The recent Market Place episode on CBC, Road to Rich Dad, put a harsh spotlight on financial “guru” Robert Kiyosaki’s financial education empire and the picture that emerged is, shall we say, less than flattering. Mr. Kiyosaki licenses his brand to a company called Tigrent Learning that heavily advertises free “Learn to be Rich” workshops in cities across Canada. These free workshops turn out be little more than a sales pitch for another real-estate investing workshop held over 3 days.
Market Place packed a hidden camera and attended one of these 3-day, $500 workshops. “There is no way guys that you’re going to learn everything that there is to know about real estate in three days”, the trainer helpfully says, followed by an up sell for “advanced training” that costs even more money — ranging from 12 to 45 thousand dollars.
Market Place found that some real estate investing techniques are discussed in these seminars, except that a Toronto real estate lawyer who has done thousands of transactions says these techniques simply don’t work. So, what does Mr. Kiyosaki have to say of these workshops? “I am so upset”, he says, and promises to look into it. It is disconcerting to think that many Canadians, usually those who can least afford it, will be falling prey to these snake oil salesmen peddling worthless “advice” and charging thousands for it.
