For the average Joe, being over in serious debt can feel like a crushing burden—but not for Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki. The finance guru has a rather blasé attitude towards borrowing large amounts from the banks and recently boasted about having over $1 billion in debt hanging over his head.
“I use debt as money and I don’t save cash because in 1971 the dollar became debt,” he added, referring to the Nixon shock, where the former president ended the convertibility of the US dollar into gold, devalued the currency, and ultimately, led to the rise of cryptocurrencies.
Instead, Kiyosaki uses debt to buy assets, like gold, which can withstand market crashes and spiraling inflation—unlike cash saved in the bank.
“If I go bust, the bank goes bust,” he added. “Not my problem.”
Living debt-free is ‘the worst advice you could give’
While living debt-free is a pipe dream for many, it’s “the worst advice you could give anybody today,” Kiyosaki insisted in another Instagram reel last week.
“Biden printed $10 trillion, the price of oil is going up… Why would I save money?”
He’s also issued several warnings in recent interviews of an upcoming banking crisis, inflationary pressures, and a stock market crash.
It’s why, he claims, he buys oil wells, instead of oil stock, saves gold and silver coinage, and keeps it banked outside of the States.
“Our banks are crashing,” he further explained during an interview on the Disruptors podcast, adding that it results in banks being unable to lend out money causing the economy to crash.
“So the people who will win are people who have gold and silver.”
But beware: There is such a thing as bad debt
While Kiyosaki largely thinks having certain debt is a good thing, that doesn’t mean you have his approval to put anything and everything on your credit card.
While he recommends leveraging debt to buy assets, he disapproves of taking out a loan to buy materialistic items that won’t increase in value or pay dividends.
“A lot of people use debt to buy liabilities,” he said. “I drive a Ferrari. Guess what? It’s paid off 100% because it’s a liability. I drive a Rolls Royce. It’s paid off 100% because it’s a liability.”
His advice recently inspired the reality TV Love is Blind star Nancy Rodriguez, to clear off her “bad debt” and instead divert her investment into real estate that can eventually pay for itself.
“Knowing that I had $100,000 to my name was probably one of the scariest things,” she told Fortune.
“I think it was really understanding that I needed to be uncomfortable for a temporary moment so that I can have long-term gratification, which was getting to the point of being debt-free.”
Fortune has reached out to Robert Kiyosaki for comment.
