Your review was very timely in the scheme of things for me. Like you, I happened onto the RDPD book and branched out into a few of the other books including the one in collabo w/ Trump. They were inspiring in that they all had slightly contrarian views to money (think: most parents teach their kids to study hard so they can get a good job, but still end up living paycheck to paycheck), and offered a glimpse, albeit rather fuzzy, into a way out.

I was slightly slower in my approach, in that last year, I attended a free seminar, knowing full well that I would hear a sales pitch, but going nonetheless, committed not to be sold. However, the RDPD company stayed in touch with me, and when the seminar came around again last night, I went again still in the minds-set of just refreshing those inspriational ideas. This time, I pulled the trigger. I’m not sure if it was all the gimmicks (think, the “take action” part, where someone runs up to get the dvd, or the heavy dose of contrarian rhetoric, think “how many of you learned to disect a frog in school”?), but, by the time the pitchman, Mr. Paul Figurski, got to the “go sign up for class” part, I was in. Fortunately, this is also when my need for confirmation instinct kicked in, so I straightaway began doing some background checks on both the seminars and the people involved. I tried to keep an open-mind while reading, knowing that different people respond to things differently, yet, repeatedly, the evidence was overwhelming that the material being taught, while potentially useful, was in the wrong hands: teaching folks how to increase their credit limits so they can purchase more classes is not in their best interest. The kicker as you might say, was the NYTimes article that you described, which was easily found when googling Russ Whitney, and cited devastating examples of zombi-behavior in those that attended the classes. That is when I realized that there is a reason, I was immediately uneasy with the whole thing: learning and decision making are naturally events that take time to mature - so, based on the tactics they employed at the seminar, which utilized hyped up emotion/energy and banked on the illusion of scarcity (limited class spots), the instructors were espousing group-think, which actually more frequently leads to being personally lost and not self-digestion, which can lead to intellectual independence.

To conclude, I don’t part with any ill-will towards RDPD, b/c I do believe that their concepts if aptly applied, can lead to succesful results. Where they begin misleading you, is the process. Kiyosaki, I believe is an ideas/dreams peddler. And, like the many who have come before him as well as the others, certain to follow, they prey on the mutually shared dreams as well as areas of discontent (being dis-satisfied with your job, lack of family time, etc) to exploit the natural human desire of wanting to think that one is better than others.

The million dollar question that others have asked and that I will repeat in parting is: how much of their respective fortunes, b/t kiyosaki and whitney have been from real estate and how much of it is from these get rich seminar empires? The answer to that should tell you all you need to know about where you should place your dreams…(you may need to be the next one in line to “teach” others how to get rich)

“Well that is all I got to say for right now. I will post again how the experience goes during this 3-day seminar this friday and please leave comments for me and questions! Thanks!

D Hu”

So?….I am waiting….so you were scammed too? There is my question…

Several weeks ago I attended a free 3 hour training expecting a sales pitch but curious to hear about the RDPD education and also anxious to get some idea of the real effort involved in applying the RDPD principals and strategies. The entire 3 hours is a hard sales pitch, but it was enjoyable enough to sit through. Needless to say I ponied up the 490 dollars to attend the 3 day training understanding that I knew very little about real estate and knew that I needed a look behind the curtain so to speak. After signing up and charging the 490 dollar “doodad” I was presented with my “free” guide to real estate investing and the 3 step guide to financial freedom book, as well as some other reading and CD / DVD products. The materials are well presented and very informative, but nothing ground breaking for anyone with personal finance savvy, and nothing that can’t be substituted for at a local book store.

Before attending the 3 day seminar I set a limit for myself, knowing that it too would involve a salespitch, that I would not impulsively purchase any thing else if the cost was ridiculous or the product was not measurably tangible from the outset.

