Is Our Wealth Stolen by Fake Currencies and Are Pensions for Fools?

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of moderating a panel after Robert Kiyosaki’s keynote at the Making Money Make Sense conference in Harare. Our panel—Robert himself, Wadzanayi Phiri, Ken Sharpe, Nyasha Makuvise, Dr Solomon Guramatunhu and banker Herry Heresy—did more than trade theories; it challenged some of Zimbabwe’s deepest financial assumptions.

Seven years ago, I launched the Trevor Book Club to encourage Zimbabweans to read more. Meeting the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad was humbling and energising. But what truly inspired me was the sight of hundreds of young Zimbabweans spending their hard-earned money on financial education. That is hope made visible.

Kiyosaki’s warning rang painfully familiar: “Our wealth is stolen from us through fake currencies.” For a nation scarred by hyperinflation and currency collapse, this is not theory; it is lived experience. He argues that all paper currencies, even the mighty US dollar, ultimately destroy wealth because governments print and debase money to feed debt.

He was equally blunt about pensions: “toxic” and “for fools.” Extreme? Perhaps. Yet for Zimbabweans whose retirement savings vanished in waves of inflation, it sounded more like a painful truth. The quiet nods around the Celebration Centre told their own story of collective betrayal by institutions that promised security but delivered devastation.

Our discussion uncovered a Zimbabwean paradox. While local experts validated Kiyosaki’s core principles, they also revealed opportunities and nuances unique to our economy.

• Property with purpose: Kiyosaki touts rental income; our experts drilled deeper, identifying residential, commercial, and industrial niches where cash flow still works if you understand the terrain.

• Crypto as hedge: Dr Guramatunhu blends traditional assets with Bitcoin to protect against currency instability, an idea worth serious consideration here.

• Good vs bad debt: Kiyosaki distrusts banks, yet Herry Heresy’s insights on using “good debt” strategically to buy cash-flowing assets reminded us that the issue isn’t debt itself but how wisely you deploy it.

  
  

Kiyosaki also reminded us that real wealth demands more than financial IQ. He spoke of four types of intelligence: mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. Numbers matter, but so do discipline, emotional control and a sense of purpose.

I started the book club because reading is a cure for ignorance. But seven years in, I know knowledge without action is mere entertainment. The young Zimbabweans filling that auditorium—note-taking, questioning, networking—are our greatest asset. But inspiration must lead to application.

Here’s the charge before us:

1. Teach money early. Financial literacy must move from afterthought to foundation, both at home and in school.

2. Share wealth wisdom. We need more platforms for intergenerational knowledge transfer.

3. Invest across old and new. From property to cryptocurrency, learn to navigate both with confidence.

4. Make money work for you. Build assets that earn while you sleep, dividend stocks, rental properties, and modern investment vehicles.

Zimbabwe’s economic scars have taught us a truth others are only beginning to grasp: not all money is created equal. Those who own real assets endure and thrive.

At Nigel Chanakira’s conference, I did not see victims of circumstance. I saw architects of a new financial reality—young people refusing to wait for government miracles, determined to build generational wealth.

That is the revolution we need: one fuelled by education, sustained by action and supported by economic and tax policies that reward wealth creation.

The revolution starts in the mind, continues in the marketplace, and ends when money finally works for us.

By: Trevor Ncube, the Founder and Managing Partner of Trevor & Associates, trevorandassociates.com and Chairman of Alpha Media Holdings. He is also the anchor of In Conversation With Trevor YouTube.com//InConversationWithTrevor