The Elevation Group
by rr_1235 | November 15, 2011 7:51 pm
Anybody ever hear of ”The Elevation[1] Group”, with Mike Dillard?
I just watched a 1 hour video and have 96 hours to sign up for a nice discount on a year subscription at $597. That’s still a lot of money for a ham and egger like me.
I did a search on the internet on The Elevation Group and found numerous favorable reviews, sounds too good to be true.
Any input would be appreciated.
Endnotes:
- Elevation: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/elevation/
Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/2011/11/microblog-the-elevation-group/
It’s being affiliate-marketed up the wazoo, but other than that I don’t know much about them. From the marketing stuff I took a quick look at, it sounds like the same kind of “think like a rich guy” stuff that so many other folks sell, but I don’t know if it’s actually an empty scam or if there’s anything real or useful in the subscription. Compared to the cost of an entry level newsletter from one of the big publishers (ie, titles like Stansberry’s Investment Advisory, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, Personal Finance), which also generally try to give a wide swath of investment advice, that’s a lot of money. Not that I’m recommending the newsletters, but most of the “get rich quick” sites that are heavily marketed with affiliates and mutli-level-marketing turn out to be big disappointments according to readers I hear from.
Any further information on Dillard and The Elevation Group? Scam or Source of wealth?
Mark Dillard is good at one thing – flooding the search engines with positive info about himself. Some of his posts sound like they are going to be negative, but then turn into positive reviews. They are extremely transparent. He boasts of a young friend “guru” of his in Brisbane who made over 2501% for his “middle-class” clients in 48 months, starting in 2007 while most people lost 21%. Excuse me while I cough a (BS). He goes on to say that 100% annual returns are “COMMON PLACE” for the rich – and now he is going to let you in on the secret? I can’t believe the SEC and Dodd-Frank are so lax on those who sell investment information, even those who will make money off of their investment instructions, as long as they do not have “direct” control over the investor’s actions, while being so stringent on investment professionals who actually conduct business in up-front and ethical manners. Dillard should be stopped and the SEC should be the one to step forward.
correction: Mike Dillard (not Mark)
Avoid Dillard!! Save your hard earned money.
Mike Dillard touted the Elevation Group in 2012 or earlier.
He had a product to invest in and learn to start online businesses and pull yourself up as he did out of being a waiter.
He is good at story marketing and the sales pitch.
He is also good at trying to blame you if you don’t take action, his recommended action, and then make statements that are almost legal like conditions that will lay the blame on you if you don’t succeed.
He is also a bit of a sour puss and not very inspiring. Would never make it as a sports coach. Why let him be your success coach???
A few short years after creating his product ]he shucked off the Elevation Group and business. He thought it would look bad to the big boys he wanted to play with, i.e. venture capitalist, and then sold it off to some other group.
Did not send work to the people who bought his stuff that is what he was doing.
Looks like the promise “we will be here for you forever …” is not valid.
He seems lost these days… desperately grasping at ideas and trying to podcast his latest discovery or business genius to partner with.
Avoid Mike Dillard and what he is selling, promoting, and who he is hanging out with currently.
You will just be tossing away your money if you are getting involved with him.
I do hope this saves you and your money.
Ronald, don’t waste your time with The Elevation Group – it’s run by somebody who is incredibly famous for creating a “guru identity” by who he attempts to associate with, versus actually engaging in the industry successfully himself ( in the case of EVG, wealth-building via the so-called “investing secrets of the rich.”).
He attempts to take his “predictions of future peril” cues from the Agora folks. And, does a really comical (unintended) job at it too.
Maybe this email I sent to him, after only being active for a month via his overpriced membership, will put it in perspective:
* * *
Mike, it’s amazing to me to see somebody that is so ambitious and so curious still living in a vacuum.
If anything investment related doesn’t come from the mouth of YOUR ill-begotten and chosen ‘3 wise men’ (Kiyosaki, Maloney, Herriage) or fit in with their philosophy, then it somehow escapes your awareness or desire to understand.
And, your gun-toting / survivalist-minded true colors keep shinning. Ya can tell where a man’s head is at when he tells the world that another one of his “original mentors in investing” is a man who has a very short-list portfolio of all “protective” positions except two that have been “dead money” for over 18 months or more (i.e., Falcon Oil and PetroHunter) — man, my head was shaking like mad reading your preface to LESSON #9.
Kip will be a player in growing my money about like Willie Nelson will (direct sarcasm intended). And, I know good and well that you haven’t gotten significant results following his plays.
Both you and I know — a fact you should be plainly aware of and be ethical about admitting — that over 75% of your crowd (the mlm crowd) wants to INCREASE their wealth, not focus on PROTECTING something (non-wealth) that isn’t stable or foundational yet.
There’s a world of profit possibility out there… yet, your ego has gotten you to a point of latching onto political ideology and economic scare tactics that only make you SEEM smart… yet, only riding one train over and over will only get to you to two final destination: Fear and Gloom.
