Skip to main content

When So-Called Business Gurus Make Claims That's Too Fantastic to be True

Read.Cash

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)
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Venezuela as a Cautionary Tale on #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba, Nationalistic Pride, Welfare State Economics

The Sunday Guardian Years ago, I wrote about Venezuela's pride and protectionism , under a more "formal" style of writing compared to my latest posts. I decided to use an even "less formal" and "less academic" tone since I'm not writing a term paper. Instead, it's like how a professor and a student discuss the thesis using first person over third person, using contractions, etc., while the thesis doesn't use such tones. Back on track, I thought about the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro can spark debate. Was it a violation of sovereignty? I'm no expert on international law. However, Venezuelans can be seen celebrating Maduro's arrest. Right now, I'm using Gemini AI and Google search to help me find some sources for this blog. It's because I don't want my blog to become another gossip central, but a place to discuss facts with my own personal opinions (making sure they don't  derail the facts).  I used Venezuela ...
Read more

Venezuela's Pride and Protectionism

The Telegraph Venezuela is an oil-rich country yet it's a very poor country. Somebody could go ahead and give every unthinkable reason such as "foreign investments caused it" (a blatant lie) and "It's because America had economic sanctions in Venezuela". Yet, the answer can be found in several causes such as corruption. Yet, China and Vietnam, which can be seen to still have a good amount of corruption, are far more successful. The answer also lies in one policy--economic protectionism . The very idea that a country that first world countries used "protectionism" to succeed is a lie as proven by Venezuela's ongoing crisis. A common-sense examination of one root cause of Venezuela's continuing crisis Forbes magazine mentions this in "What Do Investors Need To Understand About Venezuela's Economic Crisis?" by Nathaniel Parish Flannery on December 21, 2016: Venezuela is far and away the worst-managed economy in the Americas . Ad...
Read more

Davide vs. Mahathir: Which Lolo Should Filipinos Take Economic Advice From?

The real issue isn't that something is old or new. Instead, if something old or new still works, or doesn't work! Many modern laws are built on some ancient principles, while adjusting to the current times!  The Constitution of Japan is actually older than the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. However, it's more effective for the reasons that (1) their constitution is silent when it comes to regulating economic activities (ex., protectionist measures), and (2) it's a parliamentary system. Honestly, it's a pretty straightforward constitution compared to ours! As Mahatir Mohamad turned 100 today, I would like to raise up Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. once again. The problem isn't Davide's age but his unwillingness to embrace change when needed (read here ). This time, it's time to bring up a contrast between wise old people and unwise old people. A young person can be right where the old person is wrong. A young person can be wiser because he or she lea...
Read more

Filipino Manufacturing's Golden Age ENDED Because of the Filipino First Policy

Here's a picture from the Dose of Disbelief Page on Facebook. Here's something that it wrote: Filipinos once trusted locally made products more than imports. Before World War II, the label "Made in the Philippines" carried prestige, not stigma, reflecting a strong sense of national confidence in domestic production. Local products such as shoes, cigars, textiles, furniture, and food were often preferred over imports. This preference was rooted in the belief that local goods were better adapted to local conditions, tastes, and were often of comparable, if not superior, quality. This period showcases a strong historical era of consumer nationalism and thriving local industries. We need to look into the context of Filipino history  If we look at the Philippine history timeline , we must account for 1935-1940, during which the Philippines was under the Commonwealth government. Independence was declared from Spain on June 12, 1898. However, there was a transition period w...
Read more

Confusing Foreign Direct Investment for Foreign Imperialism for the Bajillionth Time

I guess those fools of the Philippine Anti-Fascist League (and many of its deluded supporters) either refuse to get it or are blatantly lying. Almost every rally held by what many believe are CPP-NPA legal fronts also confuses foreign investors for foreign invasion or even foreign imperialism . Once again, do I need to say that 100% FDI ownership is all about the shares and not land ownership ? What makes it even more hypocritical is that they are actually recording these things on imported media . They're sharing their anti-FDI rants using imported devices, imported platforms, and imported social media (read here ). When I do ask them on Facebook, they say how can they take them seriously and that they're "simply forced to participate in capitalism". Did anybody (especially those they call "evil capitalists") force them to buy the expensive Apple equipment when they could've settled for Xiaomi or Huawei?  A simple research on the dictionary will tell us...
Read more