30 January 2007

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

My wife has started reading up on investing and all things financial and entrapreneurial. One of the starting points was one of the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" books, which she'd read quite a bit of. I'd seen them prominently displayed at book stores. It was folksy and a bit unorthodox. I put a little entry on my "to check out" list to see if there was any merit to what he had to say. She then did a little internet looking into the topic.

I hadn't know was that Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is a fraud, as in almost everything described in the book as fact is really just made up and false, even best seller status apparently was achieved largely via a quasi-Ponzi scheme.

This is bad for two basic reasons. First, the books are on the non-fiction shelf. Second, the argument for following Kiyosaki's financial advice is basically ad hominem. To paraphrase: "I got rich this way, my friend's dad got rich this way, my own dad failed to get rich because he didn't do it, it works." An ad hominem attack is a legitimate way to question an ad hominem argument.

This isn't to say that there aren't any nuggests of wisdom in 18 books of financial cliches, but given that the book urges readers to leverage and similar high risk approaches to get rich quick, caution is in order when you know that the man who wrote it is a fraud.

Kiyosaki and Education

I don't give Kiyosaki quite as hard a rap for scorning conventional education as some writers do.

While education is valuable in fields where you rely on your ability to reason and draw upon a wealth of received wisdom (law, medicine, engineering, academia, theology), in much of business too much reasoning ability can be a bad thing.

First, it tempts you to do things yourself instead of delegating tasks to an expert. Good business people trust their professional advisors.

Second, outside some select fields, education is largely a sorting tool which isn't that important when you are in business for yourself. Many jobs that require a B.A. or other degree, don't actual involve using the skills you acquire in that education in any meaningful way. The fact that you got into a good college (which shows that you are smart), and that you had enough self-disicipline to graduate, are far more important.

Third, many business people get rich by doing something that logically should be stupid and never the less sticking with it and getting lucky -- education and reasoning ability breeds doubt in these schemes. FedEx was based on a business plan that the professors at Harvard's M.B.A. program frowned upon.

Indeed, even in the professions, big economic sucess is rarely simply a matter of being very smart and very good at what you do.

My father-in-law was a financially successful radiologist not exclusively or even primarily because he was far better than his peers at reading a chart. His financial success had a lot to do with some savy business decisions he made and with his artful management of his business colleagues.

While the straight and narrow path can lead to financial success in law, by getting you hired at a big firm and pushing you along the partner track, many lawyers secure financial success outside this track using very non-academic negotiating and marketing skills to bring and win major class action and personal injury cases.

Edison invented the light bulb thorough brute force trial and error.

Put another way, education and a good job and conventional wisdom are great, proven, reliable tools to becoming upper middle class, but aren't necessarily the best tools for becoming truly rich. Entrapenurial success (or success in the arts and entertainment world) is the main way to achieve great financial wealth, and this involves a set of qualities very different from those rewarded in the traditional good student path.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like many others who have posted, I have read Rich Dad Poor Dad and it is a great book! HOWEVER I felt compelled to warn everyone that the seminars are SCAMS! I attended the introductory seminar facilitated by Lee Escobar. Everything they dom henges on discrediting the audience, restricted all outside conversation, and even discouraging questions. Let me explain:

First I went to the "free" workshop, where the speaker gave a motivational spill about all that you can accomplish with one of the Rich Dad workshops. They didn't give you any information about anythig, but I respected that and thought, "why shouldn't I pay for the type of expertise and mentoring I was looking for." So I shelled out $250 and my friend shelled out the other $250, a total of $500 for us both to attend. You pay $500 and you get to bring a friend free so we decided to just split it.

The day of the workshop, I got there early and there were 3 facilitators walking about introducing themselves. When one of the women approached me, we introduced ourselves and she told me she was a real estate agent. I asked her how long she has been investing in real estate and that I thought it was a great advantage to be a real estate agent because that gave her even more insight. She seemed taken aback by my questions and sheepishly replied she had only been doing it for 3 years. I was about to ask her how many homes she has flipped our rented for profit, but she scurried away before I could follow-up with another question. I thought it would have been small talk for the average investor and that she would have been happy to share her experience, but nonetheless it didn't seem that way.

