Second Chance: For Your Money, Your Life, and Our World by Robert Kiyosaki
The financial fairy tale—go to school, get a job, save money, and retire young—is officially over. Robert Kiyosaki, drawing on the futuristic wisdom of R. Buckminster Fuller, delivers an urgent message: the world’s monetary system is undergoing a catastrophic change. This book exposes the deliberate “Gross Universal Cash Heist” (GRUNCH) stealing our wealth and offers a profound roadmap—a “second chance”—to reclaim control over your financial destiny through unconventional financial intelligence.
Who May Benefit
- Employees seeking financial freedom and asset creation.
- The middle class grappling with declining wealth and job security.
- Aspiring entrepreneurs and business generalists.
- Savers and long-term stock market investors.
- Anyone skeptical of conventional financial wisdom.
Top 3 Key Insights
- Financial knowledge is the new money, enabling conversion of information into personal wealth.
- The rich don’t work for money; they create or acquire assets that generate cash flow.
- Conventional advice (saving money, job security) is obsolete, designed to keep people enslaved to the monetary system.
4 More Takeaways
- Debt and taxes make the poor poorer, but can make the rich richer when used strategically as leverage.
- Seek primary/secondary wealth (resources/production) over risky tertiary paper assets.
- Genius is developed by admitting and learning from mistakes, contrary to traditional schooling.
- A true second chance requires a metamorphosis of internal thinking, not just an external makeover.
Book in 1 Sentence
Financial education reveals how the monetary system steals wealth, offering a crucial second chance to create assets and financial freedom.
Book in 1 Minute
Traditional financial advice—get a job, save money, buy a house, invest long-term—is a defunct fairy tale, especially as the world faces accelerating financial crises. Kiyosaki argues that the current monetary system is a deliberate “Gross Universal Cash Heist” (GRUNCH), designed to enslave the financially uneducated through debt, inflation, and taxes. Drawing on the philosophical insights of B. Fuller, the book challenges readers to undergo a metamorphosis. By learning the language of money, prioritizing asset creation over paychecks, and embracing a generalist, proactive mindset, individuals can secure a powerful second chance and become architects of their future.
1 Unique Aspect
The book frames the current financial crisis not as a mere economic downturn, but as a deliberate “Cash Heist” (GRUNCH), directly linking global monetary policy and the lack of financial education in schools to a pervasive system of modern financial enslavement.
Chapter-Wise Summary
Chapter One: Why The Rich Don’t Work For Money
“They’re playing games with money… Our wealth is stolen via the money we work for.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Kiyosaki opens by recalling his most controversial statements—that a house is not an asset and savers are losers—which were validated by the 2007 crisis and government printing of trillions of dollars. The foundational lesson is that the world has fundamentally changed, and knowledge is the new money. Without financial education, people cannot convert abundant information into personal wealth. The poor and middle class are enslaved to their paychecks by a monetary system intentionally designed to steal wealth through taxes, inflation, and debt. This process is causing the middle class to shrink and is creating a “new poor” composed of those who mistakenly measure their wealth in devaluing paper money.
Chapter Key Points
- Knowledge is the new money.
- Financial education prevents enslavement.
- Savers are losers due to inflation.
Chapter Three: What Can I Do?
“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
This chapter centers on Bucky Fuller’s generalized principle: “The more people I serve, the more effective I become”. Kiyosaki describes his personal transformation after meeting Fuller, realizing his successful rock-and-roll manufacturing business lacked a spiritual purpose. He made a leap of faith into the unknown, driven by the desire to find his “spiritual job” of financial education. Fuller believed the Great Spirit intended for all humans to be rich and evolve from greed to generosity. Therefore, the path to a powerful second chance involves consciously shifting your motivation from, “How can I make more money?” to ***“How can I serve more people?”***.
Chapter Key Points
- Serve more people.
- Seek your spiritual job.
- Generosity leads to wealth.
Chapter Four: What Is A Heist?
“The dark ages still reign over all humanity… it is locked by misorientation and built of misinformation.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
The author explains that the “Gross Universal Cash Heist” (GRUNCH) is perpetrated through financial ignorance, which is the underlying injustice of society. Rockefeller and Carnegie, through organizations like The General Education Board, may have hijacked the educational system to ensure Americans would become compliant employees, consumers, and taxpayers—not financially independent entrepreneurs. The monetary system uses the paycheck to keep people enslaved. The path to freedom begins with words: financial education starts with learning the basic definitions of money, such as the crucial difference between assets (puts money in your pocket) and liabilities (takes money out).
