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Rich Dad Education: Opportunity or False Promises?

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty

I went to the 3 day "Rich Dad Education' seminar this weekend, and after reading multiple blogs on Active Rain regarding the 'pitch,' I feel compelled to offer my own thoughts on my experience:Rich Dad Education

#1. The staged and systematic marketing for the variety of 'advanced trainings' offered through the 'Rich Dad Education' seminars is astounding (Robert Kiyosaki has licensed his brand to Tigrent Learning, which used to operate as the Whitney Intelligence Program). They lure you in with a two-hour free seminar about wealth building that is basically a platform to pitch a 3-day weekend seminar geared towards teaching you advanced techniques for acquiring real estate by leveraging OPM, or 'other peoples money.' The charge to attend the 3-day seminar is $199, but you can bring a guest. My friend and I decided that $100 was a minimal investment, just to check it out. The 3 day seminar is moderated by a highly skilled and knowledgeable pitch man who has also had success as an investor. This moderator then gives you just enough information about advanced strategies to develop intrigue and then uses take away, urgency, guilt, and tangible facts to up-sell the advanced trainings that range in price from 9,900 to $100,000.

#2. Look... I work in real estate, have attended numerous seminars and am all too familiar with aggressive sales tactics, so I knew what i was getting into before I went to this seminar. i also happen to believe that, despite these seemingly unscrupulous approaches to getting people to part with their money, there is a lot of value in the right education program. There have been numerous complaints filed against the 'Rich Dad Education' program, which is understandable. I can see how someone who knows nothing about real estate and is desperate to escape the rat race could easily get caught up and commit to something they are not fully prepared to follow through on. That said, for those who are truly committed to building wealth and paying for the education needed to accelerate their success, I think that the program probably has a lot of merits. The bottom line is that real estate is one of the single best vehicles for building wealth, but it's not for the faint of heart. You must always fortify your skill sets and seek out education if you want to win the game in the long haul. You also can't expect to have success handed to you and must know that anything worth having takes hard work and application. This program is no exception.

#3. All in all, for my $100 bucks, I received a lot of motivation and some great real world examples of the power and potential of real estate. I see it for what it is, and may actually invest in some of the training courses at another time. If you decide to go to this or any other sales pitch for building wealth through real estate, remember to consider the source: these people are in the business of selling knowledge and they are experts at the pitch. For sales people, it's a great training in the power of persuasion and master sales techniques if nothing else. For everyone else, it's a decent exposure to the potential of real estate as long as you understand that it's not going to come over night, and that the result will be commiserate with the effort you put in to it. Remember: preparation + opportunity= success!

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Comments (4)

Donn Rasch
Alta Realty Company, LLC - Hawi, HI

I remember after reading Rich Dad - Poor Dad some 10+ years ago, I became so motivated that I bought my first investment property. It was a great experience and worked out well, but it was hard to get hurt at that time. The two things I remember from the book were how to recognize what an investment is, and you make (or don't make) your profit with the price you pay.

$100 for three days of motivational speaking seems like a deal. I just don't think I could sit inside that long though!

Oct 28, 2010 09:31 AM
Anonymous
Robert Kiyosaki

Wi Jammin' has excellent jerk chicken and the sauce, so delicious, tastes nothing like snake oil...

Nov 01, 2010 03:14 PM
#2
Adam Aguilar
Adam Aguilar (Reliantra-Reliant Realty & Associates) - Toluca Lake, CA
Reliantra.com/Reliant, Realty~Serving Southern California

I read the first 6 or 7 books of the Rich dad, Poor Dad series. After wards, I was finally able to fully grasp the scope of financial insight needed to achieve real success/financial freedom. The light bulb had come on, but I still needed a road map. So I followed up it up with a college course in investments. Armed with my new-found education, I realized Mr. Kiyosaki was correct up to about his 3rd or 4th book, then the formulas for success started to lack validity.

 

It is incredibly hard to buy real estate that makes financial sense for pennies on the dollar, especially with OPM. Mr Kiyosaki had some great ideas when he first started, but I believe he has lost the mark. It is a shame to hear his company has fallen to the sales tactics of past snake oil salesmen.

The "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "Cashflow Quadrant" books were excellent and so were many other books he suggested to read, but in the end you need to do your own homework. Just like the books had suggested, there is no need to go pay thousands of dollars in an "education" if those experts could be hired for much less.

Personally, at first, the biggest problem was finding reliable real estate investment experts. Tons of people were out there tooting their horns as experts, but all the ones I ran into were just looking to make a fast buck and were not experts. So I took my own advice and trained myself. It was the best thing I could have done. It lead me to start my own real estate brokerage office and organize a real estate syndicate to help others succeed in real estate without having to pay the "medicine man".

If your looking for some good motivation at a cheap price, read "Think and grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. It is a book that helps you understand why one may lack motivation and how to overcome it.

 

Feb 28, 2011 06:42 AM
Harrison K. Long
HomeSmart, Evergreen Realty - Irvine, CA
REALTOR , GRI, Broker associate, Attorney

I had never paid attention to the "Rich Dad" system or seminars, and your points are interesting. I hope that works out well for you.

Aug 17, 2011 06:23 AM