海角大神

Many financial 鈥済urus鈥� are in the seminar, coaching, and classwork business. They come up with course materials and attempt to sell them at a very high price to individuals who are scared for their financial future.

Some of these coaching programs are reputable ones. Many of them are not. Almost every week, I receive an email or a note from someone telling me about how these courses have made their life worse. Here鈥檚 one such story, from Ann (with specific references edited out, because I鈥檓 not interested in a specific libel war):

I take responsibility for the mistake I made in signing up for the coaching program, after expressing interest in [his] programs on his website. I was vulnerable after the death of my mother and wanted some guidance in dealing with a small inheritance.

The more I engaged with the various people at [that organization], the more I felt I鈥檇 been completely scammed. Overpriced, simplistic e-courses, coaching that is nothing but more sales pitches, shady business practices 鈥� you name it.

In the end, at least it woke me up and I took back some power by insisting that they give me my money back. I did eventually get most of it back, though still feel ripped off. These guys employ the worst business practices I鈥檝e ever seen in my life. Refusing to respond to phone calls. No refunds after 3 days after enrolling, when how could you possibly know the program would be like at that point? Any reputable business is happy to keep their customers happy. Talking to these guys was surreal.

Through this experience, I lost every ounce of respect I had for [that person]. It truly was simply a scam. [...]

Like I said, I know it was my responsibility that I made the mistake of getting into the stupid program. It鈥檚 just horrible to see how these people prey on vulnerable types. They literally refused to provide me with a breakdown of the costs for the program components. What they were pro-rating me broke down to something truly outrageous like several hundred dollars an hour for coaching. A total scam.

For anyone who fell for the sales pitch, go after your money! I stood up to them and it did work. It also helped that I disputed the charges to them on my credit card, based on the fact that I didn鈥檛 receive the product I was sold. This did work.

This happens with an uncomfortably large number of personal finance courses out there. I have heard many, many horror stories that match Ann鈥檚 or worse, including people who have dumped (literally) tens of thousands of dollars into coaching and classwork only to find themselves worse off than they were before.

What鈥檚 the reason for this? Quite simply, such programs are sold as having all of the answers you need 鈥� but they don鈥檛 provide answers that you don鈥檛 already have. The material that makes up almost all of these seminar and coursework programs is information that you can gather on your own on the internet or from your local library. They鈥檙e just packaged together well.

The biggest thing that such courses provide that you can鈥檛 always find elsewhere is cheerleading. They take ideas that are already out there 鈥� like spending less than you earn, avoiding debt, and so on 鈥� and couple them with a strong 鈥測ou can do it鈥� attitude. Many of them also include some one-on-one coaching.

For some people, that鈥檚 really helpful. For many people, though, that same coaching benefit is available on blogs like for free My twice-weekly mailbag, for example, is the equivalent of someone standing up at a seminar, telling their problem, and having the people in the room talk about it.

My simple advice is this: never, ever invest in a course or a coaching system where it鈥檚 not absolutely clear in writing what you will gain from that course or coaching system. Make sure that you鈥檙e actually gaining something far beyond what you already have access to for free (or minimal cost) via sites like The Simple Dollar or the books at your local library.

If you want additional help or are interested in camaraderie, try to find a in your life or see if there are any personal finance groups at your local library or your local community center.

The route to personal finance success is not found by dropping hundreds or thousands of dollars on classes and coaches. It鈥檚 found from a desire for change inside of you and a willingness to step up to the plate and make changes in your own life. Spending thousands won鈥檛 give you that, and the exact things you need to do to actually make financial success happen can be found for free or very low cost elsewhere. That money spent on coursework is money that could be better used putting your financial life together.

Yes, there are good courses out there that help people, just as there are some sharks in the water. Even with the good courses, though, there鈥檚 a lot of expense for the coaching and coursework and, at the same time, a lot of opportunity to do it yourself.

Telling you this is literally costing me thousands of dollars. I鈥檝e been asked to be an 鈥渁ffiliate鈥� for many such courses, where I get paid a chunk of the money earned in order to convince people to take such courses, and I鈥檝e even sat in on a few and read the materials from several of them. I won鈥檛 do it for one simple reason 鈥� I don鈥檛 talk about things on here that I myself wouldn鈥檛 use. And, to put it simply, I never have and will not use money courses until I鈥檝e exhausted every resource available online or at my local library.

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