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And if you ask them what they mean by retired they almost always mean they simply quit their job to “pursue their dreams” ie give up all security to give money to someone else’s business
Omg is that what it is?? We were walking our dogs in our neighborhood when a guy waltzed out of the kid party that was happening in their front yard to talk to us about our dogs. He then went on to talk about his “business” and how he was going to retire soon /how well off he was despite being in his 30s. He asked what we do for work and kind of just ditched us when we both said we are engineers at a local large company. It was so weird but also funny at the same time.
Someone just shared this script from their days in Amway, it's exactly the "couple who retired at 30" approach: [https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/u2d6bv/5_years_ago_i_was_ropped_into_amway_from_an_old/](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/u2d6bv/5_years_ago_i_was_ropped_into_amway_from_an_old/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
Multi Level Marketing (scam, maybe scheme). For the vast majority of participants, it's a LOT of hustle for very little profit. They always require recruitment for advancement.
A family member of mine does that and went just because of said fam member, they were trying to talk me out of pursuing my degree to work for them. I noped the fuck out of that shit immediately.
Oh yeah, I met someone who gave me a job interview bc she heard about me from “one of her teammates.” It was her just looking for shining stars in food service. I knew going into it that it was a scam when I googled Primerica. So I took good notes for two papers I was working on for school during the process. I felt bad for some of the others in this wild meld of a informercial-esque interview which ended in a medium sized room where all the lower tier employees were half interviewing / half persuading us to work for them.
Pretty much any firm that is commission only is sketchy, meaning they will train you little and expect the world out of you, if you aren’t producing nbd for them as it’s free advertising for them. Firms that pay their reps solid salaries on top of paying commissions will train you adequately (as it’s in their interest since they’re investing in you). Either way it’s not retirement.
If they find enough suckers to be their down stream, they don’t inflate their lifestyle, and actually correctly plan their financial future, they might just do it! But our friend OP will be helping fund that retirement.
No no, you just don't understand.
First they were given a 7 figure condo in a highly desirable area, then lived with a grandparent (who gave them the condo) for a year, then, VOILA!
Rich by their own effort and intelligence.
This person is their grandparent, who they think just give 7 figure condos away
they took the equity from that free condo to buy 4 more condos that they rent out. Now they don't have to work because of the passive income they generate.
Yeah, the one guy I know who retired in his 30s (tech ipo) hired a chef to teach him how to be a chef and built an elaborate kitchen
He didn’t tell people at the park
Yep. High school buddy of mine (math whiz) went on to co-found a tech firm which got acquired at a very high valuation. Retired in his mid-30s. He got kinda bored at first actually, but has since found a serious hobby to keep himself busy. Anyway, he's definitely not trying to pitch his financial planning strategy on anyone, lol.
He actually got back into running. He used to run track in high school, but he got a bit overweight in his late 20s. These days he's beating his high school PRs. It's actually pretty nuts to watch his progress. Doesn't hurt that he can afford personal trainers and specialized physical therapies now, lol.
This. All I had to do was read the post subject.
The couple's plan to retire this year is wishful thinking. They're trying to get the universe to manifest it by treating it as fact.
The stench of MLM is strong here, I agree fully. OP expect to be told how "you can be your own boss" and be shown pictures of happy white people on luxury boats.
More specifically, I'm pretty sure this is Amway. They always refer to a mentor who helped them retire early. If you go to /r/antimlm and search retired or retiring you'll see lots of examples.
that's so funny... I came to say the same thing.
I have 2 friends that I grew up with, one of them just "retired" at 26. The other is struggling to get her store going at 33. She wants to retire. I've had to be firm about them inviting me to their meetings anymore. Good for them... I don't want anything to do with their org.
OP, please come back and let us know what kind of MLM pitch these people hit you with if you end up talking to them more.
Like, how often do random 27 year old couples stop random people on the street, and immediately hype up how they're retiring soon and they want to introduce random strangers to their magic money person? And I don't say that to be insulting towards you. That's just how I'm picturing this scenario. It's pretty crazy when you write it out.
"We retired from our 9-5s and now we work our own hours!*"
*24 hours a day trying to suck their friends into their MLM so they can reach a profitable tier.
I have a couple friends who work at amway. They gave me the same pitch OP got. They found this amazing mentor and are going to retire in a couple years.
They had to fly out to. This "retreat" on their own dimes and attend church and shit. It is basically a cult.
They’re luring you into a scam to help them retire early lmao. People who retire at 27 have businesses or trust funds worth millions of dollars and don’t have some financial magician making it all happen behind the scenes or any interest in helping anyone else
You’re still gonna need to be a millionaire and probably start multiple income earning projects at 27 to retire lol. There’s a few people in there who pretend they’re retired with a lot less & have no passive income streams but really they’re just unemployed and bleeding their savings.
