The Internet vs The Spruiker

Photo courtesy of Alex E. Proimos

The internet is a great place. It contains a wealth of information and all you need to do is put in a little bit of effort to find what you need or want. The number of people spruiking highly-priced educational courses never ceases to amaze me. These people claim to be rich from whatever field they are in but are out there trying to get you to buy their course which promises to make you rich. It shouldn’t cost thousands of dollars to learn about an investment idea that is freely available on the internet.

Now don’t get me wrong, a number of them are genuinely good at what they do and are simply passing on what they have learnt, with a significant fee attached to have that privilege. However, the majority of these so called ‘gurus’ are nothing more than con men and women, trying to profit from everyday people.

I believe that the key to becoming financially free or at least financially comfortable is to ‘give it a go’. This may sound quite simple but you won’t gain anything from not doing anything. You need to take a few risks, get involved in a number of different sectors and the most important thing, learn from your mistakes. I believe mistakes are much more valuable than successes. Now this may sound a bit hypocritical based on what I have written above but there is a difference to getting involved in new things and wasting thousands of dollars on rubbish ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes.

But I digress. As I was saying, the internet contains copious amounts of information and a lot of it is free. So whether you’re just starting out in the investment game or have been investing for years, there is always new and better ways to do things. The best thing you can do to reach your goal is to keep learning. Use the free information that the internet offers. Have a crack at different investment options that come your way (of course only after weighing up all the pros and cons) and learn from them.

The most important thing, however, is to be positive. Not many people become rich by being negative and pessimistic. You will all have come across the friend, colleague or family member who instantly rejects the new idea or investment that you have just told them about. It is this attitude that stops them from trying anything different. It’s this ‘sheep’ mentality that will keep them employed but always chasing their tale. Whether it is trying to keep their job or trying to keep the bank happy.

If you don’t want to be like most other people, work 9-5 and only start enjoying your life when you’re way over the hill, then you need to do something different.

The fact that you’re reading this blog already shows you’re on the right path.

Check out these posts on investing:

Creating Investing

Importance of Keeping a Budget