A keyword that brings a lot of hits to this site is “Loral Langemeier.” My review of Loral Langemeier's The Millionaire Maker has drawn 64 comments so far, and a lot of the comments are people who feel the money they spent on the follow-up seminars and discussion groups wasn't worth it, or, at worst, they felt scammed.
I already talked about my reservations in that review — and I also talked about what I thought was good about the book. I didn't attend any of her seminars, though, and no one from her business has contacted me about going to one of them (even though I received a free review copy) but I probably wouldn't have anyway.
There's a great desire to find a cure-all for one's dull financial success, but there doesn't seem to be one. Seminar-givers play on this desire: “Maybe this one will work. It must be good if it's costing me $2,000.” Though they may be selling information (some more than others) they're just as much selling a dream and some enthusiasm to get the seminar-goer going down the road to financial freedom — or at least down the road to a more exclusive, more expensive seminar that they run.
I mention Gary North a lot on this site. I subscribed to his free Reality Check newsletter before joining his members-only site. He wholeheartedly recommends John Schaub for building wealth in real estate. The price of his seminar? Less than $700 for four days. Gary recommends attending one of these after reading what John's written, like Building Wealth One House at a Time and Building Real Estate Wealth in a Changing Market.
Now, it's true that I'm a bit of a Gary North fanboy and think that few wouldn't benefit from listening to and acting on what he says (subscribe to Reality Check), but regardless, Gary doesn't have an axe to grind by recommending him so much. I have read parts of Schaub's first book, and already I know that attending a seminar would be a waste of money until I put some time into implementing his method. Even a reasonably-priced seminar like Schaub's won't make me an expert or solve my financial problems. Patience, knowledge, and a lot of good old-fashioned work will. Attending a seminar after I've gone through this would probably help.
Getting back to Langemeier's book, it had some food for thought. But that's the most any package can give you, whether it's a book, or a website, or a newsletter, or a seminar. All those can do for you is give you information. It's up to you to use it and profit from it. That point was clear in Langemeier's book. That point would likely have been clear had I attended the seminar, though my wallet would have been a lot lighter.
Success doesn't happen by itself, and it doesn't happen just because you've read a book or attended a seminar. Books and seminars can point you in the right direction perhaps, but they can't make you successful. Success comes from investing time based on what you've learned, so try that before plunking down a lot of money for a seminar.
Makes sense to me. Seminars can get you pumped, but there are probably much less expensive ways to get into it.
The only seminar I might consider recommending is Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. I haven't been, but I've seen some of the videos and read Ana at DebtFREE-Revolution's take on the whole thing day by day. It seems like he actually teaches valuable stuff and gets you excited. But the videos are pretty exciting and cheaper to get if your library/church/etc has them for free. Or his books are easily available from a number of libraries and also do a good job of psyching you up.
I'm not sure what he charges for the seminar.
I couldn't agree more. Success doesn't happen by itself. There's no one pill, insurance policy or gimmick that is the panacea cure for all of your financial ails. That isn't to say that there isn't good information to be gleaned but you have to temper it with some good ol' common sense and follow your gut. Your instincts usually lead you in the right direction.
Dave Ramsey is a JOKE! That guy says the most GROUNDBREAKING things like “spend less money than you’re making”. Oh wow…what a genius! Someone hurry and give him a radio show! And he tells people to just live in cash…..are you serious? Anyone who truly believes that living on cash is better than RESPONSIBLY utilizing credit should always be required to wear a helmet when they try to chew gum and walk at the same time. And what makes it even better is that he tries to base it on The Bible…what a joke. He knows that there is a HUGE market of people who are idiot gluttunous typical Americans who are living above their means to impress everyone and he is exploiting them just like anyone else. Maybe I’m weird, but I cant understand how someone who is going to help you save money is going to CHARGE you money to go to the seminar. Contradictory…dont you think? He has all these psycho believers and they all try to get more and more people involved and they do their own little seminars as well. THATS where he makes even more money. By getting you to believe that he is the end all be all of financial advice and then he gets you to do the work for him. Its a typical pyramid scheme….thats backed by God himself though. I can only say all of this because my secretary’s family got involved in this and it was a good laugh, but thats about all it was good for.