Keep enjoying that ride… but, I can promise you I’ll be unsubscribing if you do…
– Derek
You miss Dillard’s point entirely. What he’s doing is sharing his best, most vetted information about how to thrive through what is inevitable, hyperinflation – where the dollar continues to lose value (its connection to gold) until it’s worth nothing. Along with this will come things tied to the dollar being devalued, maybe the stock market dropping much more horribly than it did in 07, while gold and silver prices increase 5, 10 or more times. It’s “doom and gloom” for those who ignore the time-tested pattern that every empire goes through. The US dollar will cease to be the world’s standard currency and will eventually die. Think $100 to buy a pound of steak, $12/gallon gasoline and you’re half way there. Or it’s thriving and being wealthy for those who do what Dillard is doing.
Mooney is almost certainly a Dillard employee, friend, or family.
Mike Dillard is good at one thing – flooding the search engines with positive info about himself. Some of his posts sound like they are going to be negative, but then turn into positive reviews. They are extremely transparent. He boasts of a young friend “guru” of his in Brisbane who made over 2501% for his “middle-class” clients in 48 months, starting in 2007 while most people lost 21%. Excuse me while I cough a (BS). He goes on to say that 100% annual returns are “COMMON PLACE” for the rich – and now he is going to let you in on the secret? I can’t believe the SEC and Dodd-Frank are so lax on those who sell investment information, even those who will make money off of their investment instructions, as long as they do not have “direct” control over the investor’s actions, while being so stringent on investment professionals who actually conduct business in up-front and ethical manners. Dillard should be stopped and the SEC should be the one to step forward.
Derek is absolutely right!!
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Looks like I’ll pass on the “Elevation Group”.
Has anyone heard anything about “Wal-tirement”? as in Walmart?
Yes — but it’s only for Walmart employees. Stansberry’s people use it like we can use it, but I don’t run a cash register at Walmart.
It is DRIP investing (dividend reinvestment program) – use to be a big deal when buying stock was expensive due to high commissions. Now it is just a slick “buy my newsletter” come-on.
I too am interested in finding out more about “wal-tirement” investments. Anyone know where this can be found without being inundated with info I don’t want?
I suspect Wal-tirement is promoting DRIPs. I’d be interested in hearing about Wal-tirement also.
GC
I am listening to a lenghty Newsmax presentation by Dan Ferris about Walmart, and – after 20 minutes – still don’t know what it is about. I’m interested, though! Does anybody have information on what exactly it is, and how you get into it?
I suspect that’s probably the “Wal-tirement” ad that I wrote about a few days ago:
http://stockgumshoe.com/reviews/12-letter/early-wal-tirement-how-to-get-in-from-the-very-beginning/
Wake up…there are no free lunches! A fool and his money is soon parted! If it looks to good to be true, it probably is!
It’s a very interesting story,a good read.We would all like to think the story is real and the offer is genuine. The very first clue for me is the price,next is you only have a limited number of hours to buy @ 597.00 US$.If one would like to learn to invest,learn the basics,easy to understand”how-to”,climb the learning ladder at your own pace go to AAii,it’s all there for you,three levels,starting @$29.00,$49.00 & $99.00,I started @$49.00 level.When you feel like your alone and wondering if a story is true or not, it’s great to have a site like Stock Gumshoe to help keep you ahead of the “carny’s” out there with only one objective.Hint….it’s not yours!
Dillard’s just admittedly a guy who knows enough to use the tried and true formula to expand what he’s doing, but his overall intention is to help people take control of their financial foundation. Of course, depending on YOUR frame of reference you might see him as another greedy formula marketer. But that’s your eyes, not him. His intentions are ruled by altruism.
I saw the Elevation Group’s first presentation a year ago when he was giddy about gold going up to 50K an ounce. Now a year later, the guy sounded a lot more restrained in his predictions and even hinted there could come a time to unload gold. What a difference a year can make.
The other thing that made me doubt the whole thing is his relationship with Kiyosaki the “rich dad poor dad” scammer who made up the whole rich dad BS but yet tried to pass it on as real. That is, until people who lived in Hawaii did a little research and discovered there was no real “rich dad”. All fiction.
Here’s how out-of-touch, amateurish, and completely narrow-minded Mike Dillard is, when it comes to investing:
An excerpt from his latest-greatest “stocks are evil and don’t work” B.S. –
* * *
“I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know This About Your Stocks…
Hey Derek, if you have money in stocks as the primary part of your retirement strategy, you’ve got bigger stones than I do…
“What’s really scary is the fact that I’ll bet you have no idea that money has been flowing OUT of the market for 33 of the last 34 weeks, creating an exodus of more than $132 Billion.
“So what’s that have to do with you? Simple… When money leaves the market, stocks go down.
“No offense, but if you have your retirement hopes pinned to the stock market, you’re about as sane as Jim Carey on an acid trip, especially when you can make HIGHER returns with hard assets like apartment complexes, which are infinitely SAFER and less volatile.
“If you want to see what I’m doing with MY MONEY, (having outperformed the markets and Buffett himself for the past three years running), click here to save your seat for a free webinar I’m holding tonight…
“I’ll show you what the ultra-rich are doing with their money in today’s dangerous economy, and how you can do the same… “
Your example didn’t show him to be anything but correct.