Then Lee Escobar began speaking. The first thing out of his mouth was, DO NOT even think about passing out business cards, exchanging phone numbers, or email addresses. That this wasn't for networking. Funny because I thought that we were all there to learn and how nice it would be to form a group that we could learn with together. Then he said nodoby in the room knew anything about real estate or they wouldn't be there so don't question what he says, just do it. He said any nay sayers were just spewing their negativity and he wouldn't allow them to stay in the seminar. To top it off, if someone had question, they were expected to walk to the front of the room and speak it into a microphone, which seemed ridiculous since we were in a small room with not that many people. Finally, he said, "who wants notes of everything we talk about today" and when everyone answered "me" he said, well take them yourselves. In other words, we won't be providing you with any materials for you to take and remember what you've learned. I later found out that it didn't matter because the majority of the workshop was focused on raising your credit card limit and why it was important to invest in more classes to further your "real estate" education.

The rest of the seminar gave extremely vague tidbits about how to invest. On the last day, they closed the doors and dug into people about buying the 20000+ classes. It was so crazy and unethical I couldn't believe it. People were CHARGING these classes!! If you're thinking about going, please don't. They prevent people from even forming a class action lawsuit against them because you have no way of getting in contact with others. I can't wait until their exposed. And everyone gets exposed eventually.

Unknown said...

I read two of the rich dad books and really enjoyed them. Although i was invited to the "free" seminar today regarding stock investing. What a waste of time. The guy "mike" didn't shut his mouth for 2 1/2 straight hours and talked 2 hours about signing up for the next seminar. I knew going in they would want to sell some books or whatever but this was bad. I laughed at the lemmings heading to the back to hand over $500 bucks. I learned so little in 2 1/2 hours i couldn't logically understand paying $500 for more. Good salesmen though, they closed probably 30 people for the seminar

DaDroz said...

So... in what way is Kiyosaki himself a fraud? In other words, rather than just not liking clichés, what is actually tangibly untrue about the book?

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...

Most of the events described in the book simply did not happen. The author made his big books from royalties, not from the business deals he describes.

DaDroz said...

That's an interesting theory. I myself am not a Kiyosaki follower or even in real estate, but I do like a lot of his thought process. The events are quite irrelevant to me personally, but it would be extremely interesting to give evidence rather than spouting an accusation. Of course, to prove a negative is impossible, because it requires infinite knowledge, and how you know his personal financial history I'm not sure. All I know is that a lot of people don't like royalties being made from educational, self-help books, and will stop at nothing to protect their own egos for not doing anything more productive and independent with their lives. It begs the question how does somebody rise to real estate credibility to write and sell inordinate amounts of books if they had no experience making millions in real estate. Everybody must be wrong except for you and a few other critics, no? Of course he is successful in real estate; the truth is it's just not what you or I want to do to succeed. And that's ok, just find something else to own based on the right principles, rather than making claims you have no logical or tangible basis for making.

Anonymous said...

Watch Marketplace on CBC television(Canada)01/29/10 tonight at 8:30 or go to the website. http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/

Anonymous said...

I've just been on one of the classes for Rich Dad and met a few genuine multi-millionaires (been on TV) there that taught us a few things and to know that they mentor too makes the investment well worth it!
I agree with them telling us to make our own notes and not giving us the slides - it's copyright, if not then it's okay to walk into a cinema with a film crew and film movies from the back n sell them in shops.

Anyway....I just have one question for all the people saying this is a scam.......are any of you wealthy/millionaires?.....enjoy your rat race people :)

DaDroz said...

Yeah, that's the main issue, people with no solution offering opinions. I just can't take advice from people who aren't financially free doing SOMEthing that they own.

Anonymous said...

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2010/road_to_rich_dad/main.html

this hidden camera report says it all

Anonymous said...

I am two days into a three day Rich Dad seminar hosted by Lee Escobar. My experience is the same as a previous commenter...and it is three years later. No networking, no questions, no interaction. There is a room of 114 people at the Rosen Hotel Center in Orlando, FL buying into all of this shit. Yep, much of the first day was spent talking about raising credit limits just so people could enroll in follow-up training that costs between $10K and $65K on the second day. I cannot wait to find out what the third day has in store for us. This is a three day HARD sales pitch. The one thing that I am happy about is that I got into the class for $199/2 people...instead of $500...as the previous commenter spent.

With that said, I have read some Kiyosaki...and I put some stock in his teaching. Rich Dad Poor Dad may be non-fiction, but it has taught me some lessons.

Too bad he licensed Rich Dad to Tigrent, the company that does the seminars (no, this is not a Kiyosaki function). Upon expiration of the licensing contract with Tigrent, I would hope Robert Kiyosaki would remove himself from the relationship...it is tarnishing his name and legacy.

