BiggerPockets

I just finished the 3 days of "Left Brain - Right Brain" training with the RDPD folks. I was so close to "investing" in my education and signing up for the Advanced Wealth programs they offer. I applaud them for getting folks so fired up and motivated to make a change in their lives. However, my "left brain" started kicking me in the head when they came up with the "increase your credit card limit" and use that increase to fund your education with RDPD.
The major deciding factor for me not to "invest" in my RDPD education was the lack of any substantial testimonial throughout the Internet from folks who have "invested" and participated in the Advanced Wealth programs. One of the topics the coach presented was that in one year RDPD has only 300 BBB complaints. Having taught over 312,000 folks that equated to less than 1% of unhappy students. I know there were at least 10-15 folks in our seminar that signed up for the Advanced training. Why don't I see more folks posting there success on the Internet. These classes have been going on for years. I realize not everyone would do that, but I think there would be more evidence than what I've found so far that would indicate that this is worth the risk.
As many of folks have suggested I've decided to utilize resources such as BiggerPockets, and join a local REIA . It may be twice as hard doing it this way, but I'm pretty sure with the limited amount of education I did receive in the last 3 days, I'll be off to a good start. Hell, the fact that I've come this far is a good start...I look forward to the journey....

Aaron

Hi Aaron,

There are many Rich Dad students and WIA students out there. Rich Dad and WIA classes are excellent. Plus we signed up for a mentor and we are meeting with them next month. Since the classes, we acquired two multifamily properties that cash flow around 30% COC. We will be purchasing two more next week. I've been investing since 2004 and took the Rich Dad and WIA classes last year. I've also read many books on Real Estate Investing but they don't compare to the amount of information you get in the classes. You are going to learn and pay for it either way. By doing it yourself and learning by making mistakes and paying for it or paying for a class and learning what mistakes other people made. We only took 4 of the classes and it made a huge difference. Remember, if you are going to make it big, you gotta think big. Raising money for classes is an also exercise. If you can't raise $10k-$20k for classes, how are you going to raise $10k-$50k or more to purchase real estate. Yes there are no money strategies but they aren't the only strategy Real Estate Investors use.

How is raising 10-20K for classes even close to 10-20K for a purchase. After a weekend class you have a book... after a deal you have a property.

Yes you have a book but you also have knowledge. Just because you have a property doesn't mean it's a good property. If it's neg cash flow and depreciating, I would rather have the book.

I have the benefit of investing in real estate prior to taking the advanced RD classes. They don't tell you anything ground breaking and some of what they do tell you from an investment stand point was well off the mark. I took the class when it was easier to access money so maybe they have adapted things since then.

Real estate is by no means a passive business. The people you meet here at BP are well aware of that and know what it takes to be successful. You will learn far more here. Best of luck to you.

Alright, I am mainly responding to the post to people who say not a lot of success stories from RDPD post their stories online, so I am going to post here.

I read Rich Dad Poor Dad a year ago last month. The book caught my eye because we are very much the higher end middle class who just end up making more and getting into higher debt each year. Once I read the book, I became very excited about a new way at looking at money.

The book got me and my husband interested in real estate, but we knew NOTHING about it. He asked our financial planners about REI and they were clueless. When I first went online, I was daunted by the amount of "gurus" out there and had no idea how to sort through who are good and who are bad. I was most comfortable getting our initial learning through the guy who had started me thinking this way in the first place.

We joined the RD coaching program for $6k. For my husband and I, it was a commitment to make real estate investing work for us.

We did the coaching program and also read a ton of books last year. They helped us research markets and set up a plan. We ended up investing the money we had saved up for a big house in investment properties and then came into an inheritance last fall that we were well prepared to deal with. The coaching program gave me the confidence to proceed with investing.

Though this worked for us, I would highly cautious you to move forward with the program if you do not have some capitol. Don't spend your only $6k on the program, like you have read, it is better spent getting your first deal.

The Rich Dad company is a very motivational company. I would not be where I am at if it wasn't for Rich Dad. The RDPD book was designed to sell Cash Flow. And the other books were taken from the draft of RDPD. The books and the courses teach you enough to know what to do but not how to do it. Yeah I know that owning an apartment will make me $10k a month or whatever. I know I need to do it. It would be nice to learn how. So I have gone to other sources to learn the HOW TO part. I would recommend RDPD to someone starting out. It is a mindset thing. That is it.

Any organization that would first teach you to increase the limit on your credit card and then sell you a product with your new found credit limit... does not have your best interests in mind... regardless of their claims or pitch!

As mentioned in one or more of the posts above... don't go broke paying someone to teach you real estate investing... It Will Hurt!

Here is a link to an interesting viewpoint on Rich Dad titled "Kiyosaki's Seminars Investigated":

http://tinyurl.com/yjr5vuc

Hope this helps!