Free Meals and Retirement "Seminars"

[haha]

I'm not a restaurant person so these don't appeal to me. What I just realized, though, is that I rarely get them anymore. Two years ago I moved from a tony, shop-till-you-drop suburb with multiples of every major restaurant franchise, to a smaller house in a very nice area of suburb with more blue-collar demographics. Hmmmm. I guess they figure there's less money to be found in this Zip Code. Fine with me.

That is exactly how it works. My GF moved from an average neighborhood to a high rent one. I did the opposite. I stopped getting these invitations, and she started getting them.

I was lonesome before I met her, and I enjoyed meeting the other diners at the few presentations I attended. The presenters are like most of us, just trying to make it. Much more annoying to me were the know-it-all (male) guests who accepted the meals, then wanted to make arguments with the presenters. Their arguments were likely accurate, but IMO in bad taste.

Ha

 

[mickeyd]

I have attended about 2 dozen of these sessions for entertainment purposes only. If you have the time and are hungry for free food, dig in. Just remember, enjoy the meal, but avoid the Kool-Aid.

 

[CoolRich59]

Those on this forum are smart enough to see through these come-ons. Of course they evolve and get more sophisticated and even the most skeptical can be taken in.

I learned this from the book "The Power of Persuasion": The way we're wired, when we're given something, we're expected to give something back. Hence, free meal, I'm now obligated to the person offering the free meal.

A more sophisticated one is this: Little girl girlscout
"Excuse me, would you like to donate $10 to Girlscouts?".
"No thank you".
"OK, thank you. Would you like to buy a candy bar?"

So what happens: An offer is made. Offer is rejected. The rejection is accepted, which is an acceptance of the rejector which becomes an offer within itself.

So now the original offerer makes another offer, but it's cheaper. Since the rejector of the first offer has had his rejected offer accepted, he's now obligated to accept the second offer.

Charlie Munger was so impressed with The Power of Persuasion, he gave the author a share of Berkshire stock.

Please, before I get flamed for being a scrooge and not donating to the Girl Scouts, I'm trying to use an example.

Years ago I had a set of cassette tapes of a negotiating seminar by a fellow named Robert Laser.

He went through a lot of these tactics, showed how they worked and how to counter them. I've read books and taken a couple of courses on negotiating, but his was the best and most useful.

 

[Moemg]

I went once . It was a free lunch by a local lawyer discussing trusts and other end of life issues . It was interesting .

 

[Ready]

I went once . It was a free lunch by a local lawyer discussing trusts and other end of life issues . It was interesting .

I don't think that falls into the same category as the financial advisory salespeople seminars. They want to sell high commission annuities that nobody really needs.

A local attorney specializing in trusts and estate planning provides a valuable and needed service, and may just use the free dinner approach as a means to attract potential new clients. As long as the services they provide are good and the prices they charge are fair, I think it's a reasonable business model and I would have no problems attending something like that. You just have to do the standard due diligence before hiring them, just like you would any attorney.

 

[Walt34]

We went to one, once. It was put on by an elder law attorney we were going to see anyway about FIL's legal issues and when I was making an appointment the person I was talking to told me about the free meal. It was at a pretty good restaurant in Frederick, MD that we'd been to before so we went.

The food was good but served buffet style and the talk lasted about an hour.

 

[Amethyst]

We also get occasional invitations to tour the local old folks homes and sample lunch prepared by the on-site chef. Haven't gone.

 

[CoolChange]

I have been to a few over the years, mostly ones by what I consider reasonably reputable firms (Fidelity, Prudential, etc.). And, I actually enjoyed most of them.

Some in the past were one-on-one, order off the menu affairs at white linen places over lunch. Others were the kind of group thing with a buffet that seems more the norm. (All had wine as an option; otherwise, I would have left on principal.)

This isn’t something I’d want to do every week but would probably still enjoy once or twice a year.