Anonymous said...

Like many others I was also a victim of your daddy. I decided to go to the free seminar in tampa, fl considering such a big name behind it. Also I had heard some positive feedback from a few complete strangers met. I was foolish enough to buy my ticket=500 to the "basic" training (I already knew that if there's basic, then there's more) thinking that even though it's basics, it'd still give me a good idea on how to start.

I got to the training and realized it had no other purpose but to talk you into buying the next course, so basically all my 500 worth was to be sold a new price tag.
The crazy part is the fact that they show you a few numbers of profit you can make in certain real estate scenarios and they kick it back to selling mode and they throw in a few personal emotional moments of their lives to urge you to become financially free(10k-60k), therefore making you emotionally attached to the idea.
I did not go any further than the second day, I had enough at the point they suggested increasing your credit limits to pay for the course, when majority of people in there are trying to get out of debt and could barely even pay a few hundred dollars with the hope to improve their lives by attending this course.

These motivational speakers are VERY well trained, and they answered almost every question in my head.

But here's this one, If in 15 or whatever few hours worth of work you can produce hundreds of thousands of dollars, Why are you teaching 200-hundred-a-pop seminars that are 25+ hours long? And better yet, if its really because you "like" helping people why are you charging 10k-60k per class? dont you guys have all the money you could have? I understand theres a price to everything but 60k?
So who really is YOUR DADDY?

Oh and to those saying good luck on the rat race or what not, If the "system" really worked for you then you wouldnt really be looking for bad raps about rich dad academy, would you? Unless you were part of their staff huh?

Anonymous said...

Do all of us, who got ripped off, a favor, watch this video and you will have saved $60,500.

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2010/road_to_rich_dad/main.html

Anonymous said...

Hi Everyone, I read one comment that resonated with my experience. I'd like to confirm my experience at the Rich Dad Poor Dad Education. I went to a free seminar, was told the following, "Richard purposely kept information about of the books about how to put into practice what he talks about in the books, if you want to know how apply his techniques, how to use them, how to profit and become RICH, that's where this class comes in, it's $500, and you can bring friend." Having loved the book and it helping me to see a new way of thinking, I thought I would attend and a $500 investment would be an ACORN of an OAK tree that would become an Oak Tree Grove, etc. I was not there for the networking because I didn't have anything to network, but I specifically remember the NO NETWORKING RULE and some people were furious. I do remember them saying at the FREE SEMINAR that it was a networking event, etc. etc. Here's the sales pitch I got by Ann of Florida, "Who wants to be rich, who wants to be a millionaire, raise your hands I want to see." This was after she sold us on how great her life was, how free she was, she had some $20K story where she saved someone important in her life, because of her wealth, etc. Then she said, "Well if you want to be wealthy, that's what I am here to do, you just need to follow everything I say and do everything I ask." Of course it's a, "I tell you later, I tell you later" kind of stuff, she does bring fwd her thought process of a quick sell, but it's not enough to do it yourself, it's more of here's my mental blue print of what I do, obviously there's gaping holes that would cause failure if you didn't do things correctly, like legal stuff, and a thousand other reasons. She makes it sound like she gave you the crown jewel and now your $500 value was just made into $5 million. You were ready to quick turn, and become rich today, based on her mental blue print that was only verbally spoke, BUT if you want to do it better, "Wealth Institute Alliance or something was here to help you!" "Who said they wanted to become Rich, I remember all of you raising your hands, etc. etc." "This is what you need to do, this is how you are going to start your way to becoming a multi-millionaire, you need to invest in yourself, like I did, and these are the people that will take you to the Promised Land of Wealth if you do what they tell you, like if you do what I tell you." "Of course, she doesn't say it will be easy, but with all the support and help from the WIA you have ever tool for success and the best package including assistance with your first deal" "Then the whole seminar goes from one of supposed learning to solely about UP SELL, the last day and a half. 90% of that time was ALL about up selling, WHO was making their DREAM HAPPEN today and who was going to continue being a LOSER and a FAILURE" They would come around to everyone and ask if you were ready, kind of like a cult vibe like you were going to become a God or a Goddess of Money if you said YES! Then Ann would berate us for raising our hands at the beginning of the seminar and now being SCARED, and not BUYING, etc." It was not light, it was MANIPULATIVE and EXACT SCIENCE, "Well you said you wanted it, here it is, WHAT'S UP, were you lying earlier?" The big package, which is what you would need, was close to 20K. You kept hearing about how you will continue to be a failure if you don't BUY NOW, you will never become RICH if you don't BUY NOW. Oh yeah, this HARD SELL came after they told us how to improve our CREDIT the night before and ASK to have our BALANCES increased. The other brilliant thing Ann told us was HOW TO BECOME the BANK! ...cont...

