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A parable about advice (not just financial)

In my life I have had some wonderful friends and acquaintances and I count my blessings for every one that I have met (and will still meet), the following “Best of” posting is from May 2005 and it is about a piece of advice that I gave a dear friend that completely backfired, and I regret to this day (I also regret that this friend is no longer with us either), thus I tell this parable about advice.

A parable about advice (not just financial)

parable about advice
Careless Talk Can Be Dangerous ; Especially Advice!

A few years ago I car-pooled with a wonderful guy we’ll call Jack for this story.

One day after my wife and I came back from a great vacation in Florida, I told Jack about how to get free tickets to Paramount Studios in Orlando, by attending a “Time Share Condominium Sales Pitch” (my father-in-law told me about it), I told Jack that it was a hoot and kind of sad seeing the “poor souls” (my opinion) who ended up buying these things. The Sales guy was relentless, he was going to take Canadian money at par, he was going to let us pay with our credit cards, we could stay there now if we wanted, etc., but we stuck to our guns, got our free tickets and left, laughing as we walked out.

Jack thought it sounded like a good idea because he and his wife were going on vacation to Florida in a couple of weeks.

Fast forward to the day after Jack and his wife came back from vacation. The conversation was mostly about how much fun Jack and his wife had while in Orlando, so then I said, “How about that Time Share sales pitch, what kind of shmuck would buy those things?”, and after a long pause Jack said, “Well, me, I bought one…”, I think my jaw dropped to the floor, and I might have said two words for the rest of the trip to the office. I never mentioned time shares ever again.

Moral to this parable? Advice is a dangerous thing to hand out, and you had better be ready to take the heat when the advice goes wrong.

This is why I try to always be careful when giving out advice, because I am fully aware of the damage ANY advice can do. Most time shares I have seen are not worth the money outlay (my opinion), please don’t construe this posting as me endorsing them in any way shape or form.

Feel Free to Comment

  1. I do not have a time share.

    Once you have one of those time shares, you simply can’t get rid of it! You are stuck paying for it just like a mortgage, and the fees are through the roof.

    Your best bet to get rid of the one you have is to sucker the sales guy who sold it to you to resell it for you, and give him/her a $1000-5000 bonus for selling the darned thing!

    They WILL ding your credit if you just stop paying for it as it is a legally binding contract. A very cruddy one, but it is legally binding in their favour.

    DON’T buy a time share! Personally I would not take a free vacation to Florida just to sucker one of these companies out of a free hotel or flight. That is then cheating them, and I am not about doing something like that. They may be mega sales-pitch people, but they are still one step above collection agency representatives!

  2. nancy (aka money coach)

    ha ha ha – and I’m with Telly. It reminds me of my own very worst ever insert-foot: my then prospective boss took me out for a wine & dine. We both love classical music. He asked what I thought of Fur Elise and thinking I was speaking peer to peer said I didn’t care for it that much (I don’t. what can I say). Honest to god, turns out his estranged daughter made a tape of herself playing it on the piano, and gave it to him.. before she passed away. How could I possibly recover from that one??

  3. These “presentations” can be found quite easily in Florida and Mexico. I’ve never thought it was worth wasting 1/2 to a full day of my precious vacation time to attend one. I guess I’m just not THAT frugal. 😉

    BCM, my lesson learned from this story would have been, open mouth and insert foot. I wouldn’t feel guilty for giving him the idea to attend one of these sessions. It could have very easily happened anyway. The unfortunate part is what you inadvertantly said afterwards! OOPS!

  4. BCM,

    LOL, i’m interested in the time share presentations that offer free stays and food if you attend the presentation. I’m not interested in purchasing what they’re pitching, just what they’re giving out for free. 🙂 Derek Foster talks about them in his book.

  5. NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! 🙂

    They offer large monetary commitments and many hidden service fees, and you lose 2.5 hours of your life.

    If you want to attend one, simply check into a Motel in Florida someone there will aim you at one of these “presentations”.

  6. CFS,

    How did you go about finding these time share presentations? What other perks do they offer? My wife and I are all about getting free stuff. 🙂

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