Despite being increasingly known for frequently — and inaccurately — forecasting future recessions or proclaiming that a major financial crash has already started, Robert Kiyosaki is also noted for the strong performance of his asset picks in recent years.
One relatively overlooked investment favored by the author of the best-selling personal finance book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ is his bet on Wagyu cattle, a collective name for four premium breeds originating in Japan.
While comparatively few investors can directly invest in Wagyu by owning ranches and producing beef, there are multiple ways for any trader to add such an investment to their Kiyosaki-inspired portfolios and gain exposure to cattle.
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Would investing in a Kiyosaki cattle strategy be lucrative?
Perhaps the most famous and convenient cattle investment one can make comes in the form of WisdomTree Live Cattle (CATL) exchange-traded commodity (ETC), listed on the London and Hambourg stock exchanges.
The ETC is designed to track and replicate the Bloomberg Live Cattle Sub Excess Return Index, thus giving traders exposure to Live Cattle futures contracts.
Though the exact timing of Kiyosaki’s Wagyu investment is not known, the author drew attention to the strategy in a July 2022 interview, meaning that traders who were quick to find a way to replicate the move could have gotten into the CATL ETC at approximately $5.30.
Considering the exchange-traded commodity is, at press time on February 24, 2025, changing hands at $7.36, a hypothetical $1,000 investment two and a half years ago would have appreciated to $1,388.68.
The start of 2024 would have also been an opportune moment to gain exposure to CATL, as the underlying asset price experienced a moderate crash in late 2023. Thus, a $1,000 investment at the start of last year would have grown to $1,173.84 — by 17.38%.
Finally, despite a big early rise that took the ETC to highs at approximately $7.87, investing in CATL at the start of 2025 would now have been as lucrative, with the exchange-traded commodity being 2.47% up year-to-date (YTD), indicating $1,000 would have turned to $1,024.70.
Is the Kiyosaki portfolio strong long-term but weak in 2025?
The situation is very similar to the one with Kiyosaki’s other favored assets — chiefly gold, silver, and Bitcoin (BTC), but also Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).
Indeed, as Finbold reported on February 11, a portfolio based on the recommendation frequently made by the ‘Rich Dad’ author would have performed exceptionally in recent year, with particularly strong returns in 2024.
The assets’ performance in the opening months of 2025, on the other hand, is yet to impress.
