10 years ago I booked myself in for a wealth seminar one evening. It was held by a well-known Wealth Creation and Education Company – I was curious to find out what they had to offer. The 2-hour seminar cost about $70.
The goal of the 2-hour talk was to convince the audience to attend the weekend seminar.
I was convinced, so I paid $700 more to attend the weekend seminar.
I found that the seminar was very inspiring. The two presenters were both successful developers and businessmen. They were all dressed up in their best suits and expensive watches – attire worn on purpose to show off their wealth, and show the audience how they could have it too.
The talk had an overall good content; they covered subjects on investment and finance which were very interesting.
Since I was doing a lot of reading and went to a lot of seminars – I was very keen to start immediately.
I believed their strategies and I couldn’t wait to start building my wealth.
But something held me back; I was starting to doubt them because of these reasons.
1. One of the participants asked a question and was not given an answer. It was a legitimate question asking why were they showing a case study of another country when the whole point of the seminar was to show how to invest in Sydney.
The statistics in other countries and markets are different. The presenter told the audience member to meet him after the talk and when directed the same question the second time, they responded rudely. It was very unprofessional.
2. All of the case studies and profit manufacturers shown were related to the UK and not Australia. Entirely different demographic, cycle, market that has different types of demand.
The techniques were quite the same per investment but they were all for UK properties – even the currency on the learning books was Pound
3. Throughout the whole weekend course, they were pitching to us the next mentorship partner – and this cost $10,000 for life. The first seminar was $70, and then $700 for the weekend seminar and finally $10,000 for a mentor who apparently would help us buy our first property.
4. I had a chat with the supervisor who arranged the weekend course. I asked her about how much experience did she have working with the presenters.
She told me that she just bought a property the week before in Canada. Meanwhile, the team leader that was supposed to train each group was someone who couldn’t afford to invest in properties; he was still renting.
As you can tell, everything just felt off and it kept getting worse as I found out more.
I took it as a challenge to prove myself that I can buy a property by myself without the help of any mentors.
So as a result, I began doing my own research and bought my first home in Sydney and made another small investment.
Eventually, I found an investment company and began to accumulate more investments and real estate knowledge.
I continued attending seminars to find a guru who would help me develop a strategy that would help me get better results.
Finally, I thought I found a company that would give me good advice and ‘independent research’.
However, in hindsight, this company was similar…they were giving me biased information that supported what they were selling.
I could have done a whole lot better if I got truly, independent advice back then.
Not information that supported the sale of a particular project.
The lesson? Always take independent advice.
Remember, property sellers are salesmen.
They would promise a life partnership and assistance to grow a person’s investment portfolio, but then they do the complete opposite.
Just like many real estate agents; they overlook a buyer’s situation and proceed to present impressive opportunities with convincing facts.
Their main goal is to seal the deal, not to help with the buyer’s investment growth in the future.
Looking back, I could have made a lot of equity and cash flow if I had sought out proper advice.
But I felt more secure with the good-looking opportunities, the so-called ‘statistics’ and the pat on the back from the sales person that somewhat relaxes you.
Sometimes, all we need is to do less and not get tempted by the glitter.
Over the next few years, I looked at different channels and tested various techniques such as renovating to increase value, property development and other forms of investing.
I learnt valuable lessons through my successes as well as my failures.
Ultimately, my portfolio is balanced with a net profit every year.
Some of the components in the portfolio compensates others thanks to good equity growth in the millions. By having risk management fundamentals, these millions in equity could double or triple in a short time frame.
In summary…
Be more cautious as there are way too many fraud cases…as well as conflict of interests in property investments.
If you are following the wrong firm or listening to the wrong advice, you will most likely not do well despite how charming and ‘amazing’ the offer is.
Additionally, always take independent advice before going ahead with your purchase.
This can be done by purchasing a report from us for just a few hundred dollars. You’ll have certainty and peace of mind as to whether you’ve made a good decision.
Furthermore…
Don’t rely only on sales people and listen to his pitch, even if he swears that it’s not a pitch
Don’t rely on inspiration, unsubstantiated promises and speculations.
Hire a mentor only if he is independent and can provide a valuable service.
Take research seriously as different markets has different risks and every suburb has its own cycle or economic facts that will dictate the growth rate.
Every asset class and property configurations has their own risks.
If your questions are not answered, don’t do the deal. Most of these sales people understand that in 20 years, you can make money from the purchase you make. They would give all sorts of explanations that sound ridiculous to experts but sounds legitimate to novices.
So again, to be sure and certain, obtain independent advice.
Never take average growth rate of 7%-8% as a default. Markets might change and the risky areas might be 0% for the next 10-15 years.
If you don’t apply risk management fundamentals before expanding your property portfolio, you might end up having one or two good properties carrying the performance of your non-performing properties.
Instead, you want to make sure all your properties are growing every year to add to your wealth.
Finally, the best advice that I can share with you is that the perfect time to invest was 10 years ago. So if you did not do it back then, then you should do it now.
But make sure that you’re not just buying from a fancy suit in an office with nice ocean views and a charming personality.
Be sure to have someone who can offer you unbiased, independent advice. Someone who has no vested interest in selling you a particular property.
You can be sure that investment in good advice will be multiplied a hundred fold in the long run.