Some books you read, some books read you (Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki).
When I was about fifteen years old, my grandmother a fabric trader who dealt in imported textiles from China kept telling me about a book her friend had recommended. Her friend was a heart surgeon at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, a man she deeply respected. The book was Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
I remember asking her for money to buy this book, not once, not twice but at least three times and instead of buying the book, I always went back to the clothing shop to get myself a fresh New Era Cap. I was curious, yes but not disciplined. Looking back now, I realize something powerful, sometimes wisdom is offered before you are ready to receive it.
Fast forward to my early thirties
At 32, I had ballooned to a shocking 196 kilograms. My blood pressure readings were dangerously high, with diastolic numbers climbing into the 200s. I could barely walk without losing my breath. My chest wheezed constantly. I was exhausted, physically and mentally. I wasn’t just overweight, I was overwhelmed, burdened by financial difficulties, spiritually drained and I lacked directionless.
The same book I had ignored as a teenager found its way back to me
In motivational videos on YouTube, successful entrepreneurs, speakers, and creators kept recommending one book over and over again, Rich Dad Poor Dad, originally published in 1997. It was no longer just my grandmother’s advice, it seemed like the world was echoing her wisdom. Rich Dad Poor Dad is not a complex financial textbook, it is straightforward, practical, and brutally honest. Yet its lessons carry the power to completely reshape how you see money and responsibility. The main lesson of the book is to teach you to understand the difference between assets and liabilities, a lesson that hit me like a revelation. I realized I had been consuming things that drain money or energy without giving value back, in every area of my life, unhealthy habits, poor financial decisions, comfort without growth. The book teaches that the rich do not work for money but instead, they make money work for them. Beyond money, it teaches mindset. It exposes the dangerous cycle of earning, spending, and repeating without building ownership or financial intelligence. For the first time, I saw that my biggest problem was not my weight, not my bank account, it was my thinking.
That realization ignited something in me.
Before university in 2023, something shifted. I began to read more. I started questioning how I spent money. I became intentional about learning financial literacy. The discipline I began applying to money slowly spilled into my health. If I could learn the proper way to build assets financially, why couldn’t I learn the proper way to build physical assets in the form of strength, health, and stamina?
The same mindset that helped me understand investments helped me understand delayed gratification. Just as wealth compounds, so does health. Just as debt accumulates, so do bad habits.
That book did not magically make me rich. But it gave me something more important, which is the mind set of possibility. It showed me that a U-turn is possible and allowed. Most importantly, it reignited my interest in reading. It opened the door to other books, other ideas, other ways of thinking. It broke the mental ceiling I didn’t even know I had.
This is why I strongly believe every parent should gift Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, to their teenage child. Not because it will make them wealthy overnight, but because it plants a seed. Schools teach us how to pass exams, but they rarely teach us how money truly works. At sixteen, the mind is forming beliefs about success, work, and value. That is the perfect time to introduce financial intelligence.
About the author
Robert Kiyosaki, born in Hilo, Hawaii into a family of Japanese-American heritage in 1974. Young Robert’s life changed dramatically when he met his “Rich Dad,” at age 9, who happened to be his best friend Mike’s father. Rich dad was a successful entrepreneur and investor who shared crucial financial insights with Robert and his son while playing the board game Monopoly.
A Seed I Was Not Ready For
My grandmother tried to plant that seed early, but I was not ready to understand its value. Today, I see that she was not just recommending a book, she was trying to shape my future. This review is my quiet thank you to her, the seed I once ignored has finally taken root, and it is changing my life.