The Trump Way to Wealth Web Seminar

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Before getting into the substance of this post, let me mention my teaching plans for this month in the Boston area:

In Brookline, Massachusetts (617-730-2700)

Raising Capital for Your New Business on September 20 and 27 (this is the expanded version of my popular course on starting a small business)

Franchising Opportunities to Start a New Business on September 21 and 28 (this is a new course to help you find the rich franchise for you)

In Newton, Massachusetts (617-559-6999)

The 2,000 Percent Solution (creating ways to accomplish 20 times as much with the same time and resources -- see www.2000percentsolution.com for background)

Call now for information and to enroll!

I also offer on-line tutorials in these subjects.

Introduction

This post was inspired by reading about a Web seminar that Donald Trump is offering through Donald Trump University on September 15 and 21. The price is around $150 (the version of the offer I found was in Australian dollars and I converted it into the equivalent in U.S. dollars).

The event lasts for 7 hours and includes instruction by The Donald, real estate investor and author Dolf de Roos, and Dr. Stephanie Burns (a goal expert who I couldn't find out anything about). There may be other speakers, but these were the only listed ones.

I went to the site for Donald Trump University and I didn't see any information about the events there.

One of my Rushmore students will be taking the course so I'm sure I'll learn more after he shares his reactions.

Recommendations

Should you take this course? I don't know enough to comment.

Let me start by saying that if you do, you should arrange to attend someplace where you can turn up the speakers and have several more people join you. The cost is the same if one person or one hundred people listen in. So you can definitely reduce your cost by sharing with others.

There's another benefit of sharing. You can discuss what you learned and share your notes afterwards. Each of you should learn more as a result.

But you have many other choices that you should consider. Here they are:

1. Borrow books from the library by these speakers.

Donald Trump produces books every few months now so unless you're an avid reader, you won't be able to keep up with his production. That makes me assume that these are ghost written books (a method employed by most wealthy celebrities because the cost of a writer is less than the cost of their own time).

How can you sort through which ones to read? I checked out the Amazon.com ratings and found that The Donald's books are not highly rated by readers. In fact, George Ross's recent book, Trump Strategies for Real Estate, has a higher rating than any of The Donald's titled efforts. Of The Donald's recent books, none are rated as being above average. His all-time highest rated book is the 1989 book, Trump: The Art of the Deal. I suggest that you start with that one and see if you want to read any more.

One caution for you here. Many people may resent The Donald so the ratings may be lower than he deserves. I was concerned however to see that Trump: Think Like a Billionaire is rated at only two stars.

Dolf de Roos is also a prolific author. Unlike The Donald, Mr. de Roos is highly rated by Amazon.com readers. His latest book is carrying five stars and is titled Insider's Guide to Making Money in Real Estate. If you like that book, you can purchase a new copy on Amazon.com for $11.53 plus shipping and handling. I read an earlier book of his and found it to be full of generalities rather than anything very practical. Perhaps he has improved.

I couldn't find any books by a Dr. Stephanie Burns on Amazon.com that dealt with setting goals. So I don't know what to suggest. You might ask your reference librarian to help you find her writing.

2. Borrow and read books by better authorities on these subjects.

On becoming wealthy, many great books have been written. If you have never read anything on this subject, start with Think and Grow Rich. The Millionaire Next Door (despite its bad methodology) will be an eye-opener.

The only good real estate books I've read are about buying your own home so I cannot recommend any for real estate investing.

On goal setting and accomplishing things, Jack Canfield's The Success Principles is excellent. You can read more about his approach by looking at my blog entries from August 8-15 when I attended a seminar based on that book.

3. Evaluate whether you want to be rich . . . or just live happily like you are.

The latter is much easier to do than the former, as this blog has shown. Even if you are successful, becoming rich takes a long time. Surveys show that rich people are no happier than people who aren't rich (but aren't starving). By living rich and happy, you can save a lot of time and effort . . . and be happier.

4. If you are determined to be rich, don't start a real estate investing career now.

While real estate goes up in value over the long run (as the value of paper money predictably declines), it fluctuates quite a bit in the short term as interest rates rise and fall. Whenever interest rates and energy prices are rising rapidly like now, real estate isn't going to do well. Wait until interest rates and energy prices both start to fall at the same time, and you can't miss!

5. If you do want to become rich with something that's timely now, buy low-multiple stocks of companies that produce scarce raw materials in lesser developed countries.

A lot of raw materials are going to be in short supply for the next ten years because no one added any capacity since the late 1970s. So the prices will just go higher and higher. In lesser developed countries, stock price multiples are low and the currencies are weak. As these commodity exports expand, the multiples and currencies will improve as well.

Unless you have a lot of money already, do this through indexed funds and mutual funds that concentrate in those types of investments. A particularly attractive choice now is the iShares Brazil Index (EWZ) which you can buy and sell like a stock through the day.

Tomorrow, I'll look at how you can pray better than a billionaire and have a better relationship with God. Don't miss it!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on September 7. It will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea. My post on saving money on heating costs this winter is a good choice. You can find it at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to check out

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell