Chuck Jaffe, a writer with MarketWatch, set his sights on the Teach Me to Trade seminar last year, and ordained the event his “Stupid Investment of the Week.” This year, he attended Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Academy,” and came to the same conclusion.
Robert Kiyosaki, whose advice is short on concrete ideas, has built an empire with his Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of books, videos, and board games, has developed a series of seminars. This is particularly ironic since his philosophy eschews education in all forms. Here’s what Jaffe has to say about this experience in the teaser seminar.
The free come-on seminar was pitching the most basic training basic real estate course, one which focuses on taking advantage of foreclosure situations and distress situations to find ways to finance your deals. While Huffman showed a diagram with 11 different three-day training courses — and he mentioned the possibility of hiring a mentor instead of going to the classes at all — the focus was just on doing the one class.
Most people might have thought they were getting a one-and-done deal and at a significant discount (attendees at the free seminar were offered the chance to register for the class, normally $995 online, for just $495). But there’s little doubt that one training seminar will lead to hard-sell pitches for others. Several members of the audience had previously paid for Rich Dad training; interestingly, the three I talked to said they have yet to turn a profit, but expect to soon.
The seminar leader focused on foreclosures, which are seen as a surefire way to make quick money thanks to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. But there are still lots of foreclosed property shoppers as well, and competition in the marketplace is making these “investments” less favorable.
Jaffe ends with this:
Clearly, everyone who liked Huffman’s pitch and bought Rich Dad Academy training has the potential to be the next success story, but most won’t be; Kiyosaki’s advice — however flawed some people find it — has worked for at least a small-but-dedicated group of followers.
But that success story is not likely to be the “average” attendee, but rather the exceptional one, the person who dives in with a passion and single-mindedness that stand out from the crowd.
The introductory seminar was free, and you get what you pay for. If you want to learn the “66 Ways to Find Bargain Properties and Motivated Sellers” and “17 Key Internet and Realtor Search Criteria,” you have to attend a three-day seminar with the price of $1,000. Attendees were given the “opportunity” to buy their tickets for “only” $500 a piece.
Before you pay for a seminar you must do your due diligence. Ask about the success rate of people who have taken the class. If you can’t get accurate information — or worse, you’re mocked for asking a valid question — pass on the seminar. There’s no need to fatten Kiyosaki’s wallet.
A common theme in seminars, whether it’s the get-rich-quick type or the change-your-life type, is the instruction to dismiss any contrary arguments as not valid. I see that is what Jaffe experienced in this seminar. That’s also what I experienced when I was strongly suggested to attend a Landmark Education Forum. Anyone who disagrees with the effectiveness of the “education” “just doesn’t understand.”
“Rich Dad Academy” a Poor Choice for Investors [MarketWatch]
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I have absolutely no respect for Robert Kiyosaki. He’s one of the so-called “expert” columnists on http://finance.yahoo.com. However, if you actually read any of the “articles” that he puts out there, you’ll see that he doesn’t have any worthwhile ideas. I’m convinced his whole motivation/goal is just to sell more books and tickets to seminars.
I think there’s a good way and a bad way to take Kiyosaki. I like some of his non-conventional thinking and the way Rich Dad, Poor Dad made me challenge some of my assumptions about money. All that having been said, most of what he says (vague as it is) about real estate is fluff. He made his money writing books and giving seminars, not investing in real estate. I’m sure he did alright but it’s hard to track down his ‘real’ property holdings, and very easy to walk into a Barnes & Noble and see copies of RDPD.
That money would be better spent on getting a real estate license or even better as part of down payment on a real estate investment. Or buying $1000+ worth of real estate law/etc. books.
My sister and brother-in-law are huge followers of Kiyosaki. They have the board game, a mentor and have spent at least $10k in seminars (and travel to the seminars).
Unfortunately, they will also be filing for bankruptcy in the next 30 days because of an extremely ill-advised decision to buy a failing business and use their home as collateral. They will be leaving their home of 11 years.
They were financially secure until they tied up with their Rich Dad mentor. Caveat emptor, due dilligence and all that but brother-in-law’s dad passed on several years ago and the mentor preyed upon that – “Your dad would have wanted you to do this”. I found that to be very shady and unethical yet I’m frustrated that my sister and her husband fell for it.
They were planning to start a family this year. Guess they’ll have to wait till they rebuild.
This is a website to check out on Kiyosaki. It says it all.
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
I like Kiyosaky’s books – I have them all. But I wouldn’t buy a ticket for his seminar – I had the money but I think it just doesn’t worth them.
Brip Blap said:”I think there’s a good way and a bad way to take Kiyosaki. I like some of his non-conventional thinking and the way Rich Dad, Poor Dad made me challenge some of my assumptions about money.”
I so agree with this statement. I’ve read a few of Kiyosaki’s books, I’ve even played the “Cash Flow” game and I can say that he has changed some of my thinking of wealth, work and money.
Yes, the information in his book is rudimentary to the “financial savvy” and the people that go all-out and make his “message” akin to “the Church of Personal Finance” ARE a kind of . . . strange (for a lack of a better term). But there are people out there (pointing at me) who really had no clue that they were actually IN the “rat race”, who were indoctrinated in the “get a job and the boss/union will take care of you” philosophy.
He was really by spring board to educate myself on personal finance and wealth-minded topics and creating my own life. I think where others went wrong was their “reliance” on him and only him for their financial well-being. They kind of transferred their reliance on “the boss” to their reliance on Kiyosaki and his methods, instead of making a unique (personalized) path for themselves.
Funny that you mention Landmark: my brother-in-law is a big believer in their “courses”. In the spirit of open-mindedness I went to one of the guest-invitationals and tried to get it, but I just don’t. Apart from the courses, at least they aren’t telling people to go out and take financial risks without proper instruction. Pretty harmless New Age religion, as far as I’m concerned.
Landmark is a very controversial group that has nothing to do really with education or business
See this link before you let them mess with your mind or your business.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/landmark.html
I noticed the last few days many posts/blogs like this.
This is just a sub-rosa campaign to get an interest going.
It is really a part of LE’s lack of full disclosure.
