Have you guys experienced this? I see it mostly scrolling through TikTok. I come across a live video of (usually) a guy standing in front of a whiteboard scrawling numbers and projections. My stomach always sinks. It’s usually an insurance salesman pushing some lies about their product being a fantastic investment. It could also be a guru of some kind pushing a course on real estate, drop shipping, amazon selling, or whatever, usually at a cost of many thousands of dollars.
Admittedly, it’s a little weird to be making this critique as I do something similar. I create educational content (entirely for free for the first couple of years) and now we sell a course (list price of $79, but sometimes on sale). But as with all good scams, they’re laced with hints of truth. The insurance salesmen talk about the power of compound growth (true) but leave out the devastating impact of their fees, commissions, profits, cost of insurance, fine print, etc. The gurus talk about the value of building a business (sure) but leave out that buying a $7,000 course that contains less than what you’ll find in a couple library books won’t get you much closer.
To an inexperienced eye, it can be difficult to separate helpful information from a well organized sleazy pitch. Here’s some things to look out for.
• If the ONLY person suggesting something is a great idea is the person selling that thing, step back and do some research from an unbiased source. Insurance salesmen always say “this is what all millionaires do”. But when you ask actual millionaires, they never do it.
• It’s cliche, but if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Investing the normal way is too slow? Buy my product and get rich quick! Nope. That’s a lie. And it might take you 10 years to figure it out if you buy it without learning more first.
• If there’s a high cost of admission for access to information, consider how else you could learn. Reading is a great start. Finding an experienced friend is another.
As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.
-Jeremy