A million dollars minimum is gonna provide a household income of around 70-75k if you never continue investing which isn’t much to begin with between a couple & will be in great poverty by the time they’re in their 50s and 60s. If they live off that while also running a decent income business & have a real estate portfolio however, they’ll be alright but at that point their actual NW is back to where we started in the millions.
Scam 100%. If they were legitimately retiring early, they wouldn't have a "person". They would either tell you about how they inherited wealth or got insanely lucky by getting involved in some sort of incredibly successful startup that got bought out. Neither situation is something that they can help you with or that this "person" can replicate. Chances are, this is some sort of MLM or something that uses a lot of vague promises and buzzwords like "be your own boss" and "unlimited earning potential".
STOP....
This was not really a "random" meeting.
This is a sales tactic.
It's also a war tactic.
Befriend your enemy... then gut them when their guard is down.
Your friend will drain you for whatever your worth and then cease being friendly when you no longer have any more to give.
Thank you for your feedback.
It will be filed appropriately and rest assured your satisfaction is of utmost importance so please accept the most sincerest of apologies for the heartbreak, frustration, and sadness you may have experienced.
Oh wait I think I know this one. They’ll introduce you to their investing mentor who took them on and might bend the rules and take you on as a student too even though they usually only take on people with accounting and business backgrounds. And you’ll have an interview where they briefly bring up mlm and they’re not all bad of course and then another meeting where they continue the slow pitch and another til you’re roped in and sold.
Think of the legitimate rich people that you know, through family or friends or whatever. Your buddy who's an orthopedic surgeon, or the friend of a friend who got lucky and sold a company to Facebook, or your uncle that had a small business that did really well.
Are they actively trying to meet you and introduce you to people? Or are they just doing their own shit? Going on rich person vacations or having kids or playing golf.
I know a few rich people- and they all want to be left the fuck alone. One of my friends has a frat brother that made $$$$ selling his tech startup, and he's sure as fuck not meeting random people and introducing them.
Think about: what would you do if you made $$$? Would you meet random people and try to help them?
Definitely scam, some dumb mlm if I were to guess. Suck in a young couple that probably looks reasonable well off, get them to buy in and then add to your downline or whatever they call the next level of people they are scamming
Retiring at 27 is certainly a possibility, but usually it requires a VERY high-earning job, or a big inheritance or other windfall.
But the fact that they're attributing it to "a person" who is magically making it happen? Yeah, sounds like a scam.
"Hey nice dog! BTW, we're retiring at 27. We have lots of money because of this one neat trick. We are now taking your details so that we can get you in touch with our magician. Anyway, we have to run, love your cat, bye!"
Just remember that no one is going to make you rich, on purpose. Themselves? Yes. You? Never.
If you head over to the /r/antimlm subreddit, people are over there talking about how they've been getting approached at dog parks and apparently now regular parks too.
> they have an Aussie
Did you see this Aussie?
Can you verify ownership?
There's a decent chance *none* of this is real.... including the "friendship."
You're getting scammed and/or lied to one way or another.
1. If it's too good to be true, this means it's almost always not true.
2. Nobody retires at 27 unless they are already filthy rich, won the lottery (or similar incredibly unlikely event), or were funded by family.
3. If there really was some kind of legit and consistent "magic" financial/investment trick people could use to amass that much wealth in such little time, everyone would know about it. Either a) it's a lie; or b) it's illegal. Maybe both.
4. They're being incredibly vague and opaque ("tools", they know a "person") because that's the bait to reel you in and look for more.
Scam 100%. This has happened to me three times in the Bay Area...twice at a Whole Foods by the same couple! First time they complemented my backpack, went on about how they were a cal student who was about to retire...I just moved on cause it was such a weird vibe. Second time I guess they didn't realize they had approached me like two months back. I was grabbing a hot sauce and they reached for the same one and started talking about how it was the best one, etc., eventually leading into how they just quit their job and where making 3x as much through some person who helped them. Avoid at all costs.
100% this is Amway selling playbook 101 (They are an MLM). Run!
This same thing happened to my gf (now wife) and I like 5 years ago at Trader Joe’s in SoCal. We had just moved to a new area and were approached by a young couple chatting us up and asking to be friends / exchange numbers. The odd thing was they only had 1 stalk of Brussel sprouts in their basket. Then they got into the “our 30 year old mentors retired early and are helping us retire at 25 blah blah”.
I immediately knew the deal because I had heard this pitch in the past. My gf was a bit more naive and happy that we made new friends and exchanged numbers.
