrase “the love of money is the root of all evil” in the deeper way suggested in this text, he might have recognized the limits of his knowledge and asked the rich dad for advice on managing his assets. The key to financial guidance is not one’s profession; it is what we do with the money we receive. Instead of only spending it, the rich person reinvests it in things that generate more money.
The rich dad could also have repeated the poor dad’s phrase and said: “How good it is that I know how to generate all this wealth, while not letting my heart become attached to it, because I contribute to society, the church, and my family.” In practice, that is what he does; he simply has not yet realized it because he interprets the phrase superficially, without considering its deeper meaning.
What should we do after learning this? Read every page of wisdom in Rich Dad Poor Dad; it has not been on the bestseller lists for decades for no reason. Read, learn, and put the book’s lessons into practice. Just add Psalm 62:10: do not let yourself become attached to wealth. Build and manage your material assets wisely and, in proportion to what you have, practice generosity, charity, and helping others. As Rich Dad Poor Dad itself recounts, the rich dad LEFT millions when he died; he did NOT TAKE his wealth with him. The currency of heaven is not material. It is the answer to this question: What good did you do for yourself, your family, and your neighbor during the time you were given to live on planet Earth?
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