Rich Dad Academy
Real Estate Investor · Champaign, IL · Member since 2009 · 15 posts · 0 votes
I am curious to see if anyone has attended the Rich Dad Academy, which has been promoted by the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. I went to the free informational meeting which was a pitch to sign up for the class. My brother and I and a couple others are taking the course together looking to gain critical knowledge in the REI field. Please let me know if you have attended it and what you thought, and also is anyone planning on attending this workshop?
Thank you all for considering the post.
Here is a quick answer:
Don't waste your time.
or your $$$$
The book might be inspirational, but it is poorly written. If you take anything away from that book, take the drawings and the enthusiasm and find a good book that shows you the numbers and the options in the business. Stay away from his real estate book. It is written to a segment of investors that are very rare, if they exist at all. It is written for newbies who are going to invest in large apartment buildings and how to analyze these deals. Read a few books, learn about the 50% rule here, start networking, and start looking at deals. These are the ways to learn.
I went to the Free Rich Dad seminar also, and I have to say that's where my real estate investing career began. I know that it was a 2-hour sale pitch. And the $500 seminar, well ... that's a 3-day sales pitch. However, it did give me something I found to be well worth the time and money, it gave me motivation. It got me off my butt to learn what I needed to build my wealth instead of living paycheck-to-paycheck.
If you have the drive to succeed and is already taking action everyday to move toward your goal, then you probably won't get anything out of it. Or if you are the type that get excited about all the money you can make in real estate, but the next day go right back to the things you were doing before, again, not much benefit from the seminar. Even though it didn't teach me much, just being there showed me how much I didn't know and how learning can make me money. And that may be an important step for some to go through. Myself included in that category.
It's been a little less than a year since I attended that free seminar. I've been a real estate learning freak since. Yes, I did pay for some expensive seminars. I also read many many books, articles, blogs, etc. But it all paid off because I took what I learned and put it into action.
Shortly after, I quit my job and became a full time real estate investor. I was able to purchase 8 properties last year. It's not much to brag about compared to some of the other success stories I've heard. But for me, I'm satisfied with my progress and I think my second year as an investor will be an even better one.
So, if you take anything out of that 3-day seminar, take the enthusiasm and the motivation, and keep it alive and active in your mind everyday. Never let it fade. Realize that there is a lot to learn and a lot to do, but wealth is not out of your reach.
Having said all that, I would NOT recommend their Advanced courses. I've gone to a few of them myself. And I can say that they were not worth the money they charge. You can obtain the information else where for better price.
So that's my 2-cents on the matter. Anybody out there looking to network with other investors, shoot me a line. Particularly if you're a professional or licensed "something" (ie: realtor, inspector, appraiser, etc.) I'm always looking for power team members to work with. I invest in several states and I'm always looking to get into new markets.
Thank you all for your responces. Leo, i feel that this is a motivational course with a little knowledge to gain. I'm simply taking this course to see what other perpectives are and what people have accomplished. Thank you for your lengthy post, and i hope your second year goes better than planned.
Kurt, Find a local investment club and join. The knowledge you will gain will be for your local market, and the people you meet and network with will take you further than any seminar. You will gain more experience from listening to people on a one on one, than sitting in a large room with people you may never see again after the weekend is over.
John,
That sounds like a great idea. To be honest I am new to this site, and have never really heard of any local people in an investors club which im sure exist, just not common knowledge to me. What exactly goes on in such meetings, and also since I dont have the experience to be active investing all year around would the see me as a drag on the group?
Real estate clubs are a great way to go and they welcome “newbies†like yourself. You can find local clubs by following the links under the local resources on the left side of this page. You can also check out www.meetup.com. Just be aware of the club’s agenda, some are about networking while others are nothing more than sales pitches. Leave your wallet home and you should be ok.