Pretty much in truth spam
Kiyosaky teaches just some very basic principles in savings and investment. However, in reading this post, and some of his works, I would agree that much of his strategy is to stay rich by teaching students esoteric basics. In looking for practitioners and mentors to follow in each field of investment, I would look to the industry and the communities around them. Investing in foreclosure and real estate is a hot topic online and there are some great resources out there.
-4MySales
His workshops are full of crap but you gotta admit he’s got a lot of people convinced.
I’ve noticed reading the comments to RK’s yahoo column that he has a group of true believers who think the most trite and often wrong analysis from RK is wisdom from heaven. I have a better understanding of his followers now that I have learned that some have paid thousands to attend his seminars. Their need to believe that RK is insightful is a psychological defense to avoid facing the fact that they have wasted alot of money
rich dad poor dad is horrible. I love the tactics these ripoff conventions use. $500 “discount” prices… give me a break.
Ugh! My husband went to the free seminar and he got sucked into paying the $500 for the 3 day seminar. A lot of the time during the three days was spent selling the advanced seminars which can range from $5000 – $50,000. The whole thing is a HUGE scam. The instructor even had everyone call their credit card company during the first day to find out how much you could raise your limit. Then in day two he suggested that the way to finance the very expensive advanced courses is to of course use your credit card! We hardly learned anything useful and teh whole experience was just frustrating!
I agreed with you, Emily I think we went to the same seminar in LA. haha..
The fortune-in-real-estate crowd is fast being relegated to the back burner. The sub-prime mess has served as an open invitation to con men of every ilk to get into this field, at every level. And, they are doing so. Check it out. The newest twists in this “game” are frightening.
Wow… I thought I was the only one who learned this at the seminar in Silver Spring Md on Aug 17-19. At least I was smart enough to raise my limit but passed on using it for the 37945 cash flow certifacte/with mentor. on site offer was a bargin 23,990 price. Though a new car would be a better investment.
Anyone attending the 1 day or 3 day event and purchase additional training products, offered by Rich Dad Academy & Wealth Intelligence Academy are provided a bill of sale and notice of cancellation slip to use. They are not provided the fax# required to cancel their agreement in the Florida jurisdiction where this contract binds the student.
The following documentation below describes the last 72 hours I have spent trying to obtain information from this company in order to cancel and confirm enrollment, membership, financial obligations, return all materials provided, return software
(my 15 year old son opened and installed on his personal computer) to this company. To cancel this transaction they suggest using certified or registered mail. They fail to inform the consumer the cancellation must be faxed to cancel the transaction.
9/5/07 I attended a free one day seminar from Rich Dad Education. I was required to pay $495 and sign a contract that I received cds & workbooks in order to attend a 3 day workshop to follow.
Rich Dad Education wrote in their contract a no cost 6 month trial Fast Track membership that will expire on ___ (no date entered). They also list a renewal of the membership prior to the date of expiration at the current renewal fee. This area is also blank with no renewal fee indicated.
10/05/07 At the 3 day workshop I purchase but then decide to cancel additional training classes but their staff informs me they can not reverse any transaction purchases to their advanced training classes and that I must use their Notice of Cancellation within 3 business days to cancel.
10/08/07 A national holiday in Canada (where I live) forces me to wait until day 2 to cancel this transaction by their suggested certified or registered mail. They fail to inform the consumer the cancellation must be faxed to cancel the transaction.
10/09/07 I expedite by certified mail requiring a signature to Rich Dad Education at 1612 East Cape Coral Parkway Cape Coral, FL 33904. I call their toll free number listed on the cancellation contract 1-800-978-8068 but I am told I have reached their Utah office not their Florida office. None of the phone agents will give me their name, a fax#, business location or employee id for my tracking records. I spend several hours calling all their company numbers provided asking for a fax# to send my cancellation but they all tell me they do not have a fax and they give me another phone number to try. Every phone number I am told the same thing that they do not give out their fax# their own full name, mailing location, fax numbers or company employee number for my tracking records. When I ask for a return authorization or a confirmation # , again all the agents repeat the same thing they do not give out their name, confirmation # etc. I call my credit card company and they inform me the $34,059.46 status is in pending and would not be posted by the merchant for several more days. I call Rich Dad back to inform them I have cancelled by certified registered letter and the agent hangs up. I call back and they hang up again. When I call my credit card company they tell me the charge posted against my account. I immediately put the amount in dispute and closed the card.
10/09/07 UPS 519-977-0404 cancellation notice signed by Suarez at 10:26 a.m. I call the company to ask to speak with Suarez and I am told that is a women but she is not available. I ask the agent for her name but he tells me he can not give her name or a direct number for me to call. When I call back another agent tells me Suarez is a man and no longer with them.
10/10/07 I send two more registered cancellation letters and several faxes to several different locations and fax phone numbers that I have identified from my research through their incorporation articles.
I call 1-877-817-7377 to cancel any software package membership they want to activate after a 15-day free trial period. The agent Tom and his supervisor Rhett will not give me their full names, a fax#, their building location or any information to mail my cancellation. Eventually they give me a California address that I can not confirm even exits or is registered to the Rich Dad company as they will not give me a phone number to that location.
When I call to cancel any membership renewal obligation I am given many different phone numbers to call for my cancellation notice in many different states (California, Utah, Florida, Texas). When I call the phone agents will not give me their full name or employee #for my records or a fax # for me to use so I can send the cancellation. I ask for a mailing address to return the workbooks and they tell me they will email me instructions and mail a return authorization# letter. I ask for a mailing address so I will return materials but they tell me they do not know the mailing address. When I ask about the fax cancellations that I have sent Stephanie (who will not give her last name) tells me they process their faxes on Thursday. I point out to her that processing fax cancellations on Thursday is outside of the 3 day cancellation window. I sent a cancellation on day two and day three in order to cancel a $34,059 training course with a registered certified cancellation carrier that recorded signature ‘SUAREZ’. When I call again to speak to this individual no one knows who this is or who signed for this package delivery. They now tell me no one works there by that name. I have witnesses and the UPS store manager placed the cancellation document into the sealed envelope before expediting it to the office they provided. I have spent almost 20 hours in two days on the phone and no one will give me confirmation. They tell me they do not know their mailing address or their supervisors name or the CEO of their company name. No one will send me an email confirmation and no one will give me an answer to the status of my cancellation refund and who is the employee that signed for the registered package. Rick Ludwitz tells me Aldolpha Suarez signed for my package and to watch my email for instructions.