Anonymous said...

...cont...This was where you become the note holder of the properties you own and or you can buy Notes that are guaranteed payouts, i.e. settlements, lottery winners, etc. Again, she made it seem like she was delivering on the $500 promise we were given at the free seminar, that this RICH DAD Truth would deliver to us incredible wealth. I do admit this was a gem, but you still have to know more than just a mental blue print. You have to have money, own property, etc. This is something that could easily be stated in a $15 book vs. the BIG RICH DAD ENLIGHTENMENT MOMENT THAT WAS GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER and EVER, you spent the whole first day and a half, waiting for to learn about something that again, you didn't have anything but an idea, that was fruitless in itself. The game thing, I thought was a waste of time, because as one person said you learned how to play and it was over. Regarding the Cash Flow game, another BIG EVENT for a $500 seminar, it was a $200 game brand new, which was basically filler for the PRESENTER to talk to people about their UP SELL. It should have been available before or after the seminar if THEY were sincere about wanting to HELP US BECOME RICH or they could have just offered the game for sale there, which they didn't. It was the elusive carrot before the horse kind of stuff, here's what will help you, you can't have it, but if you spend $20K today, then you get it included. We were barely able to scratch the surface of the game, but I do remember immediately realizing it was a game of luck and chance and not one of strategy as they sole eloquently sold. I picked being a janitor with a negative monthly income, and someone was a Doctor, with a positive monthly income, when a chance arose to buy my property I had to pass and the doctor bought it, making a positive Cash Flow right away. WOW, BIG REVELATION, the person with money, makes money! Thanks! That was worth $500 right there! It was SO STUPID. I laughed the all the people thinking it was going to help them, and it was somehow teaching them. I could see right through the game so, "NO" I don't recommend it. The whole seminar was basically a joke in the sense that everything you were told to get you there was a lie, and all they wanted to do was extract more money for overpriced 20K classes. Of course it takes a while to see the whole thing clearly, it's such a m!nd f^c*. So, here's the summary, the RE market ended up crashing as I attended my seminar, April of 2007. My guess and I would wager, that I am sure many of the current nationwide foreclosures, and abandoned homes, etc. were a result of people taking Rich Dad Poor Dad education and the MANY CLONES. I rec'd about 10 other offers from companies coming to my area, offering the same FREE SCHTIK, around the same time and thereafter. The great part is the people with the real money like Richard Kiyosaki, Ann, and all TOP OF THE PYRAMID investors are now buying your properties for pennies on YOUR dollar, ALL thanks to their teachings of how to BUY when the MARKET bubble was high and about to burst, and GUESS WHO KNEW IT! =) The seasoned veterans asking for your $20K so you become RICH at the worst possible time in RE history!

Anonymous said...

Today was the last day of my 3 day training. I did not go. Instead, my gut told me it was a scam I need to google it. I got this web page and watched the video. I am just another one who paid $500 to find out the scam. 21 of the 80 people in the seminar raised their hands yesterday to agree of signing the advanced classes. I don't know how many really did it today. The bad trainer in the viedo saved all the trainee their money. The "good" trainer in my seminar (Gregory Downing) is the real "danger". He did gave us pieces of useful information as bait and he was not as pushy as "Marc" for the first two days. He is a very patient and well trained "fisherman".

All the methods used in the video were used in my seminar in Loveland, Colorado between August 13 to 15. I was a fan of Robert Kiyosaki until yesterday. I hope justice will be done one day.

Colorado Mortgage Leads said...

Unreal…..

I’m sorry I don’t mean to come off as a prick but those of you who really thought you were going to learn the ins and out’s of real estate in 3 days are morons.
Think about it you paid $200.00 some of you $500.00... People spend more than that on 2 year Degree in real estate and still don’t know it all.
My background is Music and Video Production as well as online marketing. For $500.00 I can run someone through the basics of Vegas Studio sure I can give them some good tips and pointers. I can even some you what you need to do to land a small editing gigs with just basics but they won’t have it locked down in 3 days I’m sorry its not going to happen.