 

[USGrant1962]

We went to one, once. It was put on by an elder law attorney we were going to see anyway about FIL's legal issues and when I was making an appointment the person I was talking to told me about the free meal. It was at a pretty good restaurant in Frederick, MD that we'd been to before so we went.

The food was good but served buffet style and the talk lasted about an hour.

Hey Walt, was that at Dutch's Daughter? I get those invites about once a month these days.

 

[Rustward]

<snip> The presenters are like most of us, just trying to make it. Much more annoying to me were the know-it-all (male) guests who accepted the meals, then wanted to make arguments with the presenters. Their arguments were likely accurate, but IMO in bad taste.

Ha

I went to one of these a few years ago and was underwhelmed. But I just sat there and kept my mouth shut. Presenter's venue, his ball, his game, his food.

Just hearing the know-it-alls talk about their experiences expressing themselves at these events annoys me. The know-it-alls should stay home.

 

[Koolau]

This past summer DW found a package to Branson MO to see her favorite Country singer. We got 3 nights in a hotel plus 3 shows plus two "free" meals at "nice" restaurants - and the total cost for the two of us was $139 - if we sat through a non-time-share-time-share presentation. We took the package, went to the presentation, politely turned down the "amazing offer" and went to our shows, meals, nice hotel, oh, and "antique picture."

Upon checking into the "Show Tickets" office to get our tickets, the booth girl offered us our $139 back if we sat through a DIFFERENT non-time-share-time-share presentation. It was slightly tempting, but we declined, figuring we had a pretty good deal already (at a much better per-hour for our time rate.) YMMV

 

[harley]

This past summer DW found a package to Branson MO to see her favorite Country singer. We got 3 nights in a hotel plus 3 shows plus two "free" meals at "nice" restaurants - and the total cost for the two of us was $139 - if we sat through a non-time-share-time-share presentation. We took the package, went to the presentation, politely turned down the "amazing offer" and went to our shows, meals, nice hotel, oh, and "antique picture."

Upon checking into the "Show Tickets" office to get our tickets, the booth girl offered us our $139 back if we sat through a DIFFERENT non-time-share-time-share presentation. It was slightly tempting, but we declined, figuring we had a pretty good deal already (at a much better per-hour for our time rate.) YMMV

We used to do this whenever we'd go to FL for Disney. Sit through the presentation, turn them down, then have a nice vacation with a nice condo, full kitchen, two bedrooms, pool, etc. It was well worth it. As I remember it cost us about $69/night.

One time I got an invitation to go to a time-share presentation where they'd give a gift if you showed up. I looked at the prizes - travel, big TV, other stuff, and a food processor. I checked the odds and it looked like we would definitely get the food processor, which is something we had talked about buying. Anyway, we went, said no, and they gave us our prize. It was a food processor - a set of blades you attached to a device, then turned the crank to get it to work. Piece of crap. But we had a nice picnic on the way home and a good laugh at the scam.

 

[RobbieB]

We went to one of these things a long long time ago. A free roast beef dinner at the "Claim Jumper"

In a back room of course with a projector and screen set up.

Time share condos in Maui. I think they kept calling us for 2 years after we had no interest.

Yup, 1 was enough.

 

[braumeister]

I guess they figure there's less money to be found in this Zip Code. Fine with me.

In my experience, anything you receive unsolicited in your mailbox is marketing tied strictly to your ZIP code. I've been at every point in the socioeconomic spectrum and that has always seemed to be the case.

 

[Amethyst]

Zip, and age group. There's a reason why we get ads for shoe inserts, ugly underwear, river cruises, old folks' homes, retirement advice, estate planning, and just today...cemetery plots (we are body donors, so that particular industry is outta luck).

In my experience, anything you receive unsolicited in your mailbox is marketing tied strictly to your ZIP code. I've been at every point in the socioeconomic spectrum and that has always seemed to be the case.

 

[MichaelB]

In my experience, anything you receive unsolicited in your mailbox is marketing tied strictly to your ZIP code. I've been at every point in the socioeconomic spectrum and that has always seemed to be the case.