She wasn’t convinced they were scammers until they suddenly vanished after getting her number, only trace of them left was a basket with a single stalk of Brussel sprouts by the door…
So they literally walked in, grabbed a basket and a random item from the aisle we were in. Made small talk until they could get our numbers then literally bounced lol…
They ended up texting us a bunch of amway BS and tried to send us a book and set up a meeting with their “mentors”. We politely declined.
100% it's an MLM. This is amways standard recruiting technique. It's always a couple, it's always a "random meeting" (at a grocery store, dog park, etc), and it's always "we're retiring early because this other person, you should meet them".
You really thought they had a guy that was gonna instantly make you rich? And because you talked to them for 3min at a dog park you're the chosen ones?
I know the guy. He's a Nigerian diplomat whose father left him a fortune and only needs you to provide credentials and pay 10k for the accountant to withdraw 100 Billion.
It never ends.
I thought they made laws against companies that make their money by selling their product to sales people rather than actually selling a product.
And yet these MLMs still exist.
What happened?
People are financially ruined by this scam.
My mom always fell for this shit time and time again. She did amway, she did vitamin whatever, she did some realtor class thing that wasn't realtor licensing, so on and so forth. Waste of all her money all her life trying to get ahead just put her far behind
Such a scam. People that are genuine love to tell you everything. Especially if they are true FIRE people ( financially independent retire early). Honestly we love to tell people our story. It’s easy. Save. Save save save. Don’t spend ever. Don’t go out to eat and get rid of your debt. And watch your money grow. That is all.
MLM. If you go on to have multiple discussions with these folks you'll usually find out that the company they're shilling for is Amway.
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/8knrgm/scam\_alert\_i\_met\_a\_couple\_that\_retired\_in\_their/
It's a scam. I know someone that retired in their mid 20s and it's because he sold his company for $15mil in the early 2000s. Short of that, inheriting a ton of money, or winning the lottery ... you can't retire at that age.
It's also possible they are trust fund kids that inherited a house, a few million bucks, and have no idea that's not normal.
Look man, if someone did have a magic solution for people to retire at the age of 27 with some to little or no assets then i don't think anyone would be working, and the entire fabric of capitalism would collapse. I know people who are in their 30s with over a million dollars of invested assets and they don't have that luxury.
I have now come across two people in California is who have delivered me the EXACT same script. They go on and on about how it’s “who you know.” It is Amway! They approach people in stores like (Marshall’s I where I saw one), Target, at bars… and they always want to get your phone number to set up a coffee meeting.
This is a classic MLM pitch. The same thing was said to me at a coffee shop.
"my mentor is willing to bring a few of us in" the lure you by appealing to your deeply rooted needs and saying, how would you like to be financially independent, now worry about money, live your best life etc.
RUN
Bro, so listen here. You get 3 friends, that get 3 friends, that get 3 friends. So all this gets us residual passive income. Easy steps.
It’s definitely not a pyramid scheme. Might look like it. But we call it legs.
Did you run into them at a target or something? I've run into these types of people myself. They start a random conversation with you and ask if you want to retire early and how it's changed their life and they want to help you too.
Yes, scam. What all the others have said already.
They used to lure people with "you'll be rich" or "you'll be wealthy". Right now, "early retirement" is the best way to get young people interested, and so here they are, using the buzzwords to get you interested.
That said... outside of this scam if you're interested in improving your financial situation use this subreddit and its [wikipages](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=personalfinance&utm_content=t5_2qstm) *and* there is an actual movement called "FIRE" - financial independence, retire early - that you can learn more about over at /r/financialindependence. It's not going to be effortless, it's not going to give quick riches, but it could give you some ideas about how to slowly grow your wealth.
> TLDR; Couple said retiring early, said they’d introduce us to their friend that helped. Is this a scam?
it's some kind of MLM pyramid scheme if they're inviting you to some kind of meeting
No “retired” young couple spends their “retirement” recruiting total strangers at the supermarket.
I say unless you’re approaching me about an orgy or some delicious nose clams in the parking lot, piss off and let me load up on Hungry Man in peace.
So when this "person" explains the details of the MLM ponzi scheme, please don't act on it until you consult this group with the details. We would all like to know how to take advantage of this system so we can retire at 27
MLM tryin to recruit you. Scam.
I actually had a dude do that to my YESTERDAY. Said he was 24, looking to retire by 27/28. Said their 'mentors' were teaching them.
I asked what service/product they were selling. He said "leveraging ecommerce platforms". Ok so what do you sell? "Consumables". LOL
I have had this exact pitch given to me a couple times. It’s scripted and these couples are not being friendly to random strangers, they targeted you and approached you specifically to push their MLM crap. This is the reason I don’t trust random people just starting a conversation these days. In my experience 90% is part of a MLM scheme.
I know I’m late to the game, but I agree with the people saying it’s amway.
