Rule 1 Investing Workshop
I heard about Phil Town’s Rule 1 workshop from a colleague who trades options pretty actively in the market. Now, I trade in the financial markets sporadically and have spent many years learning all things finance but theoretical knowledge doesn’t make you money. I wanted an easy to follow guidebook on value investing (Ben Graham/Warren Buffet’s strategy) and options trading. Rule 1 seemed like a good place to learn those things. I did a quick search online for reviews but didn’t find much except for a few Reddit posts. Phil and his daughter Danielle host a podcast about investing called InvesTed. A lot of the other attendees had learned about the Rule 1 workshop while listening to the podcast.
One of the coaches on stage
Signing up and trip planning
The main location for the 3-day workshop is Atlanta, GA although sometimes they do host it in San Diego, CA. The big sell for this workshop is that it’s absolutely free. The cynic in me got skeptical when I heard that it’s “free”. But my colleague assured me there was no up-selling. I applied for a “scholarship” on Phil’s website and received a response within 2 days approving my enrollment. The workshop is hosted at the Peachtree City hotel in Peachtree City, GA. Using the Rule 1 rate, I was offered a nightly rate of $129/night++ for a room with 2 double beds. I found it cheaper to call and book rather than do it on the Hilton website. Booking flights was fairly easy, ATL is the closest airport and I decided to not rent a car and just Uber. Ideally, you want to arrive by Thursday night and have your return flight planned for after 5 PM on Sunday.
In hindsight, given the remote location of the hotel, I’d recommend renting a car otherwise you’re at the mercy of the hotel’s sole restaurant. They do offer special buffet menus for the workshop at around $16-20/meal. Apart from the food, the hotel is adequate. Additionally – pro-tip, I discovered an app and website, that delivered food from many local restaurants, called PTC Storks that I used on two occasions. Delivery times were pretty long but the food was pretty good!
The workshop
The overall agenda of the workshop is available here. The workshop is usually a Fri-Sun event and they pack up the schedule to the brim. On Friday, we started at 9 AM and wrapped up at 11 PM. Saturday was a 12 hour day (7:30 AM -8:00 PM). Sunday ends at 3 PM. We had approximately 350 people in attendance with a few international attendees as well. Apparently, we were the largest class till date.
Phil telling us about his investment journey
The topics they cover include analyzing a company’s finances at a high level, finding undervalued companies, following and copying value investing gurus, technical analysis and trading options including basic multiple leg strategies. If you’re new to finance, it can be a little hard to keep up with the breadth of topics (tip: do the pre-work; recommend reading about options basics on our page here). If you’re familiar with the basics of options etc., you’ll likely be able to keep up. They also mix things up to keep the agenda a mix of numbers, lots of personal anecdotes, and motivational speakers. Overall, the first day and a half seemed more related to the finance basics but the intensity picked up once everyone was on the same page.
There are also many coaches, who are ex-students of Phil, that help organize and teach the workshop. Most of them claimed to be money managers (and semi/retired from their regular jobs).
Conclusion
I highly recommend the workshop for all investors. Even if you are a fairly advanced investor, unless you trade options on a daily basis you’ll still learn a lot. My only gripe is that the workshop seems a little rushed towards the end. You essentially just get a glimpse of advanced strategies. Phil and team offer 1:1 coaching as a paid follow-on offering for those that are interested. I’ve not yet made up my mind about these.
The big cost here is the flights/hotel and the opportunity cost of a weekend. For most people, the value of the workshop far outweighs the price. I’d also recommend doing this as a couple or group of friends. A lot of people were there with a friend, colleagues and significant others.
If you’re thinking of attending or have feedback from your experience, leave us a comment!
Addendum: Since attending the workshop, Phil’s team followed up and offered group coaching sessions; they wanted a commitment for 1 year and recommended that I plan to spend 8-14 hrs/week on this; there was also a fairly chunky cost associated with this but I’ll refrain from quoting numbers here. It seemed like a good idea and even my colleague (who pointed me to Phil’s workshop originally) recommended it as he had benefited greatly from it (he said he made the money back easily). However, given the choppy market conditions and a personal liquidity crunch I decided to not partake for now. If any readers sign up for this, we’d appreciate if you leave your feedback in the comments section.
Thank you for this nice write up. Wife and I are going to attend the San Diego event this year and your recap and links are super helpful. Thanks again.
Why wouldn’t disclose the cost for one on one mentorship even if it was a $ range? I mean if they’re anything like Online Trading Academy I assume we would be paying at least 10K for their mentorship no? What did they cover on day two or three and were there times you were told at the event if you sign up now you get a discount. I still think this review is incomplete and doesn’t actually speak to exactly what the day to day and topics that were discussed.
