This book reveals how to incorporate a business, to protect your assets from the potential attack of creditors and to save tax. It provides a clear understanding of how legal business systems and traditions have developed over the years and how the structures for running a business have evolved.

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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!

110 of 113 found the following review helpful:

OWN YOUR OWN CORPORATION by GARRETT SUTTONSep 27, 2001
By M K Baker
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.

54 of 55 found the following review helpful:

Good book - ignore the criticsSep 28, 2003

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...

39 of 39 found the following review helpful:

Only one-third of this book is useful.Mar 01, 2006
By Aspiring Entrepreneur
Only one-third of the book covers what a typical Rich Dad Poor Dad reader would expect: how to use corporations to protect one's assets. The information in this section is really helpful and interesting, especially for beginners. The author provided great examples to illustrate key points. The writing overall, however, could be improved by having better summaries of each chapter and by defining every new legal term used in the book (for example, the book never defined "indemnification" but it used it frequently).

Another one-third of the book covers how to start a company and take it public (have it listed as a public stock). I don't think any typical Rick Dad Poor Dad reader has this purpose in mind for their businesses or real estate purchases, so this second part of the book is utterly useless and irrelevant to most readers. The last one-third of the book basically lists the laws for incorporation for each state, which is useful, but I'm sure the author could have provided a webpage to list all this information.

Another thing to consider is that this book might be outdated. It was published in 2001, and laws may have changed by now (this review is written in early 2006). For example, the double-taxation policy of dividends was changed after the publication of this book. I think the author might have overcome this by providing updates to important relevant laws through a website or something similar.

For all these reasons, I'd recommend the interested reader to explore other sources first. Unfortunately, I can't recommend other books yet. If there doesn't seem to be any other good sources, then consider reading this book only if you can buy it used or borrow it from the library.

45 of 46 found the following review helpful:

A MUST-HAVE BOOK FOR ENTREPRENEURS!Oct 03, 2001
By Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books"
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.

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