I’ve paid more for BASIC TOOLS in online marketing than you guys have for you 3 day training.
Host/domains/scripts/coders/auto responders etc

It’s going to be like that with any professional there is no way they can cram years or months of training into 3 days it’s impossible!
I have family members who are REI’s in California no they are not gurus by any means and honestly most real estate briefings run higher than 200-500 bucks easy

Now I went to the 3 day class (Aug 20-22) my instructor was Gregory S Downing and honestly it wasn’t bad. The man gave you ENOUGH information to where you could go out and land deals simple as that (199.99 investment)

He went over

Assignment to Contract x4
Pre Foreclosures and Foreclosures
Lease options
Creative Financing strats
Prop management strats
Wholesaling
Mobile Homes
Asset protection techniques

And some others

Not to mention he gave you great business card ideas, his script, how he builds his data base without the mentoring/ advanced program. Etc
He was willing to answer any questions at break time not to mention if people had questions on processes during the lecture he let them come up to the mic when he was done to ask and he went over them in a more simplified way.

Understanding the Assignment to process… that alone will make you 2-3grand a month (at least). I sat with a real estate agent she has a few sellers and I’ve already built a list of 12 buyers from running an internet ad He even told people upfront if you don’t get anything from this training BURN THE SUBJECT TO PROCESS IN MIND it will make you money and I will go over it 4 times there is no reason why people shouldn’t be able to put it to use and profit. So if you people didn’t get that shame you on.

True you could have read it in a book for 25.00 or less or the internet but it was the real world environment and being able to ask questions and get them answered that made this experience Valuable. You do realize most consultation fees are couple hundred dollars? Sitting with an investor in your state might have been around the same price and only for a couple hours they would have charged you a lot more for that info.

Again sorry I know this was a rant but c’mon people stop being silly start taking action there we too many gold nuggets in that 3 day training program that you can use to generate good money within the new few months (if not sooner)

- Jack Of All Trades

Anonymous said...

Unreal…..

I’m sorry I don’t mean to come off as a prick but those of you who really thought you were going to learn the ins and out’s of real estate in 3 days are morons.
Think about it you paid $200.00 some of you $500.00... People spend more than that on 2 year Degree in real estate and still don’t know it all.
My background is Music and Video Production as well as online marketing. For $500.00 I can run someone through the basics of Vegas Studio sure I can give them some good tips and pointers. I can even some you what you need to do to land a small editing gigs with just basics but they won’t have it locked down in 3 days I’m sorry its not going to happen.

I’ve paid more for BASIC TOOLS in online marketing than you guys have for you 3 day training.
Host/domains/scripts/coders/auto responders etc

It’s going to be like that with any professional there is no way they can cram years or months of training into 3 days it’s impossible!
I have family members who are REI’s in California no they are not gurus by any means and honestly most real estate briefings run higher than 200-500 bucks easy

Now I went to the 3 day class (Aug 20-22) my instructor was Gregory S Downing and honestly it wasn’t bad. The man gave you ENOUGH information to where you could go out and land deals simple as that (199.99 investment)

He went over

Assignment to Contract x4
Pre Foreclosures and Foreclosures
Lease options
Creative Financing strats
Prop management strats
Wholesaling
Mobile Homes
Asset protection techniques

And some others

Not to mention he gave you great business card ideas, his script, how he builds his data base without the mentoring/ advanced program. Etc
He was willing to answer any questions at break time not to mention if people had questions on processes during the lecture he let them come up to the mic when he was done to ask and he went over them in a more simplified way.

Understanding the Assignment to process… that alone will make you 2-3grand a month (at least). I sat with a real estate agent she has a few sellers and I’ve already built a list of 12 buyers from running an internet ad He even told people upfront if you don’t get anything from this training BURN THE SUBJECT TO PROCESS IN MIND it will make you money and I will go over it 4 times there is no reason why people shouldn’t be able to put it to use and profit. So if you people didn’t get that shame you on.

True you could have read it in a book for 25.00 or less or the internet but it was the real world environment and being able to ask questions and get them answered that made this experience Valuable. You do realize most consultation fees are couple hundred dollars? Sitting with an investor in your state might have been around the same price and only for a couple hours they would have charged you a lot more for that info.

Again sorry I know this was a rant but c’mon people stop being silly start taking action there we too many gold nuggets in that 3 day training program that you can use to generate good money within the new few months (if not sooner)

- Jack Of All Trades

Anonymous said...

