I went to a free seminar last night about Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Needless to say this is the new Amay/Quixtar. The free seminar was a sales pitch for a 3 day training sesssion for $500. They made it out to sound like anyone could buy foreclosures and flip them into profit in this market. It was such a shame. I was a fan of this guy until last night. As some of you have seen, I’m in the market for my first home and was not very pleased at wasting my time.
Ever read his Yahoo! column? You would have discredited him long ago. I’ve been hoodwinked into attending my share of “seminars” as well. The multi level marketing schemes are particularly painful to listen to. I’ve been approached by two market America reps, two vitamin companies, and an air purifier company (that ended up getting sued).
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I’m still struck by a friend with an Ivy education who comes to me asking what I think about something, and she can’t sniff out a Ponzi scheme if it hits her in the head.
Worst case I thought it would be a pitch for a new book with some insight about real estate in general. There was no indication about this being a lead in to a $500 weekend course to teach anyone everything they need to know about flipping foreclosed homes. I was shaking at the amount of ethical violations present.
Rich Dad is an okay book for picking up some basic concepts, but it’s mostly a scam. there is no proof that the guy actually made millions doing the things he wrote about (try a google search). repeated requests from numerous people for Kiyosaki to disclose his net worth and proof of his investing talent have been ignored. basically, he is a clever sales guy and marketer. it just goes to show that you can make a lot of money selling books even if you can’t invest.
It looks like the federal/state government(s) may be in the business of flipping foreclosures soon, and it’s usually not a good idea to try and compete with those guys.
That Robert guy looked like Ryu from Street Fighter: The later days
Bob (as he used to be known) is a complete charlatan. Avoid anything to do with him at all costs. I bought his first book but threw it away after his attempt at convincing people to incorporate because of all the tax advantages - like deducting vacations and club dues. Other than very few exceptions, incorporating does not magically transform nondeductible items into deductible. But you would never know it by reading his drivel. What a hack. Read his latest yahoo column and watch him misquote Warren B.
I read his book a long time ago and have not paid attention to his Yahoo commentary. What I really liked about him was the premise of making money work for you. Also his ideas reminded me that you don’t get rich working for someone else. You live and learn I guess. From Level 1 preparation, real estate investing seems very very risky. Transaction costs are high, values are subjective, and since the asset is tangible, you have to be concerned with the soundness of the structure. I doubt a 3 day seminar will do much of anything to let loose on flipping houses.
Anyone who started flipping houses 1-2 years ago is flipping burgers now
damn, this is beating of the horse is worse than “GMAT vs. CFA” and “Will CFA get me into ER/Banking?” this page has been updated since i last read it in 2006, still impressive http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
actually i take that back, this one is slightly worse than the “CFA vs. CFP vs. CPA” threads
Remember, you have to believe in yourself and have assets…lol.
You, too, can be a millionaire if you follow Kiyosaki’s 2-step program: 1) Start with $1,000,500 2) Enrol in the $500 course -> Presto! You’re a millionaire!
So what do you guys think of Trump getting into business with Kiyosaki?
You can add Carlton Sheets to this group.
bostonkev Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So what do you guys think of Trump getting into > business with Kiyosaki? see, that’s definitive proof that kyosaki is not a good businessman. trump, who is also a no talent hack, is teaming up with him. if you need to sell dumb books or run your own TV show about business so that you can whore out your products and reputation, you are a hack.
But when you think of it, Kiyosaki is a freakin’ genius. He’s 1. totally swindling (unintelligent, uneducated, and/or unaware) people out of money and making multiple millions of dollars in the process 2. doing it all with a million dollar smile (like the one JDV has in that CFA newsletter, happy B’Day BTW) 3. not getting imprisoned
all of you (presumably informed finance people) are familair with his column, his books and have even attended his siminars. he is doing something right, swindler or not. most, if not all, of these “millionaire” books are a total scam / waste of time. If you want to get rich quick take HUGE risk, but before you do that, get very, very comfortable with the downside.
Yep, in the same way that L. Ron Hubbard did something right. What’s that quote from Barnum? (to be fair, he said “customer,” not “sucker,” according to my the end-all truth…wikipedia)