Panama Real Estate Investment Travel Information


Despise the Free Lunch

(3 votes)

Written by Matt Landau

Wednesday, September 12 2007

Many places in Panama you'll see freebies being offered. Free nights at a hotel, free tours through the rainforest, and my favorite, the all too nebulous 'free lunch'. It is important to realize though, that freebies are oftentimes sales pitches disguised in table cloths and fine silverware.

One of my favorite writers Robert Greene explains this phenomenon far too well.

"Despise the free lunch." he says. "What is offered for free is dangerous-it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of guilt and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price-there is no cutting corners with excellence."

That is not, by any means to say that all paid information sessions are worthwhile. But it is a good motto by which to realize these freebies often are funded by hidden agendas. Come on: free donuts, free coffee, free pizza? No one's that nice.

There was a recent study done in the United States by a group called the Securities and Exchange Commission which I came across in a local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun (MD). It took a look the almighty seminar, most often ones based on investment and aimed at senior citizens. The findings were pretty depressing.

-         A very large percentage (if not all) of these seminars included sales presentations, despite being labeled as "educational" or "workshops".

-         Seminars frequently used catch lines and outrageous claims that were downright misleading such as "Add $100,000 to your net worth in just two months" or "How $100,000 can pay $1M to your heirs".

-         Examiners suspected fraud at over 10% of these sessions.

Whether it's playing on your fears or building unimaginable fantasy-like dreams in your mind, there are a boatload of offers in Panama out to do one thing: separate baby boomers and those like them from their money. In the states, as of last year, individuals 50 years and older controlled $16 trillion (or three quarters) of all consumer financial assets according to the Commission. So there's no wonder why they target that market.

Many of these presentations are delivered by salespeople calling themselves by "senior" professional designations, such as Senior Financial Expert or Senior Wealth-Building Officer. These designations are designed to build trust, specifically towards people older than 50, how coincidentally, known as seniors. And while certain states like Nebraska and Massachusetts are cracking down on this, adopting tighter rules on professional designations, Panama has nothing of the like. Any Joe could be your next Senior Legal Advisor and guess what? He's probably selling real estate.

This all being said, there do exist valuable information sessions in Panama both free and paid. The best advice I can give, is to research the company extensively. Speak with other people who have experienced the event and ask around before you decide to spend your money or time.

This guy Josephy Borg who's the president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, says about seminars and free lunches, "The word is be very cautious and never, ever buy anything or agree to buy anything at the seminar. Be very weary of follow-up calls claiming the world." I think this makes sense on a lot of levels: know your product first, be patient, and despise the free lunch.

Comments (3)

DonB.: Agreed 100%

I don't know if you were hinting at this, because I know you don't like to step on toes, but myself and my group of friends recently had a very bad experience with one of these seminars, the name I will leave unmentioned. They took us for idiots, and we paid a lot of money to go. They convinced us to buy a Bern building on Balboa and now we cannot sell or rent it. Even though they swore we'd have no problem doing either. Go figure.

Wish we had read your report before we came down to Panama. What a disaster.

September 12, 2007

Mateo: I hear ya

Thanks for the comment. In fact, I have recently gotten tons of emails from people very much in your situation. It's almost scary. "I went to this seminar. I bought a condo (almost always Bern) on Balboa. They told me I could sell or rent it. Now I can't seem to do either."

What can I say? Buying things at seminars is about as stupid as introducing yourself to the guy at the next urinal. Maybe when they "took you for idiots" they were on to something.

September 13, 2007

sutton47: "free lunch"

Thanks for the warning.I got invited to a seminar(not a freebie) but I think on my first visit in May/June I'll take it easy and visit properties with a reputable agent(his web site is awewsome).Since my purchase will be for my retirement I don't really want to screw up on this one, do I?

March 04, 2008

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