Thanks for the feedback! Regarding the content of day 2 and 3 – the full official agenda is linked in the post so feel free to peruse. As far as discounts or upsell, there was no mention of any of that at the workshop. Phil sticks to his word of not selling anything at the actual seminar.
Since I never signed up for the follow up sessions, I cannot speak authoritatively to the costs. My honest advice would be that you attend the workshop as a litmus test if you’re interested in the mentorship program.
I just attended the workshop and my husband and I are debating whether to pay to be mentored. I almost wish there had been some mention of the cost of mentoring at the workshop; it felt like they were going to select a group to be mentored and then the expense is popped on you during the phone interview. It felt a little manipulative. And of course, none of the coaches at the workshop mentioned that they’d paid for anything. Despite that concern, though, we’re still considering joining but it’d be nice to hear from some who have done it.
I completely agree. My wife and I recently attended the workshop. We don’t have any previous investment experience but we were impressed with the workshop and the people. The coaches seemed genuine but it did seem that they had a sort of gag order… probably because of Phil’s promise not to upsell. We signed up for the “Kick in the butt” emails and received a follow-up call and offer for mentoring. It’s definitely not cheap but we’re considering doing it. Did you and your husband do start the mentorship? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
I am also considering it. Hopefully this is a good stuff to change my life..
Hi Mary
Just wondering about your experience, i also need to decide whether i should invest the 10k or not..
Did you go with it,,, is it worth it.. your feedback is appreciated..
Did anyone try his investment strategy and made money as he has claimed?
I recently attended the seminar and I was wondering if you could tell me how much the follow-on mentorship is. They want to do an “interview” with me but I’d like to know a bit more before I jump in and give them a bunch of my personal information. If I knew the price point ahead of time that’d really help me. I’d really appreciate an email from you if you’re not comfortable posting it here.
Thanks!
Did you ever do the mentoring?
I attended in 2017 and enjoyed the workshop. then got calls from a couple of different coaches who seemed a bit disorganized and I was put off by the price of the “coaching”. After all Phil’s recommendations not to go into debt, these guys were suggesting I take out a cash advance on my credit card to pay for the courses/coaching. They couldn’t guarantee I’d get it back in what I learned, but implied I might. Put a bad taste in my mouth. I’m trying to learn about options trading on my own still.
Hi, how is it going with your option trading learning? I’m asking because I’m at the exact place you were when you wrote.
Thanks
Hi, I´m planning to attend this september´s workshop in Atlanta, although I believe it will help me with my investing strategy, I´ve been wondering where is the catch?. Because Phil offers scholarships (apparently to the first 100 persons to apply for it) and I wonder how he gets his money back, but now I see how to hook people (I also heard about his toolbox for a monthly fee). Thanks for the information!
The workshop is completely free and they don’t upsell you, but they do offer a pricey follow-up mentorship if you sign up for assistance at the end of the workshop. The workshop was great, but I think you’d get a bit more out of it if you have some investment knowledge first.
I attended the August weekend, after reading your review here. There is no doubt that the 3-day program is highly educational and provides enough material for you to practice the following 6 months. Was never asked to purchase anything. The only thing available for sale were copies of his books and a $20 copy of all the slides presented…which is extremely helpful to remind you of everything that was taught. Options trading was covered in a hurry, so I will have to educate myself more via YouTube. Once I feel comfortable with Selecting good Investments and options basics, I will probably make the sacrifice to do the coaching. Everyone at the class who were assisting for the weekend, had been sitting in the same chairs 1 or 2 years ago, and verified how it all works. It just takes time and commitment. Practice makes perfect.
Thank you for posting your feedback!
Did anyone end up taking the Phil Town expensive 10k course/mentorship.. any feedback is appreciated whether it is worth it ..
I took the 10K class and actually is a year long course, I learned a lot, does it really worth it it is hard to say, because after I finish I felt that this information is all around you, and it is free, there is no system trades or anything super special, it teache you how to think, since then I manage 100K and doing pretty well hope for 20% on my first year.
Hi Alex,
Did you feel you got enough time on phone or webinars to answer your doubt and questions? I mean was it easy to get the information you needed from them?
Thanks for your feedback!
5, maybe 7 years ago I purchased Rule#1, and enjoyed it very much, but during a house cleaning the book vanished. So last week I purchased the Kindle version. Within the Kindle version there are links to Phil’s other products, which from what I can attest are free. There is a link to the upcoming 3 day seminars which will be held in Atlanta, GA, Jan, Feb and Mar. 2019. As I live within a 4 hr. drive of Atl., however I’ll fly to advoid that Atl. traffic. I picked the Feb. seminar. Submitted my application and was accepted. Phil Town is very adamant during his presentation, there is no selling of anything during the 3 day seminar.