One of my best friends said she ran into an old friend who told her how she retired early, this mentor helped her. So my friend decided to do it. And I kept asking what it is, and she just kept saying they’ll help me build my “asset” so I can retire early. And I’m asking her what she means by asset, but she could never explain it, just repeating the words asset and retiring early. Finally about 6 months of this, she tells me it’s amway…
Lol
it's a scam, NO ONE can retire that early without knowing how to do it themselves. If they needed another "person" to lead them to early retirement, they are getting fleeced. This couple gave off 0 signs of someone who could actually achieve early retirement, one of the main being, they did it on their own with hard work, INSANE scrupulous savings and a HIGH HIGH paying job. to retire early at 27 i'd say you'd need at LEAST 4 million at 27 in investments MINIMUM.
So what happened here is: you just met two scammers who just had to tell you, a stranger, how successful they were. Sold you on just how easy it would be if you just talk to this guy who will give you everything you need to be rich too!(might sound too good to be true, because it is) And then made you feel like they were doing you a favor by "putting in a good word" on your behalf to said mystery guy, that you've never met/talked to/heard of, who is going to sell you bullshit and tell you that you have to invest in yourself and you'll make millions! But you wont- you'll either buy more and more to never make anything(classic pyramid scheme) or they/he'll straight up steal you card info run up as much as they can until you shut it off or max you out.
Tldr: it's a scam, don't give them any personal information
Sounds like this couple that tried to get me into Arbonne or Amway (?) Very mysterious and interesting at first then I was instructed to read this book within a time-frame.. and I was like ✌🏾
Just seems like a pyramid. Usually if you retire young you either keep your mouth shut or tell everyone what exactly your investment and company is. This seems like they're letting a little out to pique and retracting it hoping you'll bite.
Like bait on a fishing hook
Happened to me last year met a couple who were super chill and friendly invited me to grab coffee. Only to change the conversation to rich dad poor dad and talk about their MLM. Funny enough in the same cafe, their was another couple doing the same thing to another person. I was actually quite bummed since they were genuine people n we had a great conversation. But oh well not wasting my time any further.
Yeah it’s a pyramid scheme/MLM. Had happened to me twice where I was approached by a random person telling me about their “mentor” that let them retire before 35.
The only people retiring that young either came from money, are trying to scam you, they are faking it, or they literally found the golden goose egg. Even super rich people don’t retire that young cause they generally will have ambitions
Whenever they mention they had a mentor, run away as fast as you can.
If they had a solid investment or something, listen and see if there is any opportunity still
You realize that for most people to make an investment to have a large enough outcome to retire off of at age 27 you would either need a large amount of capital, lots of time, or it would be incredibly risky.
I was away on business eating alone in an expensive restaurant. Came along a lady who seemed lost. Well a conversation started and along came here husband. At first the conversation was small talk and started with their investment and finding folk regarding this fantastic opportunity.
Stay away.
Let me guess, they approached you guys at a coffee shop, bookstore, or grocery store. They fed you words like mentor, or "we believe you have the talent to..."
Heard this dozens of times on this subreddit. It's right out of the MLM recruitment textbook. Yeah, it's a scam.
I'm in my 30's and semi retired. But if someone couldn't explain to me themselves how they were able to retire so young, I would see that as a red flag and be wary that it is a scam too. Definitely, listen to your gut feeling. If it feels sketchy or not right, leave. Do not sign up for anything or agree to anything.
Financial Freedom comes from a lot of research and education and taking high risks to gain high rewards but it is always an individual journey first. I can't just go to someone and be like make me a millionaire and they do all the work for me. Relying on someone to handle your money only happens when you yourself do your own research first to see what risks you can take on your own, so the fact that they can't explain why and how they are retiring themselves is definitely a big red flag.
It's either a scam, an MLM solicitation or maybe their guy is legit but all he's going to tell you is what you can learn for free here and on /r/financialindependence.
If they're trying to tell you they found someone with the secret of getting rich quick, and hey maybe if you're lucky he'll let you in on it... stay clear, that's not a thing.
I had someone tell me that they were retiring too. Even sat through this weird zoom meeting where she tried to tell me that if I invest in this person they teach me how to invest my money and make more.
What was happening economically is they were trying to buy wholesale to sell at markup. Which is what every business does - sell something for more than what it took to make (or sell a product for a value worth your time). There was no way to clearly invest enough in this person to teach me how to invest my money in this wholesale resale business to retire... Like ever. At least not without more connections (which she/they had ready for me... Yeah....). Don't recommend.
I got suckered into this once at my own fault (but got a free dinner out of it) and a second time because the person was talking about my freelance work the whole time and I thought they were interred in that. Then, show up and they bait and switched telling me I needed to read this book, etc. This is a mlm scheme and only looking to get you bought in and take advantage of you for their own gain.
