Robert T. Kiyosaki | Garrett Sutton | Ann Blackman
1 If you want details for starting your own business...
This book is useful for the detail in starting your own business. The Australian version is customised for the unique requirements for setting up and running a business. It covers Employment issues, corporate formalities, trademarks, consumer laws,Trusts, and how to register an Australian company.
The most useful part I found was the number of case stories, which helped illustrate the points.
It's a complete guide and simple to understand.
www.giftsinbaskets.co.nz
2 Good book
This is a good book. It explores all the essentials of getting your business started and getting off the ground. A good companion book is Stop Working by Rohan Hall. Stop Working takes you to the next level by teaching you how to structure an Agile business to become wealthy and create unlimited cash flow.
3 Get a hard copy version
I bought the pdf and am having a difficult time printing. I'd rather get my money back and by a hardcopy instead. The book is very useful for learning about the workings of corporations. But not being able to print makes it not worth the money to me.
4 Excellent book for those in the B-Quadrant (or want to be)
Having a business without being incorporated is like driving a car without insurance. I was confused about corporations, which kind and didn't want to go to a "expert" untill I understood how the process works. This book did just that.
5 Groovy Corporate Info
Easy to read. I formed a C corporation with Mr. Sutton's firm after reading this book. They took care of all that legal mumbo jumbo so I could focus on building my business.
I was trapped in big corporations for 20 years - this book helped me understand how to get started...and the "right way" to protect my assets as an entrepreneur.
I only have time to read 2-3 business books a year. I'm glad this was one of them.
6 Definitely NOT for the layperson
I learned nothing from the book. I was even more confused after I read it. There were no documents to show how to fill out any information. I don't recommend forming your own corporation by yourself. I wanted to take the easy way out, but realized I would've made a mistake. Instead, I took a seminar and I accomplished a lot more and got more than enough information to set one up. Of course, it costs a lot more to do so. However, it is the best alternative. Reading this book almost discouraged me from moving forward. I do recommend reading RICH DAD POOR DAD. It was an easy read,offered a great understanding of developing rich habits, but not very informative on real estate investing.
7 Good book by sutton, here are some more.
This book by Sutton is right in tune with the Rich Dad Series and stands head and shoulders above other books on the bookracks right now.
If you liked this one then you should also read Loopholes, another book in the Richdad Advisor series, Form A Corporation and Launch a Business in Any State by J.W. Dicks and How to Form a S-Corporation by Robert Cooke.
8 Ignore the bashers.
This book is worth every penny and provides the necessary information for owning your own corporatoin either to make money or avoid excessive taxation.
9 The best one I've read
I've reviewed a couple of other corporation forming type books. This one is the best I've read yet. Deals with Nevada corporations. Explains taxes, benefits, loopholes, etc.
Probably not totally complete, afterall, if you're a lawyer, you need something that is thicker and harder to understand, I'm sure, but for the rest of us, this book seems to cover the iformation well enough.
I'd recommend it to any thinking about starting a business or any that are in business and have not yet incorporated.
10 Must read for anyone forming a corporation or business.
Garret Sutton does an excellent job explaining various corporations to meet particular needs.
C, S and LLC corporations are covered thoroughly. I was talking to a friend the other day who is in the process of srting his own business. He didn't realize (many don't) the different corporations that are available.
Own your Own Corporation will give you the knowledge to take to your attorney and start your own corporation properly. You'll be in control.
Taxes and lawsuits are two of the biggest deterrents to building and keeping wealth. Sutton explains how to substantially reduce taxes (even FICA!) and insulate yourself from the something for nothing crowd that love to sue successful business people.
Own Your Own Corporation is a must read for anyone in business or anyone who is contemplating forming a corporation and laucnhing a business.
11 Good book - ignore the critics
I have read several books on setting up a corporation and still found many useful nuggets of information in here.Garrett Sutton is a legitimate authority and knows what he is talking about unlike some of the other books that are creeping up on the market place today...
12 Great place to start...
This is really a very good book to start on if you don't know anything about the field and want to learn more. I think it may even be useful for people who have just started out with a business of some sort. There is a recurring theme of "Make sure to ask your advisor about this" and really the book could be condensed in to one phrase: "GO FIND YOURSELF A REALLY GOOD LAWYER/ACCOUNTANT/FINANCIAL ADVISOR" But the reason why I give it 4 stars is because if you don't know much about the field (like me), then it really gives you an idea of what issues your advisor should be talking to you about. If she's not, then you know you should either talk to her about it or find someone better really soon.