Once you signup, you receive a users name and password to Rule#1’s website. Over the years, about 30 of them, I have spent an unseemly amount of money on different investment seminars, books, DVDs, covering stocks, options, futures, real estate (zero down era); the real estate and futures almost bankrupt me. None of them have ever come close to providing the free and extensive information found on Rule#1’s website under Toolbox.
$10k is a lot of money to put out for 1 year of mentoring, so I’ll have to let that opportunity pass me by. From what I have read, this seminar is one of those rare events where it is as advertised, FREE. Atl. here I come.
$10K for mentoring? Does anyone know of less pricey mentoring with Rule 1?
This is my take, I may have missed someone here saying specifically the class costs 10k, the coaching portion, not the 3 day workshop. So assuming it is 10k, or even at least 1k for now.
Have any of you tried anything you see marketed like this? I am looking for a few select people, I want a small group to do this or that. Phil himself does this from a few emails and posts online about the workshop. I have a limited amount of “Scholarships” maybe you will be selected, etc. I can selected withou even applying, I got an email yesterday notifying me I had been picked! Yay! I didn’t even sign up.
This alone is a bad sign. I am not saying the workshop is bad or not worth it. Or that his book is not worth it. Think for yourself people! How does Phil Town make his money? If you go around giving away a free workshop and as jam packed as these 3 days are, you will go broke if you aren’t doing something else.
A lot of these seminars workshops, etc are a way to funnel hot leads into a sales team to have them pushing a high cost product, training, coaching, mentoring sounds better that the targets, oh I meant you can’t afford to start with.
Like the one comment mentioned, the trainer suggested you take a cash advance on a credit card. Really!?!?!
If you have the time maybe attend the workshop and try the program if you are ready. It is a packed weekend. But be warned stock options are risky investments! They have a timeline or deadline, the value of the option can drop drastically as you approach the expiration date of the option.
How would you like to have all your money in an Apple stock option only to see your money vaporize, vs the actual stock, where maybe it’s just not earning or growing for a while, then skyrocket after your option expires worthless.
Just an example look around and see how technical analysis, stock options, and stock trading actually work before following any of this.
This is why they have to have the disclaimer that they can’t make guarantees on your returns, results, etc. it’s a law.
Good luck if you decide to do all or any of this, bust just be aware and be warned.
My husband & I travelled by car from upstate NY to Lakeland, FL to drop our kids off at my sister-in-law’s house to be cared for, then took my sister-in-law and her husband to the seminar too (they had also been granted the free scholarship). My BIL was very sceptical of this being “free” and no upselling. It was a gruelling 3 days of learning since we had NO previous experience with the stock market or any of the concepts. We had done some “homework” that Phil suggested prior to the workshop, but I really wished I had done ALL of the videos he offered on his site before we attended the workshop. The last day was REALLY crunched and moved along way too quickly. There is NO way a brand new investor would be able to keep up with it and understand in order to invest on their own with the amount of information given in such little time.
We signed up for the “kick in the butt” call. When we got home, we continued to study what we had learned in the workshop and did the homework that Phil gave us, completing several years of backtesting one of the methods he taught. I went through the motions and did it successfully but did NOT understand what I was doing lol.
Due to bad tenants and several evictions over the past 2 years, my husband getting injured on the job 12 years ago with a spinal cord injury and just recently losing almost his entire income, we are in jeopardy of foreclosure on our primary home and rental property (4 months behind on both). Our financial situation is dire. We are in massive credit card, school loan and personal loan debt and are trying to get a home preservation loan. We are desperate and in need of learning these strategies so we can put ANY future amounts of money to work for us. We’ve owned several fairly successful businesses in our lives that have supported our lifestyle, but like most Americans, we have not invested as wisely as we thought. Unfortunate circumstances out of our control have wiped us out! Had we invested with Phil’s strategies years ago, I feel we would not be in this situation.