I think it is funny how in the first book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosak tells you that Real estate is how you get rich. I did what he said, had 5 houses, and didn’t make mush money at all. In fact 3 other people I know followed what he said and today all 3 are bankrupted. But now that the housing market is down, gold and silver seem to be his new thing. I heard him say real estate is a BAD investment. This guy puts his finger in the air and plays on your fears and makes his money selling books. What will it be next time??

Anonymous said...

Hi all, I just want to clarify some erroneous things that are on this blog's comments section and everywhere else on the internet about Rich Dad Poor Dad/Tigrent seminars.

First off, like Colorado Mortgage Leads said, you will NOT learn everything there is to know about real estate in 3 days. That's way too much information.

I attended and payed $200 for a 3-day seminar on-site at the freebie seminar. My speaker for the live event was Lee Escobar. Now, Lee is a brilliant and motivational person. But here's the problem. When he said "no networking" people throw their hands in the air and misinterpret what he said then come to the internet and complain about something they know nothing about.

Now, there are two types of networking:

1) people talk to people about stuff and introduce themselves

2) business people hand out business cards selling their product or business at another business's function.

We were allowed to talk to other people about life and what-not and get to know each other. But, we were not allowed to sell our companies to people at another company's event. Which does make sense if you think about it. (I mean, seriously think about it.) Besides, Rich Dad Education has an event for company networking galore!

Lastly, the almighty prices and credit card increase. If you don't have enough money to pay for advanced training, then by all means, DONT DO IT!!! Be responsible! The reason why credit cards were mentioned is because they are another way to use OPM (other peoples money). It doesn't mean you HAVE to increase your credit limit and start buying real estate right away. It was just an example.

Since my wonderful experience at the 3-day seminar, i started thinking about the 10/90 rule meaning that 10% of people own 90% of the money. I also look at it as 10% of people understand what Robert Kiyosaki is teaching and also what quality education they can receive at the seminars, while 90% of people misinterpret Robert's teachings and call him a scam-artist.

That's my 2 cents.

Anonymous said...

SCAM June 1, 2011 Tigrent Rich Dad Robert Kim Kiyosaki Lee Escobar Group attorney? I’ll sign!!
I was suckered by a millionare Chaplin!
I am angry at myself for falling for this. I spent $36,000 and lost my last savings to what I thought and hoped was my financial freedom. Lee Escobar was THE PUPPET MASTER! A Chaplain using his calling to gain your trust.
I hope you all read this, cause they have to be stopped. Kiyosaki MUST be held accountable as he receives money and puts his name on it. I will continue to post as I gather my thoughts, lost dreams and self-esteem. Is there a group lawyer? I want to be added.
- Forced us to say OhYa after everything he said.
- Black list people if you don’t sign up immediately. You CAN’T EVER ATTEND anything from them.
- Help U set up CC, so it will pay for ADV Training.
- FREE? I had to pay for $199 for the Free Seminar, so I could listen to the Upsell. Or else. THEY LIE!
- only 1 bathroom break a day to keep you in your seat listening.
- CANCELLATIONS: 3 DAYS OR ELSE YOU PAY!! Interesting that they have a cancel form ready, cause they KNOW a % with cancel and thats ok, cause the masses end up paying anyway.
- Teacher put “L” in front of his forehead, SAVINGS & 401K plans are for LOSERS. Repeat After Me!
- Lee Escobar WON’T ANSWERS your questions, saying you are disruptive and STARES AT YOU UNTIL YOU SHUT UP OR LEAVE.
- Lee Escobar says hes a Chaplain and uses his preacher voice and claims he was sent here to help YOU!!
- Actual Training over 3 days: 2 hours (NO QUESTIONS ALLOWED AT ALL)
…take the Cash flow game and copy the DEAL Cards and that’s what they showed us, Never Taught us.
- Actual UPSELLING over 3 days: 22 hours
- Surveys ARE FIXED to make THEM LOOK GOOD!!
Lee has a Mobile home park development in a binder. This binder was horrible, lacked content, was missing the plot location of the actual park, and ONLY showed you pictures of what a Mobile Home Looks like. JUST LIKE THE PEOPLE IN CANADA that went thru the 32 Million dollar SNOW-JOB. IF THIS GUY REALLY IS A MILLIONARE, these PROPOSALS would be Dynomite. A fifth grader did this as a class-room project. THERE WAS NO PLOT where it was going. HE MADE IT UP!
Watch Robert Kiyosaki Admit he is having issues with learning partners
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2010/road_to_rich_dad/main.html
May 23, 2011: BY THE BBB WARNING WARNING
http://www.workathometruth.com/blog/2011/05/23/rich-dad-seminar-warning/
John T Reeds detailed list of why Robert Kiyosaki is a phony Huge list here, about 30 pgs. Even shows where the marines gave him a great Review even after he bashed the Marines
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html
- If Robert Kiyosaki & Kim Kiyosaki were sitting there, it would be a TOTTALLY DIFFERENT Seminar. OR WOULD IT? PLS MAKE THEM ACCOUNTABLE, their names are on the game cash flow and supports this group by receiving Millions of dollars.
When I go to Tony Robbins, I know I’m going for a motovational speach, here we are all Blind sided. We thought it was a Basic Training to Real Estate. LIARS!!
- Warns against using Realtors for anything, DUH, caused most of its illegal.
- did you know every teacher has experience is Motovational speaking to church masses.
- did you get a motovational bracelet? Failure is Not an Option? WHY did I need this for a Real Estate Basic Training seminar?
When a Chaplain (so-called) uses his powers to try and take your money like this, THEY deserve no liency (spelling).
I may not be like LEE ESCOBAR (Bent-Lee), but atleast I have MY Morals.
http://www.leeescobar.com
Tag words: SCAM Tigrent Rich Dad Poor Student Robert Kim Kiyosaki Lee Escobar Mentor

