Life and Career
A fourth-generation Japanese American, Kiyosaki was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii. He is the son of educator Ralph H. Kiyosaki (1919–1991). After graduating from Hilo High School, he attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York, graduating with the class of 1969 as a deck officer.
He later served in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War in 1972, where he was awarded the Air Medal.
Kiyosaki left the Marine Corps in 1975 and got a job selling copy machines for the Xerox Corporation as a salesperson. In 1977, Kiyosaki started a company that brought to market the first nylon and Velcro "surfer" wallets. The company was moderately successful at first but eventually went bankrupt. In the early 1980s, Kiyosaki started a business that licensed T-shirts for Heavy metal rock bands, which was later sold in 1985. In his book You can Choose to be Rich, Kiyosaki said that after his bankruptcy he became homeless, and was living with his then girlfriend Kim at the back of an old Toyota for several months before starting their own business from the ground up.
In 1994, Robert leaves Money and You program in Australia. With various real estate investments, Kiyosaki retired at the age of 47. In 1997, after his short lived retirement, he launched Cashflow Technologies, Inc. which owns and operates the Rich Dad and Cashflow brands.
Read more about this topic: Robert Kiyosaki
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