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There are so many financial gurus right now. I kep hearing stories of people who became so rich so fast. However, the basic drill of any claim is that if it's too good to be true then run. This is why people fall for people like the late Charles Ponzi and the even more infamous, the late Bernard Madoff. Now, you have people who claim that they could easily earn that much money in such a short amount of time. This is really no less fishy than the claims that you can earn high returns with very little risk. I feel like revisiting moments claimed to have achieved "so much" at my age. Some people even claim that they had made (or have) that much money at such a young age. This isn't the case for big entrepreneurs since it took years for people like the late Henry Sy Sr., John Gokongwei Jr., Lucio Tan Sr., and maybe I can say Warren Edward Buffett never became rich so fast!
I could easily lie right now that I have this amount of money. I could easily take photos and lie on social media platforms like Instagram that I'm already rich at this age. I could easily claim I'm rich by living a luxurious life under credit. I could start with having the latest iPhone model, wearing super expensive shoes, having a super expensive bag, driving a luxury car, etc. However, not all that glitter is gold. I could be having expensive stuff. What people may never know is that behind this (hypothetical) expensive life I'm having is that I'm buried in so much debt, I might be a big-time scammer, or that I got my initial high returns from too-good-to-be-true investments such as cryptocurrencies, pyramid scams, and Ponzi scams then run. Some people did initially get high returns investing with the likes of Madoff and Ponzi. However, in the end, only Madoff and Ponzi won. In the world of cryptocurrency, one must admit that only those who sell the cryptocurrency got rich while many lost money as a result.
I remembered I used to be intimidated because they did so much at my age
Somebody can say that they started business below 20. The big question is did they become successful in raising their families if they married also only in their 20s? Now, I even hear of this certain Fibo Lim who people claim made an eight-figure business in less than two years. Buffett did a lot of odd jobs for him to make USD 53,000 by the time he was sixteen years old. Back then, that money wasn't exactly as powerful as it is today. Many big-time wealthy people would speak from experience that they didn't become so big so fast. Jollibee had to start as a small bee. Sy Sr. sold shoes before SM Mall became a reality. John Gokongwei Jr. was focused on odd jobs after his father's death caused financial difficulty. That's why I think this Fibo guy might be nothing more than a fake guru at best.
I feel that this Fibo guy is a fraud. I could write a blog on WordPress (which looks more impressive than this platform), buy a domain right now, and say, "I'm an MBA student who has made billions in just this short amount of time. At your age, I already did this and that." It's very easy to write a story. I'm now even hearing that the book Millionnaire at 22 was just so poorly written. Not only Fibo but also others I saw who claim tat they made this figure so fast. I did download a few documents that said I could make money online easily. One document I gone through said, "It's not a scam." but it encouraged gambling. A brilliant scammer will never tell you that they're a scammer. I guess that's why Fibo is trying to defend himself. In fact, I heard that the book he wrote was also poorly written. Though, I wouldn't make that the basis as to why he's a possible fraud. rather, it's because the claim of him making that much money in such a short amount of time deserves to be questioned.
A story can be so easily fabricated. Life on social media isn't all it seems. I feel a success story can be fabricated. Well, think of the hype when Bulgaria's crypto queen, the missing Ruja Ignatova also used hype to gain power for herself. Any guru who claims that they made their own an eight figure (or even higher) in such a short amount of time needs to be questioned. In my case, it's too good to be true because big-time rich people took several years before they became super-rich. They may have had modest earnings in their 20s, started to have made more in their 30s, and may have only become richer later in life. I feel this Fibo guy (and other similar people) are only manufacturing their testimonials.
Why not so many listen to the wise old man?
This conversation between Jeff Bozos, one of the world's richest men, asked Buffett about investment. Why doesn't everyone just copy Buffett? Right now, I could easily learn from one of Buffett's examples ot buy an index fund during a marketing crash, cost-averaging into a low cost index fund for a fixed period of time, I'm even thinking about other lessons by Buffett that I could learn. The reply of Buffett rings true as to why people fall for scams. It's because nobody (well, an exaggeration) wants to get rich slowly. People want their instant wealth so they believe what's too good to be true. It feels like Fibo's book is also too good to be true!
I'm reminded of sitcoms of the past thinking about this. Maybe, one cna remember the Phil Silvers Show, Top Cat, or The Flintstones to name a few. These shows had the main characters engaging in get rich quick schemes. The so-called villain was the hero who tried to stop the main character from carrying out a con scheme. Yet, we know how the characters never learn, right? There are people who are pretty much like the characters of these shows. They never learn and they still want to get rich quick. I even wrote an article talking about people woud rather go gambling instead of investing. I did laugh thinking while writing about people who quit investing for get-rich-quick schemes.
I guess more people would rather say, "How rich he was at just such a young age!" Well, one can start business early but never make anything remarkable. Menawhile, some of the biggest job providers today had almost nothing to start with. Some of the richest people today started out as menial job workers. They would've had to climb from poor to working class to middle class to rich. What makes you think that a guru who's claimed to have made that much money so quick have credibility? If that person did then where's the job opportunites from this person. Chances are the figures have been manipulated or the money was borrowed.
Why would I listen to wise old men in business instead? It's because they know better what they're talking about. They can share their failures and how to learn from them. They can give practical advice that even nobodies like myself can learn. I'm just an ordinary blogger online. I made this blog to share what I can. I'm not an expert of any kind. However, I can share some basic knowledge to help people learn something and build myself as an individual. These so-called business gurus' credibility is something I want people to contest. It's because much precious time and money can be wasted on fake seminars, fake methods, and a lot more.
References
Websites
"8 Things Warren Buffett Did To Make $53,000 By Age 16" by Matt OKeefe (Updated: December 7, 2014)
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