Check this out:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2008/06/30/getting-the-most-from-your-real-estate-club/
:cool:
And taking it because our money has already been taken out of the bank! lol
I attended the Rich Dad academy and I acutally liked it. I know many people here say it's a waste of $ but for me it opened my eyes to potential and inspired me to move forward. There is ALOT of upselling so expect it but I did learn a lot. I had no prior knowledge so for me it was very informative. Good luck to you guys. Definately join your local REIA and read as many books as possible.
Heather
PS: The founder of our REIA group attended Rich Dad University and says it was worth every penny. He said it has paid for itself time and time again. I guess it doesn't matter where you get your information as much as what you do with it.
I agree 100% Heather. To many times people start going to seminars and never act on what they learn because, next month the advanced version will be out. After this seminar, DO SOMETHING. Even if it just making phone calls. You will learn the people on the other end of the phone are happy to share their information with you. Free tip, after you are finished talking about the property you called about ask, do you have anything else you are selling. Often, you will find better deals than the one you called about. I picked up a 4 plex that cashed flowed $800 per month and sold it for a $98,000 profit three years later. The property was not even on the market. The seller was thinking about selling it, and because I was an eager buyer I got first and only dibs on it. It was an easy sale the owner could not turn down. Good luck. Don't forget to network at the seminar.
I went to the free one. Was mostly a sales pitch for the $500 one. Plenty of people fell for it there. I heard that the $500 one was just a sales pitch for one that was going to be several thousand.
I wonder how many people did anything after going to the $500 one. I would guess only a few percent.
Yep it goes like this: Free-$500-More $$$$$$$$$
Seeing how their "super deluxe cream filled" package is around $25000.......
I'll jump up and down and run back and forth across a stage telling you all about the "power of you" for three days for only $15000.
Look at all the money you'll be saving. That's more to invest with. My rich dad would be proud of me, while my poor dad is disgusted with the sham I am running. But, what do I care? I'll also show you how to turn $5 into $50,000,000 in one week without ever having to get up off your couch.
Most of the time, each of these "guru of the week" fellows end up in jail or bankrupt.
The fact that this Kiyosaki fellow flatout lied when his book came out and then used his Amway cohorts to buy enough copies of the book that it instantly became a bestseller should throw up a red flag. But, like most sheeple, those that attend these seminars never bother to actually do any research on the people selling them the crap.
I personally am still waiting to hear how Kiyosaki rolled over a 1031 exchange into a commercial property like he said he did in that first book. Seeing how IT IS FLAT OUT ILLEGAL.
Stick on here, ask questions and find a good REI club to join. Avoid the get rich quick schemes.
"A fool and his money are soon parted" - Thomas Tusser
I'm new here, but by going to the rich dad academy it led me here.
Here is my experience:
My wife (who I've tried to get her to read ANY book about finances) stumbled upon an add for a Free Rich Dad seminar checking her hotmail account. She told me about it, I said "Free, why not!" I was very excited, I was even thinking i could get my book signed by Robert Himself (i know, how foolish). I finally read the fine print that he won't be there. haha!
At this stage of my life, I have read alot of books by different authors but really didn't know how to apply this stuff to real life. My only option of getting money was to ask the bank... and they just won't give me enough. (Keep in mind that the only knowledge I have about real estate is going in with a family member to buy our first house). So all i was doing was reading and then doing nothing.
We go to the seminar and it has a very good speaker. Alot of teasers about info that you will get. I was sold at the 1,000 dollar price. When I found out it was 500 dollars and I can take another person. What a steal! (500 dollars is not alot of money to learn alot of ways to expand my finances).
So we (my wife and myself) attend the 500 dollar seminar. The first day we get some good starting info about stuff I wasn't aware about. The best thing about the first day is my wife is actually starting to take interest in the material given to us. They teach us about credit and your credit score. They give you a script on how to increase your credit available to you. Then you get introduced to Cashflow 101. If you read the book, Robert advertises it alot in the book. I have been very interested in the game but could never justify the 250 dollar price for an advanced monopoly game. I like it, it's a good game for starters to grasp ideas of getting loans and realizing things may not always work out how you plan. Then comes the first teaser of the "Advanced Training" but no prices.