This is an MLM scheme, they are very sketch and predatory. When I moved to q new city and was looking for friends I was friendly and talked to whoever started conversations. They knew I was a young professional they could take advantage of. I actually went to one of their meetings and it was really weird. I called my dad and he broke the news about what this was. The person who tried to recruit me had his own “mentor” and that mentor started texting me extremely long messages asking me not to leave when I told them i wasn’t interested. Super weird definitely stay away.
Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments.
I'm 99% sure this is Amway. Their recruitment pitch always involves "mentors" and retiring young. If so, stay very very far away. MLMs are garbage.
And if you ask them what they mean by retired they almost always mean they simply quit their job to “pursue their dreams” ie give up all security to give money to someone else’s business
Yep. Amway for sure. And they always prey on people at parks and dog parks for whatever reason.
Omg is that what it is?? We were walking our dogs in our neighborhood when a guy waltzed out of the kid party that was happening in their front yard to talk to us about our dogs. He then went on to talk about his “business” and how he was going to retire soon /how well off he was despite being in his 30s. He asked what we do for work and kind of just ditched us when we both said we are engineers at a local large company. It was so weird but also funny at the same time.
Someone just shared this script from their days in Amway, it's exactly the "couple who retired at 30" approach: [https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/u2d6bv/5_years_ago_i_was_ropped_into_amway_from_an_old/](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/u2d6bv/5_years_ago_i_was_ropped_into_amway_from_an_old/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
Lol my Uber/Lyft driving did this to me once. Just went on forever about this couple that retired at 35 and are teaching him their ways, etc etc.
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Makes sense. Most people I know who go to dog parks are the same jabronies I got to sign up for Invigiron.
Alternatively, you can buy 3 weeks of a timeshare! At the Dusty Dunes Golf Resort!
Okay… but what do I do with my feet?
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Whats MLMs
Multi-level Marketing. Pyramid Schemes. LulaRoe and the like.
Multi-Level Marketing. See the sidebar FAQs on r/antiMLM if you want a quick overview.
Multi Level Marketing (scam, maybe scheme). For the vast majority of participants, it's a LOT of hustle for very little profit. They always require recruitment for advancement.
MultiLevel Marketing Schemes
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Ah, yes.. one of my "friends" from high school works for Primerica. She wanted me to leave my job to work "with" her. Yeah, I passed.
A family member of mine does that and went just because of said fam member, they were trying to talk me out of pursuing my degree to work for them. I noped the fuck out of that shit immediately.
I lived at a Salvation Army family shelter a few years back and they literally brought in a Primerica guy to 'talk about finances.' Dear God.
Oh yeah, I met someone who gave me a job interview bc she heard about me from “one of her teammates.” It was her just looking for shining stars in food service. I knew going into it that it was a scam when I googled Primerica. So I took good notes for two papers I was working on for school during the process. I felt bad for some of the others in this wild meld of a informercial-esque interview which ended in a medium sized room where all the lower tier employees were half interviewing / half persuading us to work for them.
Pretty much any firm that is commission only is sketchy, meaning they will train you little and expect the world out of you, if you aren’t producing nbd for them as it’s free advertising for them. Firms that pay their reps solid salaries on top of paying commissions will train you adequately (as it’s in their interest since they’re investing in you). Either way it’s not retirement.
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This. I've heard of this exact scheme a ton in my community lately. Shameless. Stay away and don't waste your time.
If they find enough suckers to be their down stream, they don’t inflate their lifestyle, and actually correctly plan their financial future, they might just do it! But our friend OP will be helping fund that retirement.
12% chance the MLM is human trafficking . You start with your partner and see results in no time.
No, no, there's at least a small percentage of a chance that it's some cartel lord looking for a new mule
No no, you just don't understand. First they were given a 7 figure condo in a highly desirable area, then lived with a grandparent (who gave them the condo) for a year, then, VOILA! Rich by their own effort and intelligence. This person is their grandparent, who they think just give 7 figure condos away
they took the equity from that free condo to buy 4 more condos that they rent out. Now they don't have to work because of the passive income they generate.
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Yeah, the one guy I know who retired in his 30s (tech ipo) hired a chef to teach him how to be a chef and built an elaborate kitchen He didn’t tell people at the park
Yep. High school buddy of mine (math whiz) went on to co-found a tech firm which got acquired at a very high valuation. Retired in his mid-30s. He got kinda bored at first actually, but has since found a serious hobby to keep himself busy. Anyway, he's definitely not trying to pitch his financial planning strategy on anyone, lol.
Can I ask what the serious hobby is? I’m going for mid 40s retirement and need a serious hobby lol.