UPS Faxed cancellation notice to Rich Dad Education and Equimine software & Wealth Intelligence Academy. (See documents attached) Agent tells me the Equimine web site is under construction and not available.
Tom Jenkins 1-877-817-7377 tells me he has cancelled software membership. I ask for a fax# but he says he can not give that out, he does not know his building location for me to mail and he does not know the CEO name of his company. He will not tell me anything to help confirm the software monthly billing and the fast track membership is cancelled.
This company does business under many names at the same location:
Rich Dad Education http://www.richdad.com or http://www.richdadeducation.com
Wealth Intelligence Academy http://www.wiaacademy.com or http://www.wia.com
Whitney Information Network Inc http://www.wincorporate.com 239-542-0643
Whitney Education Group, Inc 239-542-0643
1612 East Cape Coral Parkway Cape Coral FL 33904
1-800-978-8068 (Stephanie tells me this number rings to their Utah office)
1-800-570-2050 (Stephanie tells me this number rings to their Florida office)
Rich Dad’s Corporate offices
CashFlow Technologies Inc
4330 N. Civic Center Plaza Suite 100
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Many of these numbers I called more than once trying to cancel all financial and future charges. I have made over 45-75 calls during a 72 hour period.
Phone Numbers that I have called to confirm cancellation with no luck:
1-800-978-8068 (Stephanie tells me this number rings to their Utah office)
1-800-570-2050 (Stephanie tells me this number rings to their Florida office)
1-800-741-7877 Building Wealth
239-540-6575 Corporate Headquarters asked what position I am interested in?
1-800-238-0741 Building Wealth
1-800-956-0656 Attendance Training
1-800-916-0011 (This agent tells me she is a telemarketer who processes orders located in west Phillipines outside of the United States)
1-800-570-2070 Wealth Intelligence Academy
1-866-302-8058 Teach me to trade
1-888-831-6866 Whitney Information Network
1-800-317-3905 The Company
1-800-308-3585 Rich Dad
1-800-317-3905 Agent Dave tells me this number is Rich Dad The Company and all product returns are handled at the Scottsdale Arizona location
1-800-570-2070 WIA
1-800-978-8068 Rich Dad Education
1-800-238-0741 Rich Dad Education
1-877-817-7377 Real Estate Success
1-800-701-7877
512-463-222 Tim Menor Texas Workforce commission
1-800-741-7877 Texas students
1-866-302-8058
1-888-831-6866
1-800-741-7877
1-800-317-3905
1-800-570-2050 Agent Tom Jenkins tells me my CUID# is 28167 when I call back the next agent does not know what a CUID # is and tells me they do not give them out.
1-866-601-6152 Whitney Canada The conference hotline select #2 for Rich Dad
1-800-741-7877 ext 6110 Rick Ludwick Building Wealth offered a $20,000.00 discount if I will not cancel the contract. He tells me Aldolfo Suarez signed for the cancellation package. When I call back he is angry with me and asks why I called back within 20 minutes and spoke to James Turner right after I had spoken with him on the cancellation.
Rick Ludwick calls and leaves a message for me to call him back at 1-800-978-8068 ext 6110. I do not return his call as an earlier conversation he gave me another number at the same extention.
10/11/07 I leave a message with Rick Ludwick and Paul Shwenwin to call me back.
1-800-240-0434 Rich Dad coaching Paul Shwenwin ext. 32826 calls back wanting to setup an interview to join their mentoring for over $5,000.00 when I ask him to contact Stephanie on the cancel confirmation he tells me he does not know her.
He goes on to tell me Rich Dad Education has contracted Wealth Intelligence Academy but that they are two different companies. (I do not ask him why the two bills for each company give the same exact address.)
Three fax# confirmations sent see attachment documenting they were sent the cancellation notice 801-269-5178, 1-239-443-1997, 1-239-540-6569
10-11-07 spoke with Anthony who told me the Fast Track Program membership I am trying to cancel (but can not get a confirmation) is a quick way to learn educational conferences lasting 2hr at a yearly renewal of $500 cost to stay with the program
Many years ago I went to a Russ Whitney seminar in New Jersey. On the board they had a testimonial from someone who had used their real estate program. Included was that person’s address in Cape Coral, FL. Since I was moving to Cape Coral, I did some research and found out that the address did not exist. Lee County, FL has a website that gives you info on all the properties in the county. (www.leepa.org) If you type in 1612 East Cape Coral Parkway, you get an error message that no such property exists. If you do a search on a mapping program, that address does come up in the general vacinity of the Russ Whitney Education Building on Cape Coral Parkway. Why they don’t use a legitimate address is unknown.
My wife and I are eternal optomists! The rest of what follows is my experience and my humble opinion. We attended the freebie seminar and I swore I would keep my hands firmly in my pockets, but these modern day snake oil salesmen got me and the missus to pony up the $495.00 for the 3-day course. We received a purple bag filled with most of the content that we would ever receive for our $495. The 3 day seminar is about as contrived as most people have alluded. I predicted most of what happened and I still bought an expensive advanced package (more on that later)!!! Our instructors were motivational speakers, they were polite, respectful and inspirational! The three days were not a waste of time, if you take it for what its worth. For us it was a catalyst to take action. The 3 days can be broken down roughly as follows: 1/3 motivational, 1/3 sales pitch, and 1/3 reasonably solid content. So I figure with the purple bag of materials, the inspiration and about one day of real-estate strategy overview, yeah, it was worth the $495.00… For those with unrealistic expectations that they were going to get a detailed education on all aspects of real estate, I can understand the dissapointment, but they should examine their own expectations. For those who expected three solid days of real estate content, I can also understand empathize with the frustration.
With respect to the WIA courses… I wanted to take advantage of the “bargain,” but didn’t have the time or means to execute my due dilligence. So after a bit of due dilligence, a whole lot of buyer’s remorse, and having what I call my “Kaiser Sose” moment, My wife is currently driving home to Miami from Cape Coral with our copy of the Notice of Cancellation signed and dated by the recipient after being hand-delivered to WIA’s Cape Coral Office. We remain motivated, but there is more than one way to skin this cat, and going deeper into debt is ironically contrary to Rich Dad’s teaching and just plain counterintuitive!!! I wish my former classmates all the best! Before we left, they made us promise not to quit: we are not going to quit!