Anonymous said...

ok, i get why everyone thinks this is a scam. I had some serious reservations on dropping 20K so my wife and sister could attend the classes. But I want you all to know, and I am not a plant, that I am about to buy a 300K property with no money down and I only attended the $200 seminar. I am not doing the training with my wife and sister. The information given CAN work, you just have to use a little elbow grease. My sister is working on a 30K deal right now with no money down. No one said it was going to be easy. But if you take what they teach you in training you can make money.

Anonymous said...

Oh, it's not a scam, got a good share of passive income from understanding what they teach along with many others.

Anonymous said...

are you kidding me.... you are worthless. his guy is great. and so are his books. he became rich and decided to share it with the world and you have to go and write some garbage like this. ur just mad because you couldnt get it to work for you because you are to pathetic to actually put an effort into something. what have you done that gives you the right to discredit someone like that. absolutely fucking nothing, thats what. maybe you should look in the mirror before you start talking trash about something you cant even comprehend, you weak minded fool.

p.s. gg blog admin. just delete all the comments that dont put down Robert and keep the ones that talk shit. gdamn assholes...

Anonymous said...

Part I:
I was google searching for "Lee Escobar rich dad" due to a recent message I received on Facebook and this website came up first. As I was reading through this blog & comments, I thought it would be helpful to hear from an actual Rich Dad Education Student who has gone through it all and share the outcome. I, too, went to the free preview seminar after reading all of the Rich Dad Series of books I could find on Amazon. Thereafter, I went to the free preview, signed up for the 3 day and paid $495, then did exactly what they said, increased my credit limit and charge $45,000 for the platinum package (at that time) which included the software & 10 advanced training classes and 3 days with a mentor. I also signed up for Rich Dad Coaching $7,500 on my credit card, which involved weekly 30 mins phone sessions with a dedicated Rich Dad Coach. After taking all the advanced training courses and meeting many other Rich Dad Education students, let me share with you all, where the students are now. First of all, the reason I decided to sign up for the packages was because I knew if I was all in, there was no going back. I paid more to attend college for 4 years and only learned how to get a job so I figured I wanted to learn how to become rich and not just learn to work for someone else for the rest of my life. After completing the coaching, advanced training courses, & mentorship, and networking (which they allow & encourage in advanced training classes), I have purchased 16 properties/20 units, sold 2 for profit at $30K each x 2 = $60K, holding 14 (18 units) which generates on average positive cash flow of $3,600 per month, & made many mistakes that I now call 'learning lessons'. I have wholesaled 78 properties each at $3,000 = $234,000 and brokered hard money funds to earn a total of $75,709 in total to date 4 years later. Now, let me tell you, doing this was NOT EASY and took a lot of work, blood, sweat,& tears to accomplish but for me, personally, I had no other choice.

Anonymous said...