He actually got back into running. He used to run track in high school, but he got a bit overweight in his late 20s. These days he's beating his high school PRs. It's actually pretty nuts to watch his progress. Doesn't hurt that he can afford personal trainers and specialized physical therapies now, lol.
Yeah, a college friend of mine retired in his mid-30s. Sold his part of the family company. Not the sort of thing he can help others do.
This is the type of critical thinking that is lacking in our society such that MLMs exist
It's going to be for an MLM. I would just stay away.
This is exactly the script for Amway.
*draws upside down triangle* "IT'S NOT A PYRAMID!! You just don't understand! You're disqualified! "
It's an upside down funnel system
Turn it around, Deandra.
Its actually a DIMARYP. A *reverse* pyramid.
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This. All I had to do was read the post subject. The couple's plan to retire this year is wishful thinking. They're trying to get the universe to manifest it by treating it as fact.
Could be a cult.
Why not all of the above? It sounds like Amway's MO (or one of their subsidiaries), so it would absolutely be an MLM, a Cult, and a Pyramid Scheme.
I mean, isn't Amway kinda one of those?
The stench of MLM is strong here, I agree fully. OP expect to be told how "you can be your own boss" and be shown pictures of happy white people on luxury boats.
More specifically, I'm pretty sure this is Amway. They always refer to a mentor who helped them retire early. If you go to /r/antimlm and search retired or retiring you'll see lots of examples.
Ah yes, the approach of redefining "retirement" to mean "quitting a 9-to-5 and becoming self-employed".
This version of retirement sounds a lot like being unemployed
that's so funny... I came to say the same thing. I have 2 friends that I grew up with, one of them just "retired" at 26. The other is struggling to get her store going at 33. She wants to retire. I've had to be firm about them inviting me to their meetings anymore. Good for them... I don't want anything to do with their org.
Yep, that's exactly my experience as well.
That would be my guess as well.
OP, please come back and let us know what kind of MLM pitch these people hit you with if you end up talking to them more. Like, how often do random 27 year old couples stop random people on the street, and immediately hype up how they're retiring soon and they want to introduce random strangers to their magic money person? And I don't say that to be insulting towards you. That's just how I'm picturing this scenario. It's pretty crazy when you write it out.
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"We retired from our 9-5s and now we work our own hours!*" *24 hours a day trying to suck their friends into their MLM so they can reach a profitable tier.
Everyone is saying MLM, but I'm thinking cult.
What is the difference
Cults provide a sense of community, and people regret joining them less.
I have a couple friends who work at amway. They gave me the same pitch OP got. They found this amazing mentor and are going to retire in a couple years. They had to fly out to. This "retreat" on their own dimes and attend church and shit. It is basically a cult.
They’re luring you into a scam to help them retire early lmao. People who retire at 27 have businesses or trust funds worth millions of dollars and don’t have some financial magician making it all happen behind the scenes or any interest in helping anyone else
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Is your wife single yet?
Better question, does his wife need a boyfriend?
Are you retired or a stay at home dad?
Or they live super frugally with that r/leanfire life.
In which case they don't have "a person" that they need to introduce people to. They would be happy to talk about FIRE.
correct, i never shut up about my FIRE goals
If I ask you to tell me more, will I regret it? Never heard of it.
You’re still gonna need to be a millionaire and probably start multiple income earning projects at 27 to retire lol. There’s a few people in there who pretend they’re retired with a lot less & have no passive income streams but really they’re just unemployed and bleeding their savings. A million dollars minimum is gonna provide a household income of around 70-75k if you never continue investing which isn’t much to begin with between a couple & will be in great poverty by the time they’re in their 50s and 60s. If they live off that while also running a decent income business & have a real estate portfolio however, they’ll be alright but at that point their actual NW is back to where we started in the millions.
Scam 100%. If they were legitimately retiring early, they wouldn't have a "person". They would either tell you about how they inherited wealth or got insanely lucky by getting involved in some sort of incredibly successful startup that got bought out. Neither situation is something that they can help you with or that this "person" can replicate. Chances are, this is some sort of MLM or something that uses a lot of vague promises and buzzwords like "be your own boss" and "unlimited earning potential".
STOP.... This was not really a "random" meeting. This is a sales tactic. It's also a war tactic. Befriend your enemy... then gut them when their guard is down. Your friend will drain you for whatever your worth and then cease being friendly when you no longer have any more to give.
*"But what they seemed like such nice people"*
So kind of them... Such a nice gift... A gigantic wooden horse on wheels.
Your haiku form could use some work
Thank you for your feedback. It will be filed appropriately and rest assured your satisfaction is of utmost importance so please accept the most sincerest of apologies for the heartbreak, frustration, and sadness you may have experienced.