Regarding my “Kaiser Sose” moment. this is a reference to the moment in the film The Usual Suspects where the cop flashes back and puts together all the clues that Kevin Spacey’s character was feeding him to paint a compelling picture of a lie. I can’t say WIA is selling a lie, after all I didn’t take the courses. Nevertheless, I concur with the occurrence of all the small manipulations that I have read about this 3 day seminar. But the one which resonated with me the most was “take the next 3 days off of real estate, your brain is a mess,” and “call to set up your courses on Wednesday.” along with all the other small manipulations, the fact that putting this out of our minds for three days effectively nullifies our 3-day right of recision was one manipulation too many! I just hated the feeling of having been finessed and sold!
I had half a mind to call my classmates to see where their heads were at, but for one i’d rather not be hit with a law suit for tortious interference with a contract, and two, they left feeling positive and that is the right headspace to be in. For me, I feel positive knowing that I am beginning my own bold new education without being out of pocket $35K!!!
I really have no agenda, but if explaining my experience is helpful to anyone, then you are welcome.
I am heartbroken. I have trusted RK for the last 6 years. While I believe that reading RDPD changed my thinking about life, opportunities and money, I can not believe that RK has partnered with Russ Whitney. I have read that Whitney was convicted of armed robbery and felony hit and run. I have never respected Russ Whitney. I just returned from Day 2 of the 3 day seminar. My husband and I were ready to make an investment in our financial education until I googled Wealth Intelligence Academy and found an abundance of articles on http://www.ripoff.com about their SCAM. Save your money and avoid the FREE seminar at all costs. While I have learned some tidbits over the last two days, I am saddened that RK would sell out like this. The worst thing is that the course material is verbatum to what us taught in the old Russ Whitney seminars still listed on http://www.russwhitney.com. They didn’t even bother to change the course names…how lazy and sleezy.
I’ve read one book of RK. As an accountant, and business person (as I would like to see myself) I agree with a lot of the basics mentioned in the book.
For those who hate RK, cut him some slack. He is a businessman, who saw an opportunity and is riding the wave. He did what most other successful businessmen did … and no one said you HAD to follow him.
Allright, so I issued comment #21. You’ll recall that we exercized our 3 day right of recission, and my wife drove the Notice of Cancellation over to Cape Coral from Miami. A few days later we were called and they set up a conference call up for me and my wife for them to offer us other packages that were not available at the seminar. We had a conference with the “opener” who buttered us up… getting us saying “yes.” It was getting late so I asked if we could put off the next sales guy until the following day. Bottom line was that my wife and I resolved to say “can we sleep on it.” I repeatedley told the guy that if he had to close this deal tonight then, it was not going to happen. He told me when you have a good RE deal you have to jump on it, and that we must not be serious about our education. He was getting rude, and I couldn’t abide it. I tlod him that I’ve thought longer about spending $100.00, and certainly he wouldn’t begrudge me 24 hours to part with $17K. He was carrying on about how if my education was important the amount of money shouldn’t matter. I told him that if the amount of money didn’t matter then why not offer me the course for $1K… because the amount of money always makes a difference!!! my eyes were wide open to the cheap psychological tactics.
After trying to give me a massive wallet-ectomy, he then told me that he has other less expensive programs, but then informed me that he has not yet invited me to be a part of the team… to wihich I sarcastically responded, “well now I gots to have me some of that.” He carried on for a while and I told him if he wants to ewxplain other programs, I would like to sleep on it. He was audibly frustrated, and practically hung up on me… what a jerk!
If everyone were “investors” and speculators, as the Rich Dad mindset seems to be, we’d all be hustling each other with giant Ponzi schemes and doing our best to screw over the other guy before he notices that NOBODY is producing anything of value.
Oh, wait, welcome to the freaking U.S. economy. Investors and Wall Street will be the death of us all. The ONLY way to build wealth is to not spend money. That means work hard, and live within your means. It’s not rocket science. “Making your money work for you” and other such euphemisms are marketspeak for “make somebody else work and suck your living from their sweat”. That’s what investors are; financial vampires. That only works for as long as the cattle are happy and nobody bothers to look behind the curtain.
“Savers are losers” seems to be a key of the Rich Dad mantra, or at least the advertisements. Yup, they are losers, but only because the &*$% investors are sucking them dry. Welcome to the new serfdom.
I don’t despise these sort of scammers because they are rich, I loathe them because of how much damage they are causing.
It reminds me a lot of how many pyramid schemes make their money. Like Alfred’s story–first they tell you there’s no obligation and it’s free. Then they pressure you to spend some money. If you do that, they pressure you to buy more expensive “educational” materials.
If you don’t buy the educational materials, you’re told that you don’t care about your economic future, whatnot, and that you’re going to be a loser.
I’m glad to have stumbled across these commentaries. I have attended the free seminar and was not all that impressed. What impressed me was the 2 for one 3 day seminar for investing in the “choose to be rich” collection. Although I can not give my opinion on the 3 day training because I was not able to make it, I do feel that the material provided has been more than helpful and worth the investment.
What encouraged me to send a message was I wanted to let it be known that the Whitney Information Network, INC. is under investigation for misconduct and misrepresentation amoung other things. In the statements Russ Whitney will be and/or already has resigned from Chief Executive Officer of the Company and will be assuming a non-executive role as serve as an advisor. There has been a host of others that has resigned and/or has stepped down as well in compliance with “United States Securities and Exchange Commission”.
So the way that company operates will be changed around per the documents I have read.
If you would like to read it all for youself then you can go to their website http://www.wincorporate.com and click on “Investor Relations”. On that page you will see recent news that can be read with acrobat reader. If you click on the “SEC Filings” it will take you to the latest information about the new company structure.
Hope this information helps.
