Financial Literacy is The Key to the Rich Life

Throughout his life, Robert's rich dad taught him many valuable, financial lessons. Sometimes Robert listened. Sometimes he had to learn the hard way. But by applying these lessons, Robert became financially-free and retired.

However, Robert wasn't content with retirement. Fueled by the passion to share his financial wisdom with others, Robert created his boardgame CASHFLOW®, based on his belief that people learn best through simulation. In 1997, he wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad and the rest was history. The book is the best-selling, personal finance book of all time, and it gave Robert the opportunity to teach valuable, financial lessons to a worldwide audience.

Knowledge: The New Money

Today, the spirit of Robert Kiyosaki's rich dad philosophy fuels our company and inspires this mantra. Everything we do, including our books, seminars, videos, coaching, games, and more, have one common goal: to increase your financial literacy and help you live the rich life. We encourage you to explore our Website, and discover how we can help you on our journey towards a rich life. We promise you won't see the world the same way again.

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who will help us

Who is IRDA protecting?

Action-reaction
Circa 2001: Private life insurance companies introduce ULIPs
Year 2010: IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) revises guidelines to prevent mis-selling of ULIPs (the guidelines included rationalizing commissions, stricter lock in periods etc)
Interesting to know: SEBI, the regulator for mutual funds, lays down stringent commission guidelines.

Year 2010: Life insurance companies introduce highest guarantee NAV plans
Year 2012: IRDA bans companies from selling these plans
Interesting to know: SEBI does not allow mutual fund companies to sell capital guarantee plans.

Questions but no answers
How many people were mis-sold policies between 2001 and 2010? How many bought highest NAV guarantee plans, tactically introduced just months after the meltdown of 2008-2009? Why did IRDA approve such policies in the first place? When another regulator has gone through the cycle of refining the laws, why does IRDA not simply copy?

IRDA and consumer protection
The IRDA recently launched a consumer education website. The motto on the website states ‘Promoting Insurance. Protecting Insured.’ I went through the section on life insurance. Under ‘What life insurance to buy’ there is only a list and brief note on various types of policies with no guidance on ‘what life insurance to buy.’ One would expect, at least a comparison and pros and cons of each type.

Under the ‘Dos and Don’ts’ section there is a laundry list of what to do in case of ULIPs:
- Make sure you understand the implications of bearing the investment risk yourself
- Evaluate the performance of the funds before you invest
- Understand the various charges levied under the policy

So what exactly are the implications of bearing investment risk? How does one evaluate fund performance? How about a primer on what the charges mean and what the caps are? How about a comparison chart on policies from various companies?
Either the IRDA does not know or does not want the customer to know!

If the IRDA indeed intends to protect consumer interest, one would expect pro-active, aggressive measures. Not after thoughts or half hearted attempts at consumer protection which finally are just illusions. As a regulator who is supposed to regulate what the manufacturer sells to the consumer, the IRDA is surely not protecting the latter.