Chapter Key Points
- GRUNCH orchestrates the heist.
- Financial ignorance is the injustice.
- Words (like asset/liability) are powerful tools.
Chapter Five: The Next Crash
“My ideas have undergone a process of emergence by emergency. When they are needed badly enough, they are accepted.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Drawing on Fuller’s idea of “emergence by emergency,” the author sees the ongoing financial crisis as a necessary mechanism for change. Kiyosaki recounts predicting the 2007 secondary crash in his 2002 book, Rich Dad’s Prophecy, and warns of a larger crash anticipated around 2016. This imminent crisis will wipe out those who hold wealth in vulnerable tertiary assets (paper assets like stocks). The collapse of a person’s physiological and safety needs, illustrated by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, can lead to the destruction of self-esteem and morality. However, emergencies provide an opportunity to emerge stronger, provided one cultivates a self-actualized spirit that is unstoppable and unmotivated by mere external compensation.
Chapter Key Points
- Crash around 2016 predicted.
- Emergency leads to emergence.
- Tertiary (paper) wealth is vulnerable.
Chapter Six: How Much Is A Quadrillion?
“You cannot get out of the way of things you cannot see moving toward you.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Kiyosaki warns that average workers are financially unprotected from “invisible giants,” specifically markets like derivatives, which had grown to $1.2 quadrillion by 2014. These invisible forces, coupled with the shift from traditional Defined Benefit (DB) pensions to risky Defined Contribution (DC) plans (like 401(k)s), threaten the retirement dreams of millions. To survive the Information Age (the Invisible Age), Fuller taught the necessity of training the mind to see the invisible relationships and concepts, contrasting it with the brain that sees only tangible objects. A successful second chance requires the courage derived from the heart (le coeur) to see the unseen, accept multiple answers, and take action despite risks.
Chapter Key Points
- Derivatives market is an invisible giant.
- Train your mind to see the invisible.
- Courage is key to a second chance.
Chapter Seven: How To See The Invisible
“Words are tool… the most powerful tools made by man.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Drawing on Fuller’s belief that words are the most powerful tools created by man, Kiyosaki stresses that poverty often stems from using “poor words”. He emphasizes the clarity gained from distinguishing between the words the poor/middle class use (Employee, Saver, Paycheck) and those the rich use (Employer, Debtor, Asset, Cash flow). Cash flow determines whether something is an asset (money flows in) or a liability (money flows out). Learning this vocabulary allows one to see the “opposite side of the coin,” where taxes and debt are advantageous to the financially educated. Without this essential language of money, people are easily misled by “Foxy Loxys” into unsustainable Ponzi schemes.
Chapter Key Points
- Cash flow defines asset or liability.
- Learn the language of the rich.
- Financial education reduces vulnerability.
Chapter Eight: Before And After
“One picture of a caterpillar does not tell you it is going to transform into a butterfly…” – R. Buckminster Fuller
The author asserts that a genuine second chance is not a quick exterior financial makeover, but an internal metamorphosis—the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. The economic crisis is partly fueled by those who strive to look rich externally (buying liabilities they call assets, like houses via NINJA loans) but are poor internally (lacking financial education). Kiyosaki states that he finds empathy, not sympathy, for those struggling, knowing that every human has the power to change their life through free choice. To begin this metamorphosis, one must first be “in the present”. The practical first step is drawing and filling out a personal financial statement—the “before picture”—to confront one’s true financial condition with courage.
Chapter Key Points
- Second chance is metamorphosis.
- Face true financial condition.
- Empathy, not sympathy, empowers.
Chapter Nine: The Opposite Of “Go Back To School”
“Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Kiyosaki highlights the divergence between his poor dad’s advice (get an MBA) and his rich dad’s advice (take real estate seminars). Traditional education focuses on careers that generate taxed ordinary income (paychecks, bonuses), whereas financial education focuses on acquiring assets that generate low-taxed passive income (cash flow). The primary advantages of real estate investing—a key focus for the rich—are the powerful leverage of debt and taxes. This strategy allows investors to achieve financial stability even through market crashes, provided their assets (like apartment complexes) are situated near stable job centers, such as oil industrial cities or hospitals.
