I know of some people who have become totally caught up in the euphoria of newfound knowledge and just couldn’t stop buying audio programs and attending very expensive seminars and bootcamps. This seminar junkie must have spent at least $50,000 within a 12 month period and still hadn’t bought their first investment property. They were just bouncing around from one great idea to the next.
I don’t know whether, in their case, it was because they were just caught up in the excitement of that environment, whether it was their way of convincing themselves they were active when they may have been too scared to get started, or they were honestly trying to find the best strategy for them. I’m guessing it was a mix of these things.
I also know of an investor who took quite the opposite approach. He stumbled across a pretty good investing strategy and didn’t check out any other alternatives but went ahead and spent over $10,000 getting a good education in that one area. He went on to build a decent portfolio over a few years but then realized there were some even better strategies out there.
This second story isn’t so bad because he built some success and he could afford the further education he now sought. However, he told me once that it was a little disheartening because if he wanted to pursue a different strategy he had to start the learning process all over again and it felt very much like he had his “ladder to success” leaning against the wrong wall. And even though he could now afford the education more easily it was still another $5,000 – $10,000 that he could have avoided spending. If only he'd done his homework first.