My husband and I just returned from attending 2 of the 3 day $495 seminar in Bellevue, WA. Having attended other such seminars I was prepared to have to sit through their commercials and come-ons for the next higher-priced seminars. What I wasn’t prepared for was Dina using her father’s death and the subsequent events to prey on the attendee’s emotions in order to get them to sign up for the $9000 to $45,000 seminars. After tearfully sharing how her father died suddenly when she was but a young girl, she told how some angels in the form of real estate investors knocked on their door and saved their mother from certain financial ruin by buying the house from her. She knew right then, according to her tearful story, that she wanted to be a real estate investor just like them when she grew up. (At this point I was incredulous that anyone could believe this crap, but a look around showed me at least one woman with tears in her eyes. Serious.) Next she told the story of how, on her first date with the man who is now her husband, she knew she was going to marry him because he said he wanted to become a real estate investory. Gagging yet? It was all I could do to not run screaming out of the room.
Until this point, I had respect for Robert Kiyosaki. But if he’s aligned himself with slime like these people, I’m rethinking everything about him.
Oh, by the way. Rich Dad Education, which is actually WIA, is offering a program in Costa Rica and it just happens to be located within a new development. Suckers, I mean class participants, will have the opportunity to purchase the lots. But first they have to pay $15,500 to go down there for 2 days of brainwashing. I mean classes.
Like comment #15, I was really miffed (very toned down wording) about being told to increase your credit card limit the first day to get your CAPITAL in line for the real estate deal that will Spring Up! If you have 2 cards – get them both up. “Tell your credit card company you want an increase to $25,$30,$40 or $50K”. Low and behold, then you’re hit with the prices for the training courses on the second day, payable by, you guessed it, your CREDIT CARD! Or you can take it out of your savings, 401K, family, friends, etc. By the way, the price for the course was only good for the weekend you attended the 3 day introductory training. Classes cost between $9K and $43K. I’m not to sure people have these sums of money just laying around. There is no offering “XX” cents on the dollar RDPD is willing to take on the training, especially when they claim that everything is negotiable in life, and that retail is for suckers.
Another point, when we went to the first day of class, we went to the wrong building. Ok, my mistake. This was a Friday morning. I called the RDPD 800 number, and the recording came on the phone from the customer service department stating that they were all in a staff meeting and wouldn’t be available until 11am. You couldn’t get to anyone for help. As you can see, I didn’t capitalize customer service in this case because the episode I experienced with RDPD is not, in my view, what real CUSTOMER SERVICE is all about. By the way, my confirmation letter stating the location came to my mailbox the first day of the seminar.
I signed up and sadly for me the 72 hour window for cancellation has passed, I shall be going for the 3 day seminar but I shall be leaving my credit cards at home since I have made the firm decision not to take any long term courses with them. What I shall do instead is buy as many books on options and trading, read them, try and learn; do some mock trades for a few months before I get my feet wet.
Oh also is there anyone out there who has used the edutrader software? Is it any good? I have searched all over online for reviews but cant find anything. Thanks!
I just did RK’s 3 day seminar in Houston for $500. I went to the free seminar and they said that you can take the 3 Day seminar and learn about different RE strategies (short sale, wholesale, How to buy with no money down,etc). I thought, what the heck $500 is not much if I was going to actually learn something. In 3 days all they told us was how great Real estate can be and how we can make a big change in our lives and the lives of those we love. And how great that would be. 3 days of praying on our emotions not teaching us anything.
First day we were told to call our credit card companies and get high limits so we can have money to buy real estate later. Turns out they want you to use that money to “invest” in their “education” for $9000 to $43000. All we did for 3 days was “Robertisms” Robert says this and that. Robert says you need to invest in your education. Robert say you get paid for what you know and lose money for what you don’t know. And we got alot of Walt Disney quotes too. The last thing we did was learn very little and vague things about Real Estate. In fact for 3 days all they told us from 9am to 7pm in between quotes from Robert and Walt Disney was that 3 days was not enough to learn about real estate so we need to invest more money in seminars.
It turned out to be more like a 3 day Tony Robins seminar of “HOW TO BE A BETTER YOU” then anything to do with learning about Real Estate. I paid $500 to sit in on a sales pitch for their advanced seminars. There is a sucker born every second in this world. I sat in the same seminar as 60 other people and guess what we had about 5 to 10 people who still paid somewhere of at least $20,000 for 3 more seminars of 3 days each. Our instructor talked about how much property and money he had and how he didn’t need to be teaching these seminars,
but that his passion was teaching and this is his way of giving back to society by helping people reach their dream.
These seminars are more of Robert and his crew helping others help him get richer.
I attended the free seminar and was really inspired to take the three day training but decided to think it over instead of buying on the spot. Thanks to you guys, I will save my $500 and 3 days out of my life! I have attended other similar seminars: Landmark forum, Millionaire Mind and Mlms and I hated getting pitched for the more expensive seminars so its good to know that that is what rich dad academy is all about as well before I made the mistake to go. I am devastatingly dissapointed in Robert, however, since I have had such respect and trust in his ideas for years, since reading his books. I guess the guy has to make his money but deceiving and manupulating people in the process really has proven him to be a sell out. Its too bad. I would still reccomend anyone to read RDPD and Cashflow Q though but will certainly never attend a seminar.
I just went to one in Lancaster, PA and signed up for the $495 options trading seminar. Most of these posts are for the real estate course, any other people tried the options trading course? Given the negs of the real estate version, I will definetly tone down my expectations.thanks for all the posts.
Nathan,
Save your money. The whole company is a waist of time. The only thing they are good for is motivational speaking. They will for sure tell you that 3 days is not long enough to learn about trading so they will try to sell you on more expensive courses and software. The most you will probably learn is “buy low sell high”. They tell you some vague things. Look on your invoice and you will see on there where they write that during your seminar that you will be offered more training and more products.
Here is how the company works. They bring you in with a free two or three hour seminar/talk. Then they get a good salesmen to show you why he is into investing and show you pictures of their family and how that is their reason and motivation for making money. They will offer you a once in a life time deal for a 3 day seminar that costs normally $890 but for that day they will give you a promotional price of $495 and they will throw in free Robert CD’s.
You get to the 3 day seminar there is another sales men teaching it. Shows you pictures of his family and tells you how successful he is and his motivation is his family. And that he only teaches because his passion is teaching. He will also throw in that he can’t teach you everything he knows in 3 days. He will get into what ever the subject is then he will shift into quotes from Robert and maybe Walt Disney. Robert quotes are something like I am rich because I choose to be rich and how education is priceless. And how it is important. But during the class they ask who has a college degree, half the people would raise their hand, then the instructor would ask “And where has that gotten you”. They put down college and tell you that you need to buy their education.