Chapter Key Points
- Paycheck vs. Cash Flow.
- Debt and taxes make the rich richer.
- Focus on real estate assets.
Chapter Ten: The Opposite Of “Don’t Make Mistakes”
“Mistakes are sins, only when not admitted.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Kiyosaki contends that traditional education, which punishes students for errors, trains people to fear making mistakes, thus retarding the natural learning process. Conversely, real-life success depends on making mistakes, learning from them, and continuing to take action. Kiyosaki’s pivotal financial education began not with theory, but with a 90-day assignment to evaluate 100 investment properties—a process of simulated real experience. This exercise of quickly discarding bad deals trained his mind to see the “invisible” great opportunities. His first deal generated an infinite return because he used 100% debt (a credit card down payment and seller financing), demonstrating that “the deal of a lifetime comes along everyday” for those willing to look.
Chapter Key Points
- Don’t fear mistakes.
- Simulate real financial experience.
- Deals of a lifetime come daily.
Chapter Twelve: The Opposite Of “Get A Good Job”
“Over specialization leads to extinction.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
The growing trend toward entrepreneurship runs against the fundamental flaw in traditional education: training specialists. Fuller warned that “over specialization leads to extinction”. Nine out of ten new businesses fail because the founder, often a specialist, lacks the generalized business skills to survive. The framework for success is the B-I Triangle, which outlines eight essential “integrities” necessary for a business asset to produce cash flow (Mission, Team, Leadership, etc.). S-quadrant entrepreneurs (self-employed) operate alone and work for money, while B-quadrant entrepreneurs (big business) build systems and teams of specialists to acquire assets. Generalist leadership skills, often gained through non-traditional training like the military or network marketing, are required to build a B-quadrant business.
Chapter Key Points
- Generalists lead specialists.
- Over-specialization leads to extinction.
- Build the B-I Triangle framework.
Chapter Thirteen: The Opposite Of “Get Out Of Debt”
“The Generalized Principle of ephemeralization is the ability to do more with less.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Conventional wisdom advising people to “get out of debt” is financially unsound because the U.S. dollar itself became debt after 1971. Financial education teaches the difference between good debt (which makes you richer, as someone else pays for it) and bad debt (which makes you poorer, as you pay for it yourself). Kiyosaki uses debt as leverage to follow Fuller’s principle of ephemeralization—the ability to do more with less. He uses debt to acquire thousands of properties, achieving an infinite return on investment (ROI) by refinancing the properties to borrow out his initial equity tax-free. This strategic use of debt and taxes is crucial for financial freedom, and advising against debt handicaps people by stripping away their greatest leverage.
Chapter Key Points
- Good debt vs. Bad debt.
- Use debt for leverage (ephemeralization).
- Infinite return uses no personal money.
Chapter Fourteen: The Opposite Of “Live Below Your Means”
“God wants all of us to be rich.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
The advice to “live below your means” often falls on deaf ears because people inherently want to enjoy a richer life. Kiyosaki recommends the opposite: learning to expand your means by changing your game and focusing on your asset column. The rich play a game centered on building assets (such as intellectual property or cash-flowing real estate). These assets then pay for liabilities, enabling luxury without compromising financial security. This focus draws out the inner “rich person” (educe), contrasting with traditional education, which is designed to draw out the “middle class person”.
Chapter Key Points
- Expand means, don’t live below them.
- Assets pay for liabilities.
- Focus exclusively on the asset column.
Chapter Sixteen: The Opposite Of “The Rich Are Greedy”
“Are you spontaneously enthusiastic about everyone having everything you can have?” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Kiyosaki notes that while some rich people are greedy, many achieve wealth by being generous, serving millions (like Walt Disney or Henry Ford). The perception of greed versus generosity depends on one’s point of view (the side of the coin one stands on). He focuses on creating assets and jobs, embodying generous capitalism. Furthermore, Fuller predicted that technology would force mass unemployment, making the idea of “earning a living” obsolete. This shift necessitates finding one’s spirit’s work, doing things that need doing not for a paycheck, but for the betterment of the world. The choice for a second chance is between hoarding knowledge (greed) or sharing it (generosity).
Chapter Key Points
- Rich can be generous or greedy.
