Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant Summary

1-Sentence-Summary: Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant explains why hard work won’t make you rich as well as the four types of people when it comes to money, including which one you must become if you want to build real, long-term wealth.

Read in: 4 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant is Robert T. Kiyosaki’s follow-up to his breakout success Rich Dad Poor Dad. In this book, he explains how we can get rich by working smarter instead of harder. Kiyosaki’s main idea from the book is that there are 4 different types of people: 

  1. Employee (E) 
  2. Self-employed (S) 
  3. Business owner (B)
  4. Investor (I) 

The E quadrant represents employees who work for others and provide labor in exchange for a paycheck. The S quadrant represents self-employed people who sell their services to others and keep the profits. 

The B quadrant represents business owners who own an asset or business that provides income for them. Finally, the I quadrant depicts investors who invest money to gain profits on a regular basis with little effort on their part.

Here are 3 of my favorite lessons from the book:

  1. People who live off their hourly labor alone are extremely different from those who invest or have their own business. 
  2. Future-rich people move into the B and I quadrants ASAP.
  3. Investing is complicated at first, but after analyzing the 5 types of investors, you’ll know where you stand.

If you loved Kiyosaki’s first book or if you want to learn more about reaching financial independence, you’re going to love what’s next. We’re analyzing each lesson in detail below, so let’s start!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Download PDF

Lesson 1: There is a fundamental difference between people in the E and S quadrants, and those in the I or B quadrants.

Working hard is what most people do—and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It means you’re putting in long hours at your job, staying late to get that project done, or doing whatever it takes to meet deadlines and get the job done.

Working smart is different. It’s about using your time wisely, which means delegating tasks when possible and using tools to help you get more done in less time with fewer errors. 

It’s also about investing your money in appreciating assets so that you can reap the financial benefits and have more time for yourself. It’s about moving into other quadrants, like B or I. 

People in the E and S quadrants are always working hard, but they’re not always working smart. They’re doing the same things every day, and they’re not thinking about getting better at what they do or improving their processes. 

But those in the B and I quadrants understand that there’s no such thing as “the way we’ve always done it.” They think about ways of improving their work every day. They understand that if you want to succeed, you must keep up with new ideas and technologies.

Lesson 2: The sooner you move into the B and I quadrants, the sooner you’ll become rich.

You can’t invest if you don’t have money. And to get more money, you need to invest it. The more money you have, the more you can invest—and the better your chances of making good investments.

So, how do you do it? If you work for someone else, all of your hard-earned cash gets taken away from you in taxes. However, when you own a business, not only do you keep more of your paychecks (fewer taxes), but you also get to keep all the profits from your company’s success!

By starting or buying a business that allows you to invest as well as earn income, you’ll be able to build wealth much faster than if you just worked for someone else.

Working for yourself or a boss is fine until you can stand on your own two feet (financially speaking), but in the long term, you might want to shift from that.

Although you think that a job is safe, it’s only as safe as your contract. Once you’re fired, money stops entering your pocket. When you own your own business, you can invest in things that will grow your business and make it more valuable.

Lesson 3: There are 5 types of investors you should know about.

Considering the level of risk one is willing to take and their financial know-how, there are five different classes of investors:

  1. The Zero-Financial-Intelligence Investor – This investor type doesn’t have much money, to begin with, and if they do, they spend it quickly. They don’t know much about investing or saving.
  2. The Savers-Are-Losers Investor – This type of investor likes to save money for later, not invest much, or invest in very bad asset classes or securities that get wiped out by crisis or offer little-to-no interest.
  3. The I’m-Too-Busy Investor – This type of person hands in their hard-earned money to a trusted financial consultant to carry on investments for them. Sadly, these ‘experts’ are oftentimes not more than average employees who want to earn their paycheck.
  4. The I’m-A-Professional Investor – This type of investor is who you want to be. They take their time analyzing investment opportunities, study the market, and always educate themselves. They have a high level of financial education which pays off.
  5. The Capitalist Investor – This investor is the big shark of all investments. Here, a person becomes a business owner, and spends the profits investing, which in turn generates more profits. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, famous artists, and other similar personalities are in this category.

Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant Review

Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant teaches us why becoming an employee is not good for your wealth and how it can actually be detrimental to your financial situation. 

The author gives you real-life examples of how people have been successful in their life by becoming self-employed or starting their own businesses.

I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about wealth or if you just want some motivation to start working toward financial freedom.

Who would I recommend the Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant summary to?

The 24-year-old who wants to start a business and become rich early in their life, the 36-year-old person who wants to save for retirement but doesn’t know where to start, or the 43-year-old who just came across a larger sum of money and doesn’t know how to invest them.

Last Updated on February 1, 2024

Rate this book!
This book has an average rating of 4.1 based on 13 votes.

Maria Deac

While working with my friend Ovi's company SocialBee, I had the good fortune of Maria writing over 200 summaries for us over the course of 18 months. Maria is a professional SEO copywriter, content writer, and social media marketing specialist. When she's not writing or learning more about marketing, she loves to dance and travel all over the world.