I emailed Phil after a few days of trying to figure things out ourselves unsuccessfully. His team member immediately got back in touch with me and said we’d get a phone call in a couple of days. They did and offered us to fill out an application classes where they hand-pick no more than 30 people to attend from each workshop. They supposedly base their selection off of your application. We were chosen and were ecstatic to have this opportunity. We have tried MANY things in our lives that have gotten us nowhere, however, we still leave those doors open hoping our efforts will pay off. We have nothing more to lose here, really…and EVERYTHING to gain. Knowledge is power! I was afraid I didn’t have enough $ on my credit cards to do this, but I pulled them all out of my wallet and found an old one that I had previously transferred the whole balance to another card which left this one wide open. I had forgotten all about this card and I think it was for a reason! I immediately gave them the card number and signed up for the minimum purchase of 1-year of classes. We will be starting on March 25, 2019, and we can’t wait! I have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on college education and it has gotten me NOWHERE financially. This is a drop in the bucket compared to my student loan debt, and I believe will be worth EVERY penny! I have absolute faith and trust in Phil Town and his team. This guy is one of the most genuine people I have EVER met in my life. My family feels the same. There are wealthy people with integrity and goals toward a WAY bigger picture than $$. This is where I believe Phil is at as a person. This is NOT about the almighty dollar for him. He’s beyond that and wealthy enough to where he’d never HAVE to work again if he didn’t want to. His passion to help others drives him to do what he does. I believe he genuinely wants to see people (who are willing to work a little & learn) earn the success he has earned. For the next year, my husband & I will be all ears!
I will come back and post my experience and results at a later date! Wish us well!
Hi KENYA,
How is your mentorship going? Can you please let us know your experience till now?
Thank you
How did it work out?
Hi KENYA MARLOW,
You mentioned that your classes were starting on March 25, 2019 and it is May 2019 now. Please update on what you have learned so far from the 10K mentorship.
BTW 10K seems to be the sweet-spot price point for investing/real estate mentorships. I believe RichdadPoordad mentorship was 12K and another investing mentorship was 9K ( I forgot the name but it was promoted by Mr wonderful from sharktank) and then there was a 3 day workshop (4-5 hours each day) I attended last year. It was packed with people funneled from 30 min introductory seminars from tony robbins, grand cardon, one of the guys from shark tank.
Hi Kenya, I have just read your review on Rule1 investing coaching. Have you started? How is it going? Was it worthy? I would be very grateful, if you got back to me.
Hi, Can you share more on your experience? I’m also considering joining the program. Specifically, can you comment if you were mentored by Phil Town himself? Of just his other coaches?
Thanks!
Kenia, come back please! We are all worried about you and want to know how it went with your mentorship!!
Hi Kenya, have you taken the mentorship program and can you leave your feedback here please?
Thanks
Hi Kenya,
i loved reading your review. I am in a pretty similar situation to you. I am also now wondering if this big investment in Phils Mentoring programm is worth it. I would so love to hear from you, how you and your husband are doing. And if it was worth it.
Thank you so much and I would love to hear back from you.
Hi KENYA,
How is your mentoring ship going? Can you please let us know your experience till now?
Thank you
It’s interesting that no one has asked about or mentioned the cost (or is it FREE too?) of gaining access to the Toolbox software, where you can easily determine all of the helpful MOS figures, see RuleOne Numbers, etc. I thought I saw on another site that it was $39/mo, can anyone confirm? And additionally, is there some kind of commitment on that as well? Or just a month to month cancel at any time deal?
I attended the 3 day workshop in May of 2015 in GA. Phil stuck to his word of not selling anything at the workshop. My wife is bored to tears about investing but felt she could follow along with Phil and the other speakers. I think Phil has done an incredible job putting this together, because the content is so good. I did sign up afterwards for the coaching. I paid 6K for the weekly “kick in the butt.” I was happy to continue. I’ve followed Phil for years, after seeing him speak at a “Get Motivated Seminar.” He and Brian Tracy were the high lights of the day. All I can say is Phil and his wife Melissa are the real deal. If you get a chance go.
BRAD
Sounds like you work for Phil
Humm.. it seems that everybody won the limited “Scholarships” for the 3 day workshop. Well played!! Winning “Scholarships” 3 day workshop in Atlanta sounds much better than going to “Free” workshop where you have to pay for flight and hotel stay.
Kenya, please let us know how you are doing?
Is the mentorship worth it or can you just learn this on your own with the options knowledge from the workshop? I feel the mentorship is mainly for options strategies am I right? It would be nice to hear from someone who is currently enrolled or has completed the 1-year program.
I took the July 2019 class it was definitely worth the time and cost to attend (Free for the class but you have to sleep and eat somewhere). I am considering the mentoring. I don’t know if it had changed our not but the mentoring is 6, 9, or 14k for 6, 12, or 18 months respectively. You can also start with 6 and then upgrade to a longer period, but that costs $1000 more. If you make it back in 6 12 or 18 months then you are on the plus. Why does it matter if it costs x, y, or z dollars. If you can afford it then do it. If you can’t, then save until you can. It’s simple.
I am.interested in Kenya’s experience.
How different is the content of the actual seminar compared to the “Introduction to Rule #1” tutorial present within the tool box?