Seminar - Millionaire School

Overall Seminar Rating: C-

Who Should Attend: People looking for someone else to invest their money; Individuals willing to wait out lengthy sales presentations in order to learn a little about investing, taxes, and legal issues

Would I Attend Again: No

Cost: $1995, Lodging Packages available
Like most seminar prices, this can vary from place to place, and there are family discounts.

What Is It?
Millionaire School began as an educational seminar for individuals with money to invest, who are seeking to broaden their understanding of both traditional and non-traditional avenues. Additional tax and legal issues are addressed for better awareness. It is a 4-day seminar (school is a very strong word), with over 1000 attendees.

Immediate Words of Caution

• Harv covers various disclaimers and liability issues upfront; I believe this is understandable in an educational investing seminar. However, he lets the audience know that they will not be able to purchase into any investments mentioned until at least 72 hours following the seminar (SEC regulation I believe). Do not let this fool you, this is Peak Potentials, your wallet will still be pried open on many occasions!!! They skirt this issue by selling many expensive “educational” packages from Peak Potentials and from the speakers. The offerings include additional seminars, classes, CD’s, books, etc. Keep your wallet guarded and secure at all Peak Potentials events, regardless of any trust oriented comments.
• Keep in mind, there is always a backend with Peak Potentials. It is highly likely that they are receiving a commission on any programs, packages, and products sold during the seminar. Mr. T. Harv Eker is a world-class negotiator and will leave nothing on the table. In fact, one of our nightly assignments was to gamble $100 in the casino. There were approximately 1200 people in attendance. That would equate to $120,000, most of which was guaranteed to be gambled in the casino below. If I were Harv, I would have used this assignment to negotiate a nice rate on the extra large conference room we occupied in that casino. I am sure Harv wouldn’t think of this in advance though, would he?
• The Freedom Investment Club (FIC) is a primary focus of this seminar. Most presentations given by any of the FIC club management led into why you should invest in the FIC. Check our section on the Freedom Investment Club from the link at right for more information. If you consider investing in the FIC, make sure you do all of your homework first!

Brief Seminar Summary
The woman sitting next to me was furious! She couldn’t believe she had PAID good money to sit through a four-day sales pitch. Not to mention, she was signed up for other Peak Potentials seminars. She was a nice, sweet woman, but by the end of the first day, she was beginning to sound like a trucker! I didn’t see her at all by the end of the seminar. I am sure she had left angry, because it didn’t get much better. I, on the other hand, am a glutton for punishment, unwilling to leave something I paid for. At least so far…
Day two swooped in to save the seminar with a few real presenters on tax deductions and commodity investing. Day three could have been thrown out. About one hour of the entire ten-hour day provided worthwhile information. Beyond that, my notebook was completely bare and the sales build-ups were gaining steam. Day 4 was a mixed bag. They brought in a couple of decent speakers with corporate legal and business investing advice. Unfortunately, both were rushed through their presentations, in order to make room for lengthier going nowhere presentations from the FIC clan. Of course, Harv also needed a good chunk of sales time to pitch a few other Peak Potentials programs.
T. Harv Eker and Robert Riopel co-hosted the Millionaire School, but only presented for Peak Potential sales purposes. The following is a list of the speakers (I believe complete) from the Millionaire School Seminar, 2005:

