The “Prosperity Gospel”: What America’s Rich and Successful (Including Trump) Really Believe

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The way Robert Kiyosaki, educational entrepreneur of “Rich Dad” fame and member of the Hard Assets Alliance, started accumulating his wealth seems more than just a bit quirky.

 

According to Kiyosaki, at the beginning of his career, he once interviewed a Hindu guru who was covered in gold jewelry.

Kiyosaki asked him, “Why all the gold?”

The guru said, “It’s a teardrop of God.… If you want to be wealthy, you’ve got to have gold, because gold will attract more wealth.”

Such “magical thinking” about how to generate wealth may seem peculiar, but it is not new—and it is shared by many of America’s rich and successful, including Donald Trump.

This kind of “Prosperity Gospel,” as some call it, has a long history and is as American as the proverbial apple pie. One of the earliest advocates was Napoleon Hill with his 1937 classic, Think and Grow Rich, which sold 20 million copies.

Think and Grow Rich is among the top 10 best-selling self-help books of all time… right along with Kiyosaki’s own book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the number one personal-finance bestseller of all time.

One of Hill’s famous quotes is, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” That means if you set a firm goal, clearly visualize it, and take decisive action, it will eventually manifest in reality. And acting as if it were already accomplished helps speed up the process—hence, the gold you buy attracts more gold into your life.

Another famous advocate of this belief system, which has the so-called “Law of Attraction” at its center, was Norman Vincent Peale. Peale was a Christian pastor based in New York, who in 1952 wrote the bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking.

He called it “applied Christianity,” which could be used to achieve “a perfected and amazing method of successful living.”

Peale was a personal friend of US Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have spoken highly of his writings.

Trump, in particular, was close to the best-selling author and minister up until Peale’s death in 1993. He had Peale officiate his first wedding, and Trump co-hosted Peale’s 90th birthday party. Peale’s self-help books were the inspiration for what the mainstream media has derisively called Trump’s “religion of winning.”

But is it really that far-fetched?

Entrepreneur contributor Joel Brown noted that high achievers tend to set firm goals and visualize a successful outcome: “Ninety-five percent of the successful achievers I have interviewed practice writing down their goals, plans, or visions for success on a regular basis.”

And the bestseller, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, states that Habit #2 is to “begin with the end in mind”—that means, clearly visualize the outcome you want to achieve.

The book also talks about “Abundance Mentality” vs. “Scarcity Mentality.”  To achieve an Abundance Mentality, nothing works better than having a physical expression of abundance around you.

Which brings us back to Robert Kiyosaki’s philosophy… and this is where our story comes full circle.

Kiyosaki and Trump wrote two books together that lay out their philosophy in detail: the 2012 work, Midas Touch—Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich and Some Don’t, and the 2014 book, Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men—One Message.

As the Hindu guru said, “If you find gold, you put it all around you because it attracts wealth.”

We know from pictures of his private residence that Donald Trump has taken this advice quite literally.

And as Robert Kiyosaki recommends, “If you want to make $1,000 a month in income, buy $1,000 worth of gold. If you want to make $10,000 a month, buy $10,000 in gold. Very simple.”

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