Cashflow Quadrant

Robert Kiyosaki argues that the gap between people who work less, earn more, keep more of their income, and feel secure about money comes down to one thing: which of four positions they operate from, and when they move between them. He calls these positions quadrants, labeled E for employee, S for self-employed, B for business owner, and I for investor. The book explains how each one works and how to tell them apart.

The book opens with questions that many working people ask. What separates an employee from a business owner? Why do some investors make steady money with little risk while most only break even? Why do many workers keep moving from one job to the next, while others leave employment to build large companies? It also asks why parents in the Industrial Age pushed children toward medicine, accounting, and law, and why those careers now face financial pressure in the Information Age.

Kiyosaki also points out that many of the strongest university graduates go to work for people who never finished their degrees, naming Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Michael Dell, and Ted Turner. The author says the book will address these questions and help readers find their own route to financial independence as economic conditions keep changing. The source text is cut off before it finishes describing the intended readership.