2nd day has alot of good info about stuff that i wasn't aware about as well. It sparked new ideas. Then the price for Advanced Training is then revealed. Cheapest one is is 10,000 bucks.. wow!
So me and my wife go home with this over our head. I've been wanting to do something and didn't know how... now rich dad is showing many ways to borrow money. Now we have to make this decision by tomorrow and somehow find this money. There i was late at night calling my credit cards trying to raise my limit when it dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to float this amount around like they explained. I really the believe that the information was useful and i wanted to take the courses but was curious to see if they were really worth it and if people were successful. Searching around I found this site, and found one of the posts the most honest posts i have read. I decided not to do the training and use that money to educate myself through more books (that seemed way cheaper in price now :D) and more online resources.
Day 3, we go face to face with the salespitch and gracefully decline. We play Cashflow 101 again and I get out of the "rat race" with the knowledge that I learned from the course. At the end of the seminar, they gave us some networking time. We chat with the different people that we met through the course of the 3 days. I tried getting as many people that did decide to take the courses so I can keep in contact to see if it is worth it.
Overall, I think the 500 dollars was well worth it for somebody new to the real estate investor game. It gave me new ideas that I didn't know where available, I was able to meet alot of people that were in the same position I was in and ,the best part, my wife now has an interest in the business as well.
I know this is kind of a long post. Especially for a first post... but this was the information I was looking for when I was searching the net. I hope this helps somebody debating to take some courses as well.
My husband and I attended the Free information seminar, then attended the $500 seminar which was another sales pitch for their acadamy. I enrolled in four classes plus a weekend mentor (I don't even want to tell you how much that was). I have taken two of the classes thus far, and am about to take my next two, and haven't taken advantage of the mentor.
Eventhough the information was well presented and some questions were answered, I am finding that just getting out there and reading books from libraries, looking up topics on UTube (which somehow linked me to BP), and networking with individuals here on BP, is giving me the same if not more information as the classes.
The classes are beneficial; but I think that you could probably find the same types of classes, for much less $$$.
A plus for the Rich Dad Academy is that you can retake the class once, and you can enroll in OnDemand (which is just watching the class an hour at a time on the internet).
The negative: Once you go to one of the seminars that try to get you to sign up for Rich Dad Academy, you also get another call from their "coaching" system, which is another $$$ (embarrassed to say what it was, because I was roped into this also).
My advice; find out the types of investing you want to do, research those topics, and post your questions and leads here on BP. The knowledge of those on this forum is priceless, and they don't charge you $1,000's (thanks for that you guys, and don't go and get any bright ideas!). And, find a REIA near you and start networking.
There is nothing wrong with paying for education, after all, college was not free, but again, it is what each individual does with that education that tells the story.
Billy C. - I have never attended the Rich Dad seminars, but there are similar seminars in my area - don't you love how they always give you 24-48 hours to come up with more money before your slot in the class has been "released"?- then they come back around in a month or two with a whole new round of free seminars - you completely did the right thing - use it as a tool at first, but don't invest in it as your one and only real estate bible - the cost of these upper level seminars can really take a valuable chunk out of a beginners cash for deals - just my opinion, I'm sure it has worked for some people - good luck to you - Ryan
Eventhough I sounded a bit pessimistic about Rich Dad, I don't think that I would be where I am without them.
The seminars gave me a lot of eduction, and gave me the motivation to get out there and start investing. I also have enough information that I can research the topics more. Until Rich Dad, I never new what a wholesale was, how to negotiate with banks for short sales, and never would have heard about Lease Options (which I am still researching), or creative financing.
I just feel as though it could have been more cost effective. But, You can't put a price tag on education, especially if it gives you the knowledge and motivation to have your money work for you.