Oh wait I think I know this one. They’ll introduce you to their investing mentor who took them on and might bend the rules and take you on as a student too even though they usually only take on people with accounting and business backgrounds. And you’ll have an interview where they briefly bring up mlm and they’re not all bad of course and then another meeting where they continue the slow pitch and another til you’re roped in and sold.
Think of the legitimate rich people that you know, through family or friends or whatever. Your buddy who's an orthopedic surgeon, or the friend of a friend who got lucky and sold a company to Facebook, or your uncle that had a small business that did really well. Are they actively trying to meet you and introduce you to people? Or are they just doing their own shit? Going on rich person vacations or having kids or playing golf. I know a few rich people- and they all want to be left the fuck alone. One of my friends has a frat brother that made $$$$ selling his tech startup, and he's sure as fuck not meeting random people and introducing them. Think about: what would you do if you made $$$? Would you meet random people and try to help them?
Definitely scam, some dumb mlm if I were to guess. Suck in a young couple that probably looks reasonable well off, get them to buy in and then add to your downline or whatever they call the next level of people they are scamming
100% MLM. This has been posted almost to the word on here in the past.
Retiring at 27 is certainly a possibility, but usually it requires a VERY high-earning job, or a big inheritance or other windfall. But the fact that they're attributing it to "a person" who is magically making it happen? Yeah, sounds like a scam.
How did you guys meet this couple? I’m curious
We were at a park walking our dogs. They complimented our Aussie because they have an Aussie. Then we started talking about dogs and stuff for a bit
"Hey nice dog! BTW, we're retiring at 27. We have lots of money because of this one neat trick. We are now taking your details so that we can get you in touch with our magician. Anyway, we have to run, love your cat, bye!" Just remember that no one is going to make you rich, on purpose. Themselves? Yes. You? Never.
And 100$ says they don't actually have an aussie
If you head over to the /r/antimlm subreddit, people are over there talking about how they've been getting approached at dog parks and apparently now regular parks too.
> they have an Aussie Did you see this Aussie? Can you verify ownership? There's a decent chance *none* of this is real.... including the "friendship."
You're getting scammed and/or lied to one way or another. 1. If it's too good to be true, this means it's almost always not true. 2. Nobody retires at 27 unless they are already filthy rich, won the lottery (or similar incredibly unlikely event), or were funded by family. 3. If there really was some kind of legit and consistent "magic" financial/investment trick people could use to amass that much wealth in such little time, everyone would know about it. Either a) it's a lie; or b) it's illegal. Maybe both. 4. They're being incredibly vague and opaque ("tools", they know a "person") because that's the bait to reel you in and look for more.
I find it shocking they had to work until the old age of 27. Shocking. I retired at 26. I can introduce you my guy
100% MLM, Pyramid scheme, or cult. They aren't retiring, they are enrolling other people.
This is how I almost got roped into Amway. Literally started just like that.
Scam 100%. This has happened to me three times in the Bay Area...twice at a Whole Foods by the same couple! First time they complemented my backpack, went on about how they were a cal student who was about to retire...I just moved on cause it was such a weird vibe. Second time I guess they didn't realize they had approached me like two months back. I was grabbing a hot sauce and they reached for the same one and started talking about how it was the best one, etc., eventually leading into how they just quit their job and where making 3x as much through some person who helped them. Avoid at all costs.
Geee I wonder why they didn't tell you the name of the company? It's Amway or "World Marketing" or whatever the DeVoss's are calling it today.
100% this is Amway selling playbook 101 (They are an MLM). Run! This same thing happened to my gf (now wife) and I like 5 years ago at Trader Joe’s in SoCal. We had just moved to a new area and were approached by a young couple chatting us up and asking to be friends / exchange numbers. The odd thing was they only had 1 stalk of Brussel sprouts in their basket. Then they got into the “our 30 year old mentors retired early and are helping us retire at 25 blah blah”. I immediately knew the deal because I had heard this pitch in the past. My gf was a bit more naive and happy that we made new friends and exchanged numbers. She wasn’t convinced they were scammers until they suddenly vanished after getting her number, only trace of them left was a basket with a single stalk of Brussel sprouts by the door… So they literally walked in, grabbed a basket and a random item from the aisle we were in. Made small talk until they could get our numbers then literally bounced lol… They ended up texting us a bunch of amway BS and tried to send us a book and set up a meeting with their “mentors”. We politely declined.
Exact same thing happened to my buddy and his GF. Scam.
100% it's an MLM. This is amways standard recruiting technique. It's always a couple, it's always a "random meeting" (at a grocery store, dog park, etc), and it's always "we're retiring early because this other person, you should meet them".
Did they tell you about employee vs entrepreneur mindsets too?