Part II:
. It was do it or go bankrupt & foreclose on my primary residence for charging up my credit cards over $100,000 in these seminars/bootcamps/etc without having a job to pay for it as I became unemployed. So what I would like to share with you is the reality of it all and that to accomplish what many of the successful Rich Dad students have done takes A LOT OF WORK, GUTS, fearlessness, & never giving up. Many times, I wanted to throw in the towel as I got frustrated and doubted myself. I do not agree with the way in which the credit card U (which is what we call it now) depicts how easy it is to make money, at least it wasn't for me. It was, putting in long hours days, nights, weekends, making a tons of phone calls, constantly networking, building relationships, and for those with full time jobs, it makes it even harder to do. Not saying it is not possible but it does require a lot of work/time/energy especially if you are like me, starting with no money or actually in large debt, due to these educational costs. But looking back now, was it worth it? For me, after 2 years, I was doubting and regretting many times when I couldn't pay my mortgage on my home, but after the struggles, huddles, continuing, and achieving some success and relationships I have gained, it was DEF worth it! But I know many students who have taken the advanced courses, and have still done nothing so I do not think it's for everyone. There are many success stories and if you want to network with these students, you may want to consider attending the Annual Rich Dad Forum held each year where the students come to network and yes, buy more educational products. But there, you can speak directly to many students who have gone through the program and let them share with you their personal journey. Last time there were over 1,000 attendees. I share this with you to tell me my personal experience and if you do what they tell you to do, make 50+ calls per day, put in the hours, time, dedication, energy, focus, you can absolutely be successful. Yes, it takes time, some shorter than others, but again, it is not for everyone. I think the reason the price is so expensive is because they want to weed out those who do not have what it takes because it takes a lot, not just financially.

Anonymous said...

Part III:
I think if they were more realistic and shared actual stats on the students' success ratios and explained that it does take a lot of hard work and determination and that it's not as easy as they make it sound, then it may go over better. Also, potentially, having former students there share their ups & downs, which we go through, will make it more realistic for those considering this path. This is just my opinion and I appreciate you allowing me to comment as a Rich Dad Student. Also, I know many fellow real estate investors who never took a real estate investment seminar, who are extremely successful because they took action therefore you could do it w/o these classes. It may just take longer b/c it's a school of hard knocks and these types of educational courses may short cut the learning process. Thanks again for allowing me to share and for your time to read. Wishing each of you all the success you deserve!

HJC said...

Current attendee's thoughts:

I don't think that this program is a fraud as you state in your blog. The fact that you believe it is fraud is your opinion and you most definitely have the right to say it. However, they're not committing fraud. You should look carefully into you diction before posting your opinions on public forums.

You can do all these things that the program is claiming, but you'll have to put in the time and energy. This is just specialized education - just as people go to post graduate institutions to receive their masters, doctorates, etc. You are just paying for the education and it's up to the individual to follow through. If someone gets their M.D. and do not put in the effort to build up a patient base. Is it the medical school's fault? Is the medical school committing fraud? The answer is obvious.

In my opinion, I feel that many of the individuals here are very naive and eager to alleviate their financial situations. They ignorantly sign away their savings or borrowed cash to try and "get rich quick."

If this program has done anything wrong, it is merely that morally, the Rich Dad program is lacking. The company is quick to allow (or perhaps the better word would be instigate) these eager sheep to increase their credit lines, max out their credit cards, spend their long term savings, etc. for the advance and master courses.

THat is just my two cents.

Anonymous said...

To ALL the people who enrolled in advanced training and are having success, I'm just curious how you found your way on a blog thats talking negative about this program.

I took the 3 day seminar and the instructor advise the class that there were negative comments out there. Like everyone else I didn't realize that the price tag was going to be 20k-40k. My point is while I was on the fence, I had no intentions of looking at the good or bad reviews. So I'm just curious if the program is working for you why would you be LOOKING for negative comments?

Love SMS said...

I was recommended this book when I joined one of network marketing business and a system for it. Although I did not succeed in that business, this book has given me totally different vision to look at how money works.

When I read this book and then looked at my life and world, it gave me totally different view, you can say it opened my eyes. For example, when I was new, I worked for a dentist who earned millions, paid us few thousands and he did not work by himself, we worked for him. His dental practice was actually his business... !!! I am saying this as successful dentist, but what has been said in this book, and another book, " Cashflow Quadrant " is true all over world and applies more perfectly in India even at this time.

Rich men need not read this boom as they are groomed in their family. But must read for all those who are not rich.

Note that, this is not about money making tricks, but it shows you the way to look at your money and life. And this is only basic book to start with.