You know those flashy “real estate seminar” types, the ones who wear $10,000 wristwatches and flash cheesy Powerpoint slides of their Lamborghini at you? 🙄
Don’t trust them. (I reaaaalllly hope I’m stating the obvious.)
I call them Lamborgurus, driving their Scamborghinis. They can be found lurking in the spotlight, dispensing a blend of platitudes and high-leverage, high-risk speculative strategies from the stages of big hotel chains.
They can be forgiven for being tacky. But not for destroying peoples’ retirements with their shoddy ‘investment’ advice.
Here’s the thing:
Be careful about choosing who you take advice from. This is true in any arena — health, fitness, personal finance, business, real estate, travel. Some teachers are better than others. The slick, sentient-infomercial Scamborghini types offer the most dramatic cautionary example.
But there’s another reason.
Most people who teach or offer advice (on any topic) are good people — great integrity, great heart — but they’re not a good fit.
There’s nothing ‘bad’ or ‘incorrect’ about them; they’re a great fit for someone else. But they hold a philosophy, approach, strategy and framework that’s not right for you.
If you want to learn about index funds, you don’t seek out a day trader.
If you want to learn about asset allocation, you don’t ask the neighbor who’s obsessed with penny stocks.
If you want to learn about financial independence through rental property investing, you don’t seek out the mega-deal, high-leverage, speculative-style instructor.
I made a video about this. You can watch it here.
In the video, I chat about real estate investing, but the big-picture idea applies across topics — including music, art, fitness, cooking, creative writing, nutrition, stock and bond investing, and personal finance 101.
Choose your mentors wisely.
— Paula
Enrollment for our class, Your First Rental Property, will open again on Monday, November 30th.
It’s an 11-week online training that walks you, A-thru-Z, through everything you need to know as a beginner rental property investor. Learn more here, where you can also check out stories from our students and alumni.
If you want to prepare for investing in real estate this year, join our VIP waitlist, where you’ll get a 7-day sneak peek of the material inside the course.
We open enrollment twice a year – once in the spring, and once in the fall. Our students have lifetime access to the course, which includes quizzes, worksheets, spreadsheets, templates, forums, and peer support from small accountability groups.
Our students benefit from learning from our Teachers Assistants (TA’s), all of whom are alumni from our course and successful real estate investors. Students can also bring their questions to me directly during our live Q&A Office Hours calls on Zoom. We will hold Office Hours twice weekly during the 11 weeks, and students and alumni are welcome for life.
P.S. Got questions?
“I’m an out-of-state investor.” “I’m interested in Airbnb.” “I’m househacking.”
Cool. This video explains whether or not the course is right for you.
“Wait … what’s inside the course, exactly?”
This video walks you through everything.
If you’re interested, get more information and join our VIP waitlist here!
Brian Thomas
Great advice – you really have to be careful especially when it comes to real estate
Paul
These are what entreprenuers on The Fastlane Forum call Fake Gurus. They didn’t get rich from their system, but by selling the system.
Ashley Shelton
I’ve always found those cheesy guru commercials to be super entertaining. I often wonder about the people who purchase their products… I hope they don’t lose their shirts!
The Millennial Money Woman
Paula –
The title of this article is awesome! Kudos to you!
It’s really true though that it is our responsibility to filter out the noise that we hear – we are constantly bombarded with “information” every day – be it on our iPhones or our e-mails. Some of that information is fake and some of it is real. We just have to filter it out and make sure it is in line with our own personal financial situation.
Thanks for sharing!
The Millennial Money Woman
Emmie
Great article, thank you for sharing. The article was really informative.
Peter
Great article on a very painful topic! I guess one additional question is how non-experts can recognize experts.
If a person is not a financial expert or doesn’t have good financial literacy, then chances are high to be mislead by fake gurus with nice promises.
I guess social proof, recognition by other experts or expert communities can help.
Jennifer
Agreed. Those who are flashy often have a reason for it–to deceive others
LÃ¥neoversikten
Great point. I have been struggling for some time for creating a successful webpage that is helpful for visitors and can generate money, but I have been overwhelmed in all the good information out there. It is just to much as with also diet and likewise that you talk about. It is fantastic. It can also be problematic, like I have experienced. Agree that one need to choose who to follow like you so wisely point out, and say no to the rest.
FraidyCat Finance
I like your fun puns – it’s helpful to take away some of the power and appeal, since it’s easy for folks to be taken in by confidence and apparent wealth. Thanks for addressing this!
Dalia
Hi Paula!
Agree 100% with you. We should learn from those who preach what they teach! With so much noise out there, the true wisdom is distorted, and you have to tune to get to hear it finely. That is why we have to be very careful who we listen to.
I’ve been to those seminars! Actually, I went to a live event. The courses they were selling were comparable to a house downpayment. I passed on that one 😉 instead bought a rental property.
I loved your blog. You got a new subscriber!