This is an elaborate sales presentation, it is by far one of the best sales presentations I have seen. Almost as good as AMWAY. Which I hear Robert was in.
Save your self $500 and 3 days of you life and don’t go. If you want to learn, learn from someone who has gone to school for options training and who is certified and actualy made his money options trading. Don’t try to learn from someone who made his money selling books about making money.
Hello everyone! I just attended the 3 day $495 class in MPLS. Here’s my experience and 2 cents… Our Instructor was very knowledgable, personable and did a very good job. My background is that I am a small time RE Investor with 4 single family rentals and RTO’s right now. I went to this seminar to learn about a couple more options in RE Investing (ex. Prop Mgmt, Notes, Forclosures, Multi Family, etc.). I will say this, I feel that I definitely got my $495 worth out of the class, especially considering my wife went as well so it was really $250 per (Cheap education!). The class covered a ton which was great but the downfall of that is they aren’t able to spend a lot of time on just one or two subjects. I did not choose to continue with the adv. training sessions ($9K-$40K) at this time but I definitely will be researching and learning more on my own things that I took from this seminar. I plan to concentrate on just 1 or 2 things right now and do some smaller quick turns to make $$ and at a later time I may still sign up for some adv. training.
A couple of things I learned and thought were quite valuable are… How to find a good RE opportunity, Minumum RIO I should be looking for in certain ventures, How to factor my rents on Lease or Lease Options (thought I knew), Asset Protection (I have an LLC that was drafted by my RE Attorney and I got some great ideas how to protect myself even further) and much more! I think I had taken about 12-15 pages of valuable notes.
As for most of the other posts on here my thoughts are that those people that didn’t get much out of it are those who thought they were going to learn how to make $100K on their 1st RE deal without much effort after attending the 3 day seminar (I would also imaging they have sunk a lot of money into many other “Get Rich Quick” ideas). I would really be interested in hearing from someone that actually attended the adv. trainings and used a Mentor. What was your experience? Are you implemting what you’ve learned? As for the rest of you I think it would behoove you to actually invest some time and learn more and “Do” a deal instead of just whining that you didn’t walk out with the easy button to wealth!
Good luck!!!
They do tell you a couple of good vague things about real estate. They are not there to teach you anything during the seminar, they are just there to get you to buy more seminars from them for $9k to $40k. You can learn everything they teach you and more for free at a local real estate investment club. Bottom line they talk more about quotes from RK and Walt Disney then they do talking about real estate.
I didn’t go there expecting to be rich instantly or anything. I just thought they were going to teach me something I did not know not just some vague things. The instructor just spent 3 days telling us 3 days was not enough to learn about real estate. It’s just a waist of time if you ask me.
Bottom line which they don’t tell you at first (they wait until end of day two to tell you)is This $500 seminar is just more of a sales presentation to buy more seminars then it is to actually teach you any specific thing about real estate during this 3 day seminar.
Davep,thank you for the positive input. I attended the 3-day seminar in Nov ‘07 and purchased the $9k advanced training pkg. I learned quite a bit from the seminars and the on-demand (pre-recorded), as well as live webinar training courses. Since the training, I have purchased a SF house with more than 50% equity. The training also enlightened me in how to obtain funding for my first commercial investment. If a person does not apply the principles taught, he should expect to fail.
I am attending the 3 day sales pitch as we speak. If they want the money for the advanced courses you’d think they would teach you to make that amount of money rather than increase your bad debt.
You are free to ask questions but I can’t get a straight answer out of any of them.
It was my first get rich seminar. And trust me you can see the sales pitches a mile away. My wife is a real estate broker, and I just wanted to learn how to get into short sales and how to structure a land trust. In the free seminar they tell you they are going to teach you all of that for the low price of $1000 but for that day only you can get it for the low price of $500 and you get some free cd’s with it.
It’s all a sales pitch. When you go to the first free meeting, How come they never tell you for $500 all you are going to get is a sales pitch for more seminars? I’m financially literate and I was semi retired at the age of 26 I know a scam when I see one. It’s an elaborate pitch and a play on emotion is all it is. If you want to learn how to buy real estate you can join a local real estate investment club for $200, and have actually investors show you how to buy. You can get all the seminars there for free from people who are in the business.
For the people who defend this type of misleading, I don’t know what you get for $9000 but I know for $500 I got a bunch lies and I didn’t learn anything, but a few Walt Disney quotes and Robert K quotes out of his books, and I got to see some pictures from the instructor oh his wife and kids on the slide show,which is part of the emotional play they put on. And the whole 3 days, they stress that 3 days is not enough time to learn. It’s a complete waist of time. Then they pressure people who are in soooo much debt already to take out more debt on their credit cards.
I warn you before you spend your money, do some research on what you get. Do not take the word of the person who is taking your money. their job is to show you how great they and their products are.
Hi everyone.
I just got back from free seminar runned in London. What can I say?? Rather than 990$ for seminar and – wow – bargain offer – 495$, we have the same but valued: 1990 GBP and – wow! bargain! – 590 GBP
Basically, person who made this seminar was investor “Matthew Watson”, however I couldn’t find any informations about such person in internet – strange, bearing in mind his words: just type my name in google and you’ll have many results. More or less – the same story: introduction to Robert’s books, assest, liabilities, family photo of pregnant wife…
At hte end – wow! bargain! only TODAY!! – rather than 1990 GBP, you can have it for only 590 GBP!! Putting all my trust in richdad brand, I was really considering paying for this 3 day seminar. I was really surprised how many people did that actually! But!! But but but!! What is rich dad golden rule?? Investing is not risky – lack of knowledge is risky! Isn’t that ironic?!
So I went back home without burned bridges – as I knew that this seminar will happen in next 2 days – and used google magic. Guess what! I’ve found this page! And I really want to thank you all! I saved 600 GBP!