Zip, and age group. There's a reason why we get ads for shoe inserts, ugly underwear, river cruises, old folks' homes, retirement advice, estate planning, and just today...cemetery plots (we are body donors, so that particular industry is outta luck).

Yup. All that, and boatloads of ads for trusts and annuities.

 

[kcowan]

I get mainly mailings for these. but the free meal isn't much fun listening to a sales pitch. Now, if instead of a meal they offered cash... I might consider it.

You may be a prospect for a timeshare pitch! The initial contact has $500 to entice you into the pitch. If he offers you $400, then he gets to keep $100.

We have been to two pitches. One was for swampland in Florida. Three days free at a second rate hotel on Miami Beach. The second was 15 years later for a timeshare at a ski resort. By then the free offer was one night plus a continental breakfast. Same formula.

In both cases, the people who bought were the ones who could least afford it.

We have been off the lists for the last twenty years.

 

[CoolRich59]

In my experience, anything you receive unsolicited in your mailbox is marketing tied strictly to your ZIP code. I've been at every point in the socioeconomic spectrum and that has always seemed to be the case.

Totally agree. In fact, we once had some electrical work done and the worker who came to the house jokingly said to the wife when he handed her the invoice "looks like your paying the 'Barrington premium' ".

She asked what that meant and he said his employer automatically increased rates for customer in our zip code because it's a more affluent area.

 

[Walt34]

Hey Walt, was that at Dutch's Daughter? I get those invites about once a month these days.

Yup, the same.

 

[Loving Life]

Heck, we have been home a couple of months from overseas and have gone a few of the " Free Meals" - We pick the ones with the nicer venues, go early and have a couple of drinks at the bar, enjoy meeting the people, learn a few things and have a nice dinner and get to meet new people - There is no hard sell, they bring in good guest speakers, and try to get clients, and we get a good meal and find resources that we can use in the future. Its and win win for both of us.

 

[jazz4cash]

I wish DW was interested in attending but she hates any kind of interaction with salespeople in that type of setting so unable to enjoy the freebie. We did go 150 miles to see Ray Lucia. I liked his radio show but the presentation was focused on non traded REITS. Yuck. They served pastries coffee and juice. The invites we get now are for decent non descript resturants. If I get one for Ruth's Chris, I'm in!

 

[Taxman59]

I got an offer from the SO of a co-w*rker. It was on SS, so I was interested on one level, but it is so far off (55 at the time) I was tempted to say no. I was convinced that it was a good thing, and since I was upfront about my age and background (CPA estate planner for a HNW extended family), DW and I went. The fixed meal in a back room was okay at best, the others at the table seemed to be the real targets (some $$ but no understanding of SS or finance). I got the feeling that I was a plant to show that some people understand the retirement system and will scam it at the expense of others, so work with the salesman and he will help you to the promised land!

It was a new restaurant and I wasn't impressed by the food. It convinced DW that that wasn't a restaurant that we had to check out, so it was worth it to sit through a 1 1/2 hour meal/presentation to sample a decent but not great meal so I could avoid the high priced dining with DW some other weekend!

 

[JoeWras]

I got the feeling that I was a plant to show that some people understand the retirement system and will scam it at the expense of others, so work with the salesman and he will help you to the promised land!

That's really interesting!

Now I'm not saying you are in this group, but other people mentioned the "know it alls" being obnoxious. You have to believe the presenters know that these people will come to these events, and they may actually be used to the presenters' advantage, i.e. "don't listen to that false god, listen to me, I will take you to the promised land."

I'm just a little too introverted to externally be the obnoxious know it all. I just mutter it to myself at these kind of events.

 

[LRDave]

It seems like 2/3 of them are at Ruth's Chris - but from many different insurance salespeople. I wonder if Ruth's Chris have enough seating for regular diners!

 

[folivier]

I'd jump at Ruth's Chris too! There is a "hearing" seminar we've gone to at a local very nice seafood restaurant. Worth the time.