A good read, it has examples that help explain the otherwise dry material in a very digestable manner.
13 Heard him speak/teach
I recently went to a Rich Dad Seminar where half a dozen experts spoke, including, Mr. Sutton. His advice and thoughts were thoughtful, purposeful and sanguine. I particularly learned that for my own business purposes the structure which was necessary. The differences and uses of a S Corp, C Corp and so on (LLC, LLP) were explained and outlined to my ecstatic satisfaction. I recommend this book for anyone who is thinking about starting a business or who already has. What he will teach you is invaluable and the book itself is a tax deduction. It also contains a special deal to use his national firms resources. I think it would also behoove a businessperson to obtain all of the Rich Dad Series of books. For around a hundred dollars you can get a clear picture of what is necessary to think, know and feel for a business as well as what to do with money and where to find it.
14 INCREASE YOUR CORPORATE LITERACY!
Bottom Line is this: You have to be financially literate to get anything out of this book! The key to understanding any financial book and being rich period is understanding the TERMINOLOGY the rich use! Remember your banker and other advisors are only as smart as you! This book contains such language as "controlled group status". Most people with their formal education (which is a curse) dont know anything about words like that. But thank God I do and i understand that the AMERICAN Corporation is the most powerful tool that one can use to get rich.
15 I learned a lot from this book
The author knows his staff. His language is simple, and he really helped to understand the difference between different corporations because I opened an S corporation, without even knowing that I had so many other choices. Plus I learned that If I will get incorporated in Nevada, I can save a lot of money on taxes. Simple, useful book. I praise and thank the person who wrote it. You will not waste your money. you will definitely learning something, and in some cases, a lot
16 Good step for expanding one's financial literacy
Fans of Kiyosaki will enjoy this book as it delves into the specifics of setting up and utilizing the benefits of corporations, as well as other legal entities. However, the book is geared mostly towards those who wish to create a corporation.
Within it, the author details the requirements per each state as well as some helpful advice which would take tens of hours to get from various advisors.
Overall, this is a good book. If you wish to know a bit more, check out INC. and GROW RICH! by Robert Allen.
NOTE: if you're going to own real estate, my advisors told me that LLCs and Limited Partnerships are the best vehicles. Corporations tend to get hit with an additional self-employment tax so you don't get the passive cashflow benefits...
I used to think like that and had a dead end day job. Now, I'm making more than ever and, in less than five years, I plan to be financially free.
Good luck to those who keep an open mind.
17 Good book.
The single greatest point of this book is the explanation of the difference between the employee and the employer. As an employee, you'll go to work, contribute to your 401K and hope your investments in that 401k work out and you have a comfortable retirement. However, Uncle Sam will take their bite out of any income that doesn't go into that 401k. And who's to say they won't come after your 401k in the future? Do you see a pattern here? The system, while being the greatest in the world, is still set up to limit your upward mobility. Keeping you on the low savings, highly taxed, debt treadmill is in the best interests of the corporations and the government. How do you get off? Become the corporation. This book teaches you the tax advantages of forming your own corporation and all the necessary legal procedures you'll need to get started. It's not that hard! What you do need, is a decent business plan and good idea you can make a profit on. This book fits in well with the other Rich Dad books. Before reading this book, I would recommend the Cash Flow Quadrant and Guide to Investing so you can develop a big picture view of your roll in the socio-economic system and what you are going to do to elevate your status. These books have inspired me to form my own PT business, incorporated of course!
18 Not impressed!!!
First, I must say that I have not read the entire book. My complaint about the book is the broad generalization it makes about the "bad entities" ('general partnerships' being one of them). The author tells you that a general partnership is a bad entity because you are personally liable for debt. Later on, as he describes corporations and LLCs, he mentions that small start-up are usually required by lenders to provide a personal guarantee that debt will be paid. Thus, even in those types of structures, the owner is still personally liable and their assets are at risk. He fails to mention that liability insurance can protect an business owner from some of the personal liability. It would have been nice if he could have provided more details in this area in order to distinguish between the two structures since the liabilty is the same. Maybe I just missed something.
