Marketplace

Road to Rich Dad (37x3)

Air date: Jan 29, 2010

Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling finance author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, has spun-off his book into a self-help empire of TV shows, board games and investment seminars -- a string of which are scheduled across Canada. But rumblings are being heard from the hundreds of hotel ballrooms across North America where Kiyoaski's Rich Dad seminars are staged. The complaints? That initial Rich Dad sessions focus less on education and more on marketing and upselling further sessions that cost up to $45,000. Marketplace investigates these concerns using hidden camera and reveals the aggressive sales tactics used, where participants are urged to increase their credit card limits after being pressured to spend tens of thousands of dollars on advanced courses. Erica Johnson asks Kiyosaki directly: what's really going on? Are Canadians being lured by the Rich Dad name to spend money on weekend workshops that seem really designed to sell them more workshops?