Seems more like the same old sales job with a few little “twists” to give himself a new angle for selling. I sat through the presentation, then forgetting to close the window afterwards, noticed that the same presentation ran over & over all day & amazingly the list of attendees never changed! lol
He’s a slick salesman, but I have learned (from paying big bucks on stuff like this before) that until the guy (or gal) can demonstrate at least a year or 2 of consistent returns with very transparent data that can also be verified, he or she is probably just another snake oil salesman… Not biting into this one. Give me 6 months to try it for free & if it’s working, THEN I’ll pony up the big bucks to keep my financial crack habit going lol…..
Congrats to gumshoe.com for being a good sounding board for all of these sites who want our hard earned $$.
Yes, he is very slick.
But it has caught up with him.
Not financially but personally at least a couple of times…
It’s funny how none of these stock / investment gurus are willing to provide third party verification of their amazing, Warren Buffet beating results. What’s wrong with Hulbert’s Financial Digest (or someone like them) doing the monitoring? I and many others would be more inclined to join if credible third party verification could be provided.
Michael Mooney (Dillard’s mouthpiece) and Dillard are willing to make big commissions selling you life insurance products while preaching a BS line about giant returns, etc. Don’t listen to them. I love Austin, TX, but they are an inkspot on its landscape.
The elevation group has sound investing strategies. There is no scam and everything that they say can be done, can. Whether or not you want to pay $50 a month for the information is up to you. I payed the $600 and I don’t regret it at all. They tell you their thoughts, their reasons, and even show you how to do it for yourself if you want. I don’t get spammed with offers from them or affiliates either. To answer the self directed ira question, there are two companies (that I know of) that allow you to invest your ira into something other than the stockmarket. If you want to keep your money in stocks, then I would pay the fee associated with moving it. Hope this helps.
I just recently saw the Elevation Group video and was intrigued by it all. Does anyone out there have any info on self directed IRA’s? Are they viable? And the infinity banking concept, which is tied to life insurance as pointed out above, sounds interesting, but is it a scam? To claim “Zero change of the account value going down” or “Zero chance of losing your money in a declining market” are very strong claims. Looking for ways to keep our IRA money safe if the market tanks again. Certainly don’t want to lose another 50% or more. But are these claims too good to be true?
Honestly, avoid Dillard and do not believe his hired flunkies Mooney and Cory.
I am an open minded person, but my BS meter starts ticking. If it sounds like BS there is a 99% chance it is. If they charge nothing for the information its perhaps worth listening to it, but otherwise don’t spend money on anything that smells like BS.
Michael Mooney, Do you work for the elevation group?
Dillard has recently been indicted in a $53 million lawsuit. He claims he was duped by the co. selling the investments… but even if that’s true, why would you pay him for advice… how much research is he really doing or is he really just offering those things that line his own pockets? (you can get more details here: http://blog.leadersclub.com/2012/09/19/feds-sue-mike-dillard-founder-magnetic-sponsoring-elevation-group/ … this page also has more links to this story on other sites)
Thank you for this information!!
Re: Marcia’s question regarding self directed IRA’s – there are many companies who will help you with that now. It is a good option if you want to buy something more “solid” and controllable than some stock fund. When doing so, make sure you use a single member LLC that has checkbook control over your funds. I invested in several rental properties which are giving me a solid return and guess what – I actually own something that is physical, not a piece of paper somewhere that says I own parts of a pool of a hundred or so companies that I have no control over. The other item she questioned was life insurance that has no “downside” and never loses value. This is part of the infinite banking concept developed by Nelson Nash years ago. Several groups promote this. Infinite banking, Safe Money Millionaire, Bank on Yourself, etc. They use high cash value life insurance with the ability to loan to yourself from the cash value. They are purchased through companies that have been around for hundreds of years (safer than Wall Street firms). You get paid a set return on your cash value (usually 6%), there is a death benefit, and if you take loans and pay them back at a higher rate than the 6% you earn, your money keeps growing. Also, they are using IUL, indexed Universal life. Essentially buying a premium which goes up with the market at a capped amount and goes down with the market at a capped amount. So you can earn more from the stock market if it is a bull market, but if you adverse to losses, using this can limit you losses but also limit your gains. For all you skeptics out there, I have no pony at all in this race and am doing my research on the EVG just like you all are. I have also researched a lot of the rest of these topics as well and have put my money is a variety of them, testing them out. The EVG offers nothing that you could not find by yourself on many different sites, but if you do not have unlimited time, then a site like theirs which gathers together in one place all these alternative ideas investing outside of the stock market. Do I buy into the doom and gloom – not really, but I am also a “safe” investor and tired of having to babysit my retirement money to make sure that I will not have to live out of cardboard box when I get old because some jerk in the FED sneezed too loudly and everyone panicked and ran from the stock market…. crashing and burning just as I was ready to retire. I hope this helps.
Most sensible and informative reply I have read yet! Thanks.
It’s 2017 now and these comments were made years ago. I just found The Elevation Group and am doing my due diligence. What have you all learned regarding the Elevation Group since leaving your comments here? Appreciate all responses/