19 Gear towards Medium-High corporate knowledge Audience.
This book is a good source of information for those already incorporated and even the ones think about it.
The author lays his experience in an easy to understand format.
When I first picked up the book I read 1/3 of it in one night, absorbing mainly the information about how to protect my business and sometimes more importantly, my personal assets from unscrupulous lawsuits and "legal" mistakes.
The 2/3 of the book or so, talk about taking your company to the public (the stock market), and in my opinion the author knows or specializes in this type of practice since he spent many pages talking about the intrinsically complicated ways of making this transition.
The last portion was merely reproduction of information already available from many state government web sites about the requirements, and even though it is nice to have this information handy in one book, I particularly did not appreciate the author including all these many pages of public information in this book.
Overall, the book is a must read for anyone serious about long term business. I give it a 4/5 in my scale.-
20 Worth A Million Dollars!
To Blayne Rush who just reviewed this book-Are you sure you read the same book I did? I felt this book provided very valuable information and excellent case studies with real situations. I may not have a MHP or MBA but I know for a fact that the chapter on showing you how to raise millions of dollars through private placements alone is worth it. I had no idea how easy it is to raise money for any venture. I've always wanted to start a new business but my credit wasn't strong enough. Now I'm raising enough capital to turn my life long dream of being an entrepreneur into reality with my very own company. Hats off to the author Mr. Sutton for making it so simple that even my wife is now thinking about raising money to buy a restaurant. 2002 will be the Storeys year-Thank You Sir!
21 NOT for the neophyte!!!
A lot of the other reviewers of this book are people who are already "in the know", meaning that they already know something about the subject matter. -I don't! The most I know about business is that you create a product, sell it, and the price you sell it for should be greater than the cost of producing it in order to make a profit. Of course, I also realize that there are much more complicated peripheral issues involved and that's why I bought the book.
The problem that I have with this book therefore, is that I think that a lot of it is written in "Lawyerspeak". I have gotten the impression from reading the other "Rich Dad" books that the target audience is the layman and the idea is to educate him to enable him to make the jump from the "rat race" to the "fast track". This book untangles only some of the knots of the comprehension barriers involved in setting up a legal and profitable business. I found that there are far too many un-and-under-explained references that for my entry level of understanding only served to lose me and ultimately to put the book down until I may one day find another book that can explain some of the terminology.
It is my understanding that the average reader of a book such as this would be someone who is interested in turning a "E" or "S" quadrant skill into a "B" quadrant business. It would be more helpful if the book were written to address the first-timer's concerns and potential problems. While this is mildly addressed throughout the book by providing fictional stories of various business situations, there are a definitely large areas where the neophyte reader can easily be as lost as I have been in reading this book. Mr. Kiyosaki's skills in relating to the outsider are sorely missing in the text of this book.
22 Learn How Corporations Work
Garrett has done a great job of making a complex topic - corporate law - understandable. It's not the secret "how to" book that has all the secrets of the wealthy. It is a book that gives you the background and language to talk intelligently to your own advisors.
As a fairly well-off business owner, I had to learn through years of experience how to take advantage of corporations for liability protection and tax savings. Read this book to speed up the process for you. I only wish it had been written a decade ago! Thank you Garrett for such a well-written and understandable book.
23 Proper Structural Preparation Pays Off!
Almost everyone will either start-up a new business or invest in one at some point. Almost all of these investments will be unsuccessful. Most people will think that they merely have their investment sums at risk. Take the wrong approach to structuring the investment legally, however, and your whole career and life savings can be at risk. If you carefully follow this book's advice, none of these investments will cost you anything more than you planned to lose in the worst case.
When Robert Kiyosaki was a youngster, he loved to read about the early explorers like Columbus and Magellan. His Rich Dad encouraged him to also study those who financed the explorers, to learn about how they managed their risk and reward to expand and protect their wealth. "Don't climb the corporate ladder, why not own the corporate ladder?" was other advice that Rich Dad gave. To do this, Mr. Kiyosaki advises you to "find a good attorney and use him or her as your advisor on this important subject."
Own Your Own Corporation does an excellent job of explaining the various advantages and disadvantages of C and S Corporations, Limited Liability Companies, and Limited Partnerships from the legal perspective of how to save money on taxes and protect yourself from successful attacks on your personal assets. I particularly liked the way that the usual legal gobbledegook was avoided, and the ideas expressed in clear, simple language.