1. Mike Lathigee – The program started with Mike’s amazing predictions from last year, and we listened on pins and needles as he made his predictions for this year. These predictions were the only notes I had taken from Mike’s presentations, yet he was the primary speaker for at least 20% of the entire seminar. Mike is the CEO for the FIC, and his attachment was obvious. His advice, lessons, and stories contained little noteworthy material, and always led back to “why you should join the FIC”.
2. Greg Habstritt – Greg is the Real Estate guy for the FIC Canada. He presented for about 20% of the entire seminar as well. He spoke on tax liens and deeds and offered a good piece on real estate cash flow analysis. Beyond this, he was a giant lead in for their tax liens and deeds program, his own coaching program, the FIC, and some condo sales in Alberta. This was an interesting one. We did a cash flow model on some properties in Alberta, at about 7pm one night. It looked like a great buy. What luck, the FIC Canada was going to purchase them! But wait, the next day, at about 2pm, Greg goes on stage and announces that since last night, they decided to pass these great deals onto us. They are sacrificing these obvious gains merely for our benefit, right? This whole scheme was definitely a little fishy. They in fact handed out pre-printed order sheets to reserve an entire property, which included a confirmation of a bank that was willing to lend up to, I believe, 65% of the purchase price. Amazing, they got a bank pre-approval on 26 4-plexes for unknown buyers in one night. Okay, my details could go on forever, just remember, If it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk…
3. Gavin Radzick – Gavin is the VP of Financial Services for the FIC. Gavin led a stimulating presentation. It went something like this: if all three indicators say green light for go, then buy the stock, but if any of the indicators say red for stop, don’t buy the stock. It seems so logical, but it seems we have to buy into his program to find these green and red lights from their proprietary indicators. Surprise, surprise, worthless!
4. Rick Rule – Rick was a Day 2 savior. Rick is an Investment Advisor in the US, and I believe he does advise the FIC Club US, but he didn’t mention it. He spoke more frankly about stocks and commodities.
5. Sandy Botkin – Sandy was very entertaining. Did I mention he is a lawyer and an accountant? Yes, he really was entertaining. He has worked for the IRS for years, and offered some great tips on managing your deductions. I will definitely be giving a few copies of his book, “Lower Your Taxes - Big Time”, to loved ones this Christmas. I found it on Amazon for just $11.53!
6. Hunter Dickinson, Inc. Representative – The name of this gentleman eludes me, but he spent the entire presentation working us up to investing in their Alaska Gold Mine project. It may be on the up and up, but there have been several “ghost” gold mining projects presented by companies out of Vancouver, BC. Investors beware!
7. Keith J. Cunningham – Keith is a regular Multi-Millionaire in the Self-Help circuit. A true Texan, he was un-intimidating yet bold, and very good at relating to the audience. He offered sound business investing advice with a low profile sales pitch for his own program.
8. Albert Koopman – I wavered on counting Albert as a presenter. He is the VP for the FIC “China Dragon Fund”, and he gave just a brief appearance and FIC talk.
9. Brent Todd – Brent is one of the Investment Advisors for the FIC Club Canada. He specializes in small and micro-cap investing. Too risky for my taste, but he seemed to love what he does.
10. Garrett Sutton – Garrett is an attorney out of Reno, NV and a top advisor in the self-help circuit. He mostly addressed the two states he works in, Nevada and Wyoming, but offered some good information nonetheless. Unfortunately, his talk was kept very, very short.

Near the end of the program, Harv let us know that several planned speakers were not allowed on stage, as they didn’t pass the SEC regulations in the US. However, the Canadian presenters did not need to meet these regulations, since they cannot legally trade in the US. Coincidentally, the only presenters who provided us with any real substance (Rick Rule, Sandy Botkin, Keith Cunningham, and Garrett Sutton) were, in fact, the SEC approved speakers. The other sales pitch presenters were all from Canada, and were primarily involved with the FIC.

Harv closed the seminar with a rather lengthy sales presentation for Peak Potentials. In fact, he had the nerve to offer next year’s Millionaire School for only $495, along with FREE attendance to the Secret’s of Influence (now the Master of Influence) Seminar. Way to rub a little salt in the wounds of already tapped out customers, who paid $1995 (or more) for Millionaire School, and $1495 for the Secrets of Influence! Believe me, from the comments I heard in the crowd, there were quite a few people who had already shelled out some big dollars for these two programs. Harv is a master salesman, but his customer service could use a little polishing.

Sales
I think this one has been thoroughly covered above.

Structure
The seminar started at 9am sharp each morning. Usually some warm up activities allowed stragglers to make there way in, but seating could be difficult to find. There was a morning and afternoon break each day, but they are brief. It is advised that you bring your own snacks. The program let out at varying times each night, but did not go as late as the MMI. Most nights we were looking at between 7pm and 9pm. As the program went on, and more sales tables were set up, tardy patrons were allowed, and people were given extra time at breaks to make inquiries, and of course, purchases.

Staff & Volunteers
The use of staff and volunteers was similar to the Millionaire Mind Intensive. They helped with hand-outs, ran the flow of the seminar, manned sales booths, etc. As with the MMI, they were unable to answer any questions. Unlike the MMI, staff disorganization was a little more noticeable. The atmosphere was casual, and it made for a somewhat unprofessional feel to the program. Not something I would expect from a “Millionaire School”.

Kids?
This seminar would be snooze time for the young ones. Let the kids stay at home if you choose to take on this program.

Follow-up – Life After the Millionaire School
I did not follow any of the investment advice or “predictions” offered in the seminar, and have not been worse off for it. I plan to purchase Sandy Botkin’s book “Lower Your Taxes - Big Time”, and have utilized Keith’s “questions to ask when looking at a new business investment” as a model for my own developing business. I have typed up my notes (just a few pages) from the seminar, and intend to reference the “business” portions in the future. Upon returning home, I realized that most of the investments they spoke of were far outside my risk tolerance. Since the seminar I have spent more time learning stock analysis and company research for wealth building and long-term investment. It would have been nice if they had gone into more detail on these subjects. I believe it would have been more practical for most of the attendees, but I guess that would have left them with less time for sales.
I had the opportunity at this seminar to speak with some people who had attended several of Harv’s seminars in the past. Each felt that the quality of Peak Potential’s programs was deteriorating with every passing year. I confirmed this for myself when I returned home to listen to the CD’s of a prior Millionaire School. The School several years earlier had over 20 different speakers, each with a wealth of information. This year’s Millionaire School, by my count, had just 10 speakers. As if this cut back weren’t enough, the majority of these speakers were connected either directly or indirectly to the Freedom Investment Club.