- Unemployment accelerates technological shift.
- Choose assets that change the world.
Chapter Seventeen: The Opposite Of “Investing Is Risky”
“I have spent most of my life unlearning things that were proved not to be true.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Investing is risky only for those who lack the financial education necessary to maintain control. GRUNCH profits by perpetuating the myth that investing is risky so people turn their money over to them. The truly rich on the B- and I-side of the quadrant invest for cash flow, capital gains, control, and tax advantages. Kiyosaki contrasts the S-quadrant entrepreneur, who earns high-taxed ordinary income from products/services, with the B-quadrant entrepreneur, who owns the underlying tax-advantaged asset (passive income), referencing Ray Kroc being in the real estate business, not the hamburger business. By acquiring financial vocabulary, people reduce risk and increase personal trust, allowing them to participate in the game of money.
Chapter Key Points
- Control is opposite of risk.
- Learn the language of commerce (Quechua).
- Invest for control and cash flow.
Chapter Eighteen: The Opposite Of “Save Money”
“Our wealth is stolen via our money. Why save it?” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Saving money makes people losers because government money printing, coupled with the Fractional Reserve System, constantly devalues cash. The opposite of saving is the velocity of money—keeping money moving to increase its value. Kiyosaki illustrates his personal playbook for velocity, which involves raising investor capital, reinvesting tax-free income, and using debt to acquire primary and secondary wealth (resources and production). This strategy exploits tax incentives provided by the government to those who create jobs and housing. The rich create assets out of nothing, using their brains and knowledge, whereas savers park their money and are punished with taxes.
Chapter Key Points
- Velocity of money defeats inflation.
- Money moves from savers to investors.
- Taxes incentivize job/asset creation.
Chapter Nineteen: The Opposite Of “An Emergency Is Bad”
“The things to do are: the things that need doing, that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
The major crisis is that too many people rely on the government to solve their problems. Fuller’s philosophy taught that emergencies are necessary for emergence, forcing change when ideas are needed badly enough. Kiyosaki encourages readers to look backward, connect the dots of their past, and find their unique “genius” by focusing on problems they see that need solving, without being told how to do it. The key to a second chance is to realize that an emergency is merely the opposite side of the coin to opportunity. By adopting the spirit of being “hungry and foolish” (Steve Jobs’ advice), individuals can become the architects of their future, rather than victims of the current crisis.
Chapter Key Points
- Crisis reveals opportunity.
- Be an architect, not a victim.
- Do what needs doing.
10 Notable Quotes
- “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” – R. Buckminster Fuller.
- “Knowledge is the new money.”.
- “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell.
- “The lack of financial education enslaves billions of people in all parts of the world.”.
- “I have spent most of my life unlearning things that were proved not to be true.” – R. Buckminster Fuller.
- “The more people I serve, the more effective I become.”.
- “Mistakes are sins, only when not admitted.” – R. Buckminster Fuller.
- “The most important word today is crisis. Remember that there are two parts… danger and opportunity.”.
- “The paycheck is one of the most powerful tools ever created by man. The person who signs the paycheck has the power to enslave another person’s body, mind, and soul.”.
- “If you’re the smartest person on your team, your team’s in trouble.”.
About the Author
Robert Kiyosaki is internationally known as the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, the #1 personal finance book of all time. He is an entrepreneur, educator, and investor who advocates passionately for financial education. Kiyosaki co-founded The Rich Dad Company with his wife Kim and created the CASHFLOW® games. His unconventional advice, such as “your house is not an asset” and “savers are losers,” has earned him an international reputation for challenging the status quo and has proven prophetic in subsequent economic crises. He teaches that the “old” advice of seeking job security and long-term stock investing is obsolete in the Information Age. His mission, shared with Kim, is “To elevate the financial well being of humanity”.
How to Use This Book
Don’t just read the concepts; immediately apply the opposite mindset to your finances. Create your financial statement and focus on acquiring cash-flowing assets through debt and knowledge leverage.
Conclusion
The era of working hard for devaluing money while relying on broken systems is concluding, but within this chaos lies an immense opportunity for personal emergence and reinvention. Embrace financial knowledge, reject outdated, disempowering advice, and commit to finding the spiritual work that allows your true genius to flourish. Take control of your education and your financial choices—become the architect of a new, wealthy, and generous future, and stop being a victim.