As a lawyer, I felt that the work was highly accurate and well presented for a layperson. I was especially impressed with the very long appendix that outlined the legal circumstances in each state. On the other hand, the book makes it clear that you should get some legal and accounting help to make sure that you do things properly.
My complaint about the book comes from the lack of describing the other methods that can be used to protect an individual and a family from liability. Setting up the right business structure is just part of what needs to be done. Other assets need to be protected using other techniques such as trusts, and insurance can also play a helpful role in protecting you from mistakes.
In picking a legal advisor, I will also mention that many perfectly capable practitioners will not be familiar with this particular area of legal practice. So choose well, or you will not necessarily end up with the business structure you need. A good use of this book is to arm you with questions and background knowledge to help you test how current and experienced your potential legal advisor is. In fact, you may need more than one legal advisor to help you set up the optimum structures for your personal assets and your business activities.
Taking time to eliminate risks and taxes in advance is well worth your focus and investment!
24 Very Disappointing
I purchased this book expected to get some insight on how the rich use company ownership to grow their wealth. Instead, this book is a rehash on how to start and set up your own company. The material can be found in any one of the hundreds of reference books already out there. Disappointing.
25 A MUST-HAVE BOOK FOR ENTREPRENEURS!
I have been teaching business management for thirty years, and every once in a while I come across a book that stands out from the rest. This is one of those books. One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs can make is in thinking that owning your own business is quick and simple and anyone can do it. Well, many people have opened their doors for business, but statistics prove that many will also fall by the wayside in a very short time. In Canada, 35% of new businesses fail within the first year, 70% fail in the first five years and after ten years, the failure rate jumps to 85%. Three of the main reasons are lack of business management skills, an insufficient need and demand for the product/service, and insufficient financial resources for start-up and working capital. There is no question three of a businesses best resources are going to be your lawyer, accountant and banker. As this book will point out, entrepreneurs need a clear understanding of basic business principles and how to best credit-proof themselves to prevent loss of assets.
Through the pages of the book, readers will come to understand that owning your own business can be truly rewarding if you have the know-how, commitment and financial resources to not only get the business off the ground but to keep the doors open and make a profit. There are so many aspects of owning a business that an inexperienced entrepreneur does not even considered, and this book will definitely warn one of the potential pitfalls before they happen. If you are considering starting your own business and have little experience in managing a business, this book is for you. Even those who are already in business for themselves will benefit. Like anything else in life, we can never know it all and anything we learn will benefit us down the road. Overall, this is a great book, highly recommended and most deserving of a five-star rating.
26 A business-must read
Rich Dad's-"Own your Own Corporation" is a must read for anyone comtemplating a new business-or someone who already owns their own business. Garrett's direct yet simplistic explanations of the different business entities,the proper and best suited entity for your business-is followed by real-life scenarios which helps drive home the importance of corporate ownership in today's business world. Use Garrett's legal expertise to establish a successful, legally responsible and fiscally protected business...And understand the why's and how's of that ownership.
27 OWN YOUR OWN CORPORATION by GARRETT SUTTON
As a owner of various companies, I look for books that will provide insight on limiting liabilities while maximizing profits. The author has suceeded with this book because it's written with a straight forward approach that breaks down difficult corporate terms into terms that anyone can understand. This was achieved by showing examples of certain situations and unknown facts that can happen to any individual or company.
I really like how the book explains all aspects of different types of corporations to establish depending on each individuals goal to keep their company private or go public. At the same time, the book teaches you various ways to protect your personal assets from your business assets. Just this section alone will eventually save you thousands in personal asset protection.
Most importantly, I've read hundreds of books about corporations, asset protection, public or private, etc. with the majority being very boring with fancy terms that's hard to understand. This book was so enjoyable with simple terms and exciting case situations, I read the entire book without putting it down. I'm now re-reading it and underlining many facts that will be shared with my corporate paid professionals on various situations that my company needs to be protected against. I had no idea but thanks to your book, I do now.
Finally, This book is a "MUST" read for anyone starting a corporation and a "MANDATORY" read for any owner of an existing corporation.
Thanks to the author, Garrett Sutton, I'm now working smarter, counting more net profit and sleeping comfortably in my personally protected home.
