I just finished watching the first BBC programme on “Who wants to be a millionaire” It’s fascinating stuff and shows a mixture of quite reasonable ideas as well as a great deal of delusion. On the positive front many suggestions contained in wealth creation seminars and books are actually good common sense approaches to thinking about money differently. The bad news is that many such courses are priced at a very high level that they create a “seminar junkie” type mentality. I recognised this mindset on many large courses in the UK, where some course attendees have cranked up their visas in order to pay for trainings. I remember one person who asked about spending three thousand on a “trainer training” course with an additional five hundred pounds for accommodation in London. I tried to dissuade him but he was adamant that once he was “certified” as a trainer he would then be able to run courses full time and this would be his new source of income. He never ran a course despite setting up his website with the traditional quote about being one of the few “licensed trainers…” His wife left him and his life fell apart. This is just one example of what can be politely described as a naïve attitude and less politely described as a greedy lazy attitude. This is not the fault of the training, but how these trainings are over hyped and how solutions offered are over simplistic. Pay person X and get the life you want is a fine sentiment, but my observations are that in many instances people adopt an “X Factor” fast track to fame attitude.

In the BBC programme there were endless references to being confident and doing daily affirmations, BUT what is forgotten is the development and application of skills. The emphasis on “feeling good” and “being confident” alone is not enough and many “wealth gurus” are essentially running pyramid schemes where their lifestyle is funded by would be students paying for advice that doesn’t often translate into personal wealth for the students! Many trainers offer cut price or free courses then using the opportunity of a captive audience to up sell more expensive courses often paid for by seminar attendees on credit. Yes having a positive attitude is useful, but when many seminar attendees see certain celebrity trainers they forget or don’t do proper research as to how they achieved their statues. Some well known trainers were simply in the right place at the right time, others worked for years to achieve their positions. The problem with much of the “wealth syndrome” is that there is often a belief that wealth can be instant and positivity is all you need. On the programme one woman confessed to spending fifty thousand pounds on courses and then cranked up her credit cards to the point of being almost bankrupt. She claims to “have the knowledge to make money” and wants to make seven million pounds in 5 – 7 years! Another couple who owed large amounts when question about why then appeared not to be generating wealth in any measurable capacity hilariously commented “It’s not just about the money, it’s the mind set”. 

It will be interesting to see the remaining two BBC programs and my hope is that people will realise that yes it’s good to think about financial strategy buy it’s also important to use discrimination when making choices.  Attending a weekend seminar, having a new FB business page and feeling great with daily aphorisms have never in my view been enough to create a financially secure future. The good news is that this will at least provoke some debate and discussion about these issues.