I must say I feel quite good after all this situation. While this “investor” was keep on repeating that he never puts his money into investment he doesn’t know much about, seems like this hint has been ignored by the rest of the group. Simply – they took out thier credit cards and created positive cashflow to… God knows who! If this is the way you do your homework and learn your lessons – wow, I’m happy to see that in such crowded market, only very few people use their brains.
Probably if I’m told that Robert Kiyosaki will participate on this seminar – I guess I would pay. But it won’t happen, and “richdad” logo and smiling Robert’s photos is not enough! Not for 600 GBP.
It was good experience anyway. There is always need of having employees – you can run the best system ever, but still you need to have army of employees that will put 1 potato and 2 pickles on the top of hamburger. And I know, that there is still many of them around us.
PS. I am thinking of going there and warn future victims. I do not mind having a good idea that brings you money, as long as it is not cheating regular people.
this was my experience from back in july in tampa at a RK rich dad intro seminar….
2nd time i’ve been to one – the first time i had to leave before it was over.
I decided to sign up during the event – the guy was very good manipulator/ psychology to
get people to join. I decided that it wasn’t right for me and i read the cancellation sheet very carefully
after reading discussion boards such as this where people had horrible experiences with trying to get a
refund.
Well, it didn’t say i had to fax anything – just sent the notice back certified within the 3 day grace period.
I got an email confirmation for a ups label – but i almost deleted it because it didn’t really indicate who or where it was from – but I was expecting something so I realized that’s what it was. the label was for the cape coral address.
I wrote back to make sure I included EVERYTHING i was supposed to return (minus the ‘fre-e gifts) and there was a discrepancy with what I got and what they claimed i had.
I emailed back and they replied that yes, what i had was correct as they had recently changed what was included in the purple bag.
I did go thru some closed loop calling:
called 800-978-8068 and talked to an Ashley – she said i was calling Utah and needed to call florida #
which was 239-540-6500 ext 1 (whitney education group)
called that and got directory HQ which told me to call the utah number again.
i called the 239 540 -6500 number again and listened to the menu – got another number to call
888-831-6866 for a label…
called again
239-540-6500 – ext 1 … said you guys are telling me to call each other – passing the buck..
so the person put me in touch with a ‘Lisa’ who emailed me exactly what I needed to return.
I can understand the frustration people have had with trying to get their money back…
my concern was to make sure we were on the same page as far as what they expected to receive back so they couldn’t deny my return.
The long and short of it – i got USPS confirmation of their receiving my cancellation request. Got the email prepaid UPS label emailed to me…. And they refunded my c/c within a few days – I actually had the refund before I had a chance to send the products back….
It’s disappointing to learn that RK may be nothing more than a charlatan who has 1000s of people getting duped. But as far as hassles with getting my money back, I can’t complain.
Just finished my 3-day seminar. Didn’t get conned into any advanced training courses. I had never been to any seminar, so when the opportunity became available, for $500, to learn about real estate investing, tax shelters, creative financing, etc… I decided to give it a try. After the first hour or two of class, I quickly saw that this was a scam and a sales pitch. I was disappointed, but figured I may learn some good information and I already paid, so I might as well stick it out and complete the 3 days. If anything, they are good motivational speakers. I am ready to invest, whether they taught me anything or not. But I really learned minimal quality information pertaining to investing. If you go to this 3 day seminar, just be aware of what you are getting-some motivation and very minimal investment info.
Question, I’ve been offered a free ticket to attend a 3-day RDPD seminar. Somehow my acquaintance has this extra ticket that otherwise would go to waste. If people are paying $500 to attend, how is it that he has a free $500 ticket? I’ve read the posts above and am not comfortable attending.
It’s not a free ticket, it’s jut when you pay the $500 you can bring someone at no extra cost. They make it sound like you can bring your “spouse” for free, when really two people can go for the $500.00
Sommer,
Thanks for the info. In the end I declined the invitation after reading these posts and others.
– Wondering
Well, I attended the 3 day $500 seminar and all you get is a 3 day overview of the “Advnaced Training” You get samples from real deals worked by the presenter. Day one you are asked to go home and increase your credit lines so you can improve your acces of “other peoples money” . You ae lead to believe you can use this money to do your first deal. Then you are sold on why you need more training the – Advanced Training so you actually are expected to invest in yourself with your new credit lines so you can equip yourself to make more money and your first deal could pay for the training. WELL the training is $117K but you will get the special onsite proce of 67K includes software, 3 day in home mentor and a 3 day seminar on EACH real estate technique – 13 different courses are offered. Now the education is valuable BUT not at that price. People went to the back of the room and fanned out credit cards to cover the cost. I however bought nothing additional.
I purchased the Wealth Intelligence Academy Real Estate Success Software software a few weeks ago and it seems to work fine so far. I’m don’t beleive it’s the same software complained about above. This one helps do valuations , comps, find foreclosures , pre-foreclosures and also has legal documents you can use for deals. (and nice google map features)
My concern is the lack of online forums, blogs, equimine support page, etc.
I’ve had all kinds of trouble trying to get onto the richdad discussion boards or the very similar WIA forums. I understand why they need to keep the negative chatter, especially from competitors , but I just want to discuss and compare notes with other users of this software. The manual is a good start, but as a long time IT person, I need my online resources and to be able to interact with them.
I just finished Day 2 of the $495 seminar (my husband attended with me). It is definitely worth the money as it included CD’s books, etc. and the 3 day seminar for 2. I definitely think it would be worth it to move forward to the advanced training but at this time my husband and I just cannot commit. However, we do plan to followup!
Before we attended the seminar I had read the books and listened to some of the CD’s and had already started putting into practice our surplus budget and working with our financial statement correctly. I definitely increased my financial IQ just from reading the materials and listening to the DVD’s and CD’s which came with the $495 and that was before even attending the seminar. I was amazed at how much more we could do with our budget and how I found more money to work with just by following a few suggestions in his books and I thought we actually were pretty good with our budget but WOW I was shocked that I wasn’t utlizing what we kept or that we could keep more just by making a few changes.
I am a lot more creative about how to utliize our income! For my family it was money well spent and I am grateful for the opportunity to have had this experience and being reintroduced to RK’s books, etc. (I had read Rich Dad Poor Dad about 7 years ago but my radar wasn’t up so I missed some very important information). I am excited about going back tomorrow and playing the Cash Flow game and enjoying the great people who are also attending the seminar. It has motivated me to take action on some other things I have procrastinated about for far too long and I am very excited about getting that kick in the rear to be proactive on these goals. That kick alone was worth the money!
I think you get out of things what you expect. I knew for $500 I would not walk away from 3 days knowing how to do real estate! I got what I expected and I was in tune to that so I picked up a lot of nuggets to utlize! For me I got far more than my money’s worth! No regrets here!
Completed the final day of the weekend training and had a great time! Picked up some more great nuggets and played the Cash Flow game with some other great people at our table! Yes there is the pitching going on but this is a business and I expect that in business! Businesses do not make money if they are not selling! However, I do believe the education you get with this program would be worth the money! I don’t have anything negative to say about this weekend. I got more than my money’s worth ($495).
I know a couple of the people who did buy the advanced packages so I will be able to followup with them and see how things go! I am excited for those who were able to move forward and wish them much success! The low point for me was walking away without being able to move forward today! I take away from this experience a much higher Financial IQ, learned some things that will help me and my husband as we continue to build our business. I know there is so much more I need to know and can’t wait to get that education!
Anyone who has something ‘good’ to say about these Rich Dad seminars is obiviously ignorant about economics entirely or is on the dole from these slick operators! These $495 seminar are nothing more than a high pressured commercial for the advanced and more expensive courses! These guys are nothig more than ‘no-account’ motivational speakers with little substance to show. In other words: a bunch of thieving bastards!
I am not on the dole for Robert Kiyosaki and I am not ignorant! We didn’t sign up for the advanced courses and didn’t feel pressured to do so! I learned a lot from the 3 day seminar that I am going to be using. Seems we have issues today in this society with succcessful people from unsuccessful people! To me one lacks understanding (but are not ignorant) to believe that a $495, 3 day workshop is going to be all you need to be successful in real estate. I don’t believe anybody is ignorant that attends one of these seminars or moves forward to the advanced level but are people looking for what will work for them and a better way to invest and earn income. I actually ended up signing up for coaching with another company because of price and I am very happy with the coaching so far but I cannot cut down the Kiyosaki coaching when I haven’t tried it! You get what you expect from these things. If you expect to be scammed you will miss a lot of good information! If you expect to leave with more knowledge than you came with and with a few new acquaintances, then you will leave with more than you came with!
Ok first off, Robert Kiyosaki in no way dismisses education and calls it stupid. He has a college degree, and he knows the importance of education. He does, however, feel that schools now a days need to have a financial literacy class. Judging by today’s economy, it would be wise for teens to learn how to manage their money correctly. Now will Kiyosaki’s methods work for everyone? NO! That’s why Robert encourages everyone to educate themselves with every bit of various information they can find. I attended a free seminar and liked what the speaker presented, but I knew that he was going to be sellings those $420 classes and I also knew that I wasn’t going to purchase those classes so I avoided it, it’s called being smart and aware of your weekly schedule. I have college classes at 8 in the morning. I’ll find what the classes are going to teach in the library. If I’m going to pay for classes, I’m going to make sure that Robert Kiyosaki is there teaching so I could ask him a lot of unanswered questions after the seminar. I mean it is my money that i’m giving to the guy after all.
So in conclusion, there is nothing wrong with learning how to invest from Robert Kiyosaki, Warren Buffet, Wall Street Journal and other bits and pieces of information you can find. Just take from it, analyze it, if you feel good about it, try it, and after a little while, come up with your own methods and reasons, if you don’t feel good about the information you read, seek other things. Oh and Robert Kiyosaki does not like “get rich quick” schemes. It says so in back of “Rich Dad’s Guide To Investing” and his seminars do not preach how to get rich quick.
Just completed day 2 of the 3 day seminar. I agree with the comments above… this event was one big sales pitch and very misleading. A complete waste of time.
I am more upset about the 20+ hours I have wasted over the past 2 days then the $500 I spent on the course. Trying to debate whether or not I sit through the third day in hopes of picking up a few more ideas.
I would have some respect for them if they just spent 1-day giving us the important information and explaining the courses with pricing VERSUS making us sit there for 3-days and wasting our time on a sales pitch that was literally making me shake in my chair with frustration over the time I was wasting and sleaziness of the whole thing. They could have definitely given us the 3-day course in 1-day.
The funny thing… if they were open about their intentions and did not waste days of my life, I would probably have purchased some of the $5K classes. I see the value in investing in education. I can say that I will DEFINITELY NOT buy any of the advanced training b/c of their approach to this whole thing.
Well I just read the bad reviews listed… WOW… I must say I’m not too ” happy ” about just purchasing our $ 495.00 package deal from RK’s free seminar on April 7, 2009. My husband and I are scheduled to attend the 3 day class on May 1,2 & 3. I want to have an open mind about this investment and apply what we learn.I have followed RK’s teaming up with Donald Trump.
I just went to a Donald Trump ” free ” seminar last night… The sign up fee for 3 day seminar was ( $ 1495.00 ).
Basely the same things were talked about last night in this meeting… So I have to give this seminar a try…
Thank you for letting us know about the credit card scam. We are not taking the cards… Ha!
Oh, my husband has been listening to RK cd’s and he’s excited about the knowledge so far.
We will send updated info after the class.
Hey are u going to the Stock and trading seminar I am attending that one to
I am considering purchasing the edutrader services. I found out about EduTrader at one of Robert Kiosayki’s investing seminars. This article kind of helps me be a little more critical towards the software.
I am writing this while day 3 of the stock trading seminar I paid for is going on. I found the first two days one huge sales pitch for the advance training with a small sprinkle of stock trading ideas mixed in. The package they “recommend” is too the tune of $30,000. Amazingly I would guess close to 80+% of the folks in the class appeared to be all in. If nothing else these people are great salesmen!!!
I am not disappointed about my $500 though. I like the Edutrader software…for now until I figure fundemental stock analysis out on my own. I also picked up some basic options trading ideas that I was unaware of. However, a little research shows that this strategies can be learned from the internet for FREE. Thats what I am going to do.
Beware if you are planning to attend one of these 3-day seminars, you learn just enough to be dangerous and your credit cards are at risk to some very good salesmen!!!!