Having just attended the 3 day event I must say the introductory level training was worth every penny of my 490 dollars with my only caveat that I have only a very basic understanding of Real Estate. For someone at my level the course was most likely valuable. But a real estate agent that was at the same seminar admitted to me openly that they already knew everything we had learned up to that point of the program. The age and experience level of the class varied and nobody seemed overtly unsatisfied.

One who attends this 3 day seminar should expect a broad stroke introduction to several real estate investing subjects, including financing methods, wholesale tactics, foreclosure process, due diligence, etc… However it is emphasized over and over that to be successful one needs intensive training in each of these subjects. This of course is where the sales pitch for more advanced training comes in. In addition to the training that you do receive, and I re-iterate that you do receive good training at this seminar, you get to play Cashflow 101, meet new people with similar interests, and receive more literature and information to study on your own.

Anyone who has read the RDPD books is very aware of and familiar with the concept of the “rich” mentality vs the “poor and middle class” one. During the sales pitches, which are a continuous part of the 3 days, this “mentality” becomes a tactic. This is where I began to detach from the experience and hastily put down my glass of “kool-aid”. I felt it was a tad insulting to use the validity of the RDPD message in it’s inspiring context as a subtle manipulation to get one to do such things as consider credit cards “investor card” and then attempt to convince one that investing in education is the only way to succeed. Not that this is inaccurate, but once you are presented with the pricetag of the advanced training the ploy becomes blatantly obvious. The advanced training packages, consisting of more weekend seminars, vary from 2 to 8 training events for prices ranging from 9K to 65K. I am not exaggerating when I say that the speaker / salesman suggested that people could take money out of their retirement savings to “invest” in these classes. It quickly becomes evident that it is ridiculous to expect to learn the complex advanced subjects at a 2 or 3 day weekend seminar with a price tag in the neighborhood of 3K to 5K each. In addition to the audacity of the inflated prices the speaker made several claims regarding the company owner (which is not Robert Kiyosaki) as well as herself which were easily refuted with some online research. It is worth mentioning that on the first day the class was encouraged not to use Google to look up unreliable internet information. My unreliable Google search netted a NY Times article about the Wealth Intelligence Acadamey’s owner - Russ Whitney - which was far from an unreliable Google search. There was other information and claims that I disproved and/or could not substantiate that I wont waste time on - by now you should get the point.

As I had agreed I walked away at the end of the three days without “investing” in my future - But I did it with no credit card balances and still have my life savings in it’s account where it belongs. The WIA / RDPD crowd may now accuse me of “thinking on the wrong side of the quadrant”… however I was confident that I could afford to pass up their generous opportunity because while I was using the internet to look for unreliable information I found several alternative sources for RE investing classes, mentors, and opportunities with much more realistic price tags. One of these is the Non-Profit organization the NREIA - I am not currently affiliated - but I do recommend one look at the website if they are interested in RE investing in any capacity.

I’ll part by saying that my overall experience was very positive and that I am pleased with the service I received for my 3 day introductory seminar. I came away with a wealth of information about Real Estate and investing that I didn’t know existed, and with the motivation and plan to seek out more training. The experience was life enhancing and horizon expanding.

I have taken Rich Dads lessons to heart and recognize their value in learning how to think progressively about financial security. But I learned some lessons from my Poor Mother that are worth mentioning here - and that is that some elbow grease is what it takes to get things done. AKA - apply yourself. If you can afford to pay premium prices and feel that a few days will get you where you want to be then the Russ Whitney / Kiyosaki team is a good choice. If your realistic, use some sense and shop around for something less manipulative and more reasonable.

Best of luck.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/boeing-flies-plane-powered-fuel/story.aspx?guid=%7B12B8DA69-01B1-4338-BFCD-13A21F5B8A13%7D&siteid=aolpfaolpf1

The analyst in the article didn’t seem too impressed, but I think he is looking at the near future.

If they keep up this kind of innovation and service they are going to own the world.

Both are markets where you better know your stuff or you’ll be eating those cheap noodles for lunch for awhile.