Kiyosaki, a very wealthy individual himself, provides invaluable advice on making money. He frequently compares the lifestyles of "poor dad", his own father who was a hard-working scholar and remained in the middle class his whole life, and "rich dad", his friend's immensely rich father who was an entrepreneur. Through contrasting the two fathers' starkly different lifestyles and mindsets in regards to making money, Kiyosaki teaches important lessons about making money, citing poor dad's mistakes and rich dad's successes. Kiyosaki illustrates the importance of financial intelligence and building assets and not falling into the "rat race", like his father had done, where one is constantly plagued by taxes and hence is never financially free.