A Review of the Rich Dad Workshop

I let you all know last week that I had the opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by the Rich Dad team. As promised, here is my review of the event!

For those who aren’t aware, about 10 years ago, Robert Kiyosaki wrote a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, detailing his experience growing up learning from his “Rich Dad” the principles of getting rich (I am currently reading this book). The book covers many topics, but has an emphasis on the process of acquiring assets to become rich. He has since created an organization named Rich Dad with the purpose of teaching people around the world the advanced principles of his theories and ideas. I recently attended a promotional workshop with the organization and have written a review of the experience for your enjoyment.

Getting Started

After completing the 52 minute drive to the conference center where the event was hosted, all participants were lined up and given nametags. Without a doubt, when they say the workshop starts at 6:00, they mean it starts at 6:00. They didn’t let us in the room one minute before.

As we summarily took our seats in the auditorium, one of the hosts played a short video featuring a message from Robert Kiyosaki giving a brief overview of some of the premises of the program. We were then informed that Robert had chosen to fly out “one of his best” to present to us that evening.

The content

Like I already mentioned, this was a promotional event, meaning that the purpose of the workshop was to sell you something. Specifically, they were pushing a course in Real Estate Investing. Now, I’ll be honest, I am hoping to get into real estate investments at some point in the future, but I’m not at that point in my financial life where that is possible. I need to first have my own personal real estate (which is yet to be purchased) in order before my plan will allow for such an expansion in investments.

If you aren’t quite ready for real estate investing, you may want to learn more about why you need a budget or other ways to make money.

The course itself, however, seemed like it could be worthwhile. However, it also seems that even the paid course is used as a platform to push other products. They were offering it at a price of $495 for two people and the course lasted 3 days for a total of nearly 30 hours of coursework. Coming from the standpoint of a student working on his master’s degree, that’s pretty cheap tuition, especially if the information is useful for increasing income in a dramatic fashion.

In addition to the course, those who signed up also gained access to a host of physical and online resources (these were available immediately to take home).

My issue

The one huge issue I took with the philosophy of the course and program was its reliance on debt. In my own life, my wife and I are working on our financial goals to finish paying off her student loan and pay for a house (not to mention building up our emergency fund). While the temptation to make more money faster with a little more risk is enticing to me, I would prefer to embark upon such an investing venture without the use of debt.

What I took away

All that being said, I did know more about the world of real estate investing when I left than when I arrived. In fact, I learned enough to realize that I had a lot left to learn, which I consider good news as it will, undoubtedly, inspire me to continue learning more on the subject. While I don’t plan on getting into these types of investments for some time, it was a good introduction to the process and I am glad that I attended the workshop.

If you are looking at attending one of these workshops, I would advise that you know what you are getting into and not act impulsively to purchase a program that isn’t right for you. There are a lot of risks involved in real estate investing and it is not for everyone. Also remember that no one program is right for everyone. This event is designed to teach you just enough to entice you to pay for the program.

If you are looking for more information on gaining wealth, you may wish to take a look at my review of The Millionaire Next Door.

Have you ever looked into real estate investments? What types of investments are you currently making (IRA’s, 401k’s, Peer to Peer lending services, etc.)? What are your feelings about using debt to fund investments?

Image courtesy of Rich Dad Education.