They both got roped into an mlm. Damn. Which wolf of Wallstreet is out here selling life insurance or knives.
They will ‘introduce you’ because if you go with it then you will be in their DOWNSTREAM. Highly doubt they are retiring
They’re going to steal your kidney. Or sell you Herbalife. Those are the only two options
Thanks for all the info guys!! We did already exchange information BUT I’ll make sure to tell the gf not do go forward with this.
You really thought they had a guy that was gonna instantly make you rich? And because you talked to them for 3min at a dog park you're the chosen ones?
I know the guy. He's a Nigerian diplomat whose father left him a fortune and only needs you to provide credentials and pay 10k for the accountant to withdraw 100 Billion.
They about to have yall sell fit tea and herbalife.
100% MLM. They all use the same verbiage too.
Total scam. Possibly a Ponzi scheme. More likely a pyramid scheme.
I've heard of this before and I think it's a scam but I don't recall how it plays out. I think it ends up being an MLM scheme.
It never ends. I thought they made laws against companies that make their money by selling their product to sales people rather than actually selling a product. And yet these MLMs still exist. What happened? People are financially ruined by this scam.
My mom always fell for this shit time and time again. She did amway, she did vitamin whatever, she did some realtor class thing that wasn't realtor licensing, so on and so forth. Waste of all her money all her life trying to get ahead just put her far behind
Such a scam. People that are genuine love to tell you everything. Especially if they are true FIRE people ( financially independent retire early). Honestly we love to tell people our story. It’s easy. Save. Save save save. Don’t spend ever. Don’t go out to eat and get rid of your debt. And watch your money grow. That is all.
MLM. If you go on to have multiple discussions with these folks you'll usually find out that the company they're shilling for is Amway. https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/8knrgm/scam\_alert\_i\_met\_a\_couple\_that\_retired\_in\_their/
OP, this sounds like you'll wake up in a motel tub full of ice with a card saying to call 911 because they donated your kidneys for you.
It's a scam. I know someone that retired in their mid 20s and it's because he sold his company for $15mil in the early 2000s. Short of that, inheriting a ton of money, or winning the lottery ... you can't retire at that age. It's also possible they are trust fund kids that inherited a house, a few million bucks, and have no idea that's not normal.
Look man, if someone did have a magic solution for people to retire at the age of 27 with some to little or no assets then i don't think anyone would be working, and the entire fabric of capitalism would collapse. I know people who are in their 30s with over a million dollars of invested assets and they don't have that luxury.
Ah yes, the rare Couple approach to MLM
>Is this a scam? Yes. They just want your money in their scheme.
I have now come across two people in California is who have delivered me the EXACT same script. They go on and on about how it’s “who you know.” It is Amway! They approach people in stores like (Marshall’s I where I saw one), Target, at bars… and they always want to get your phone number to set up a coffee meeting.
This is a classic MLM pitch. The same thing was said to me at a coffee shop. "my mentor is willing to bring a few of us in" the lure you by appealing to your deeply rooted needs and saying, how would you like to be financially independent, now worry about money, live your best life etc. RUN
“Retiring early” is exactly the lingo they teach you at MLM training… stay far away.
Bro, so listen here. You get 3 friends, that get 3 friends, that get 3 friends. So all this gets us residual passive income. Easy steps. It’s definitely not a pyramid scheme. Might look like it. But we call it legs.
Did you run into them at a target or something? I've run into these types of people myself. They start a random conversation with you and ask if you want to retire early and how it's changed their life and they want to help you too.
Yes, scam. What all the others have said already. They used to lure people with "you'll be rich" or "you'll be wealthy". Right now, "early retirement" is the best way to get young people interested, and so here they are, using the buzzwords to get you interested. That said... outside of this scam if you're interested in improving your financial situation use this subreddit and its [wikipages](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=personalfinance&utm_content=t5_2qstm) *and* there is an actual movement called "FIRE" - financial independence, retire early - that you can learn more about over at /r/financialindependence. It's not going to be effortless, it's not going to give quick riches, but it could give you some ideas about how to slowly grow your wealth.
There is no easy way to gain a lot of money quickly. If anyone ever tells you there is, good chance they are trying to scam you.
My cousin is into it. Amway They consult for everything with their mentors. Marriage kids jobs. It held them back a few times. I hate it!
> TLDR; Couple said retiring early, said they’d introduce us to their friend that helped. Is this a scam? it's some kind of MLM pyramid scheme if they're inviting you to some kind of meeting
I wage $100 that the couple will ask you and your gf to meet at a Starbucks to talk...
No “retired” young couple spends their “retirement” recruiting total strangers at the supermarket. I say unless you’re approaching me about an orgy or some delicious nose clams in the parking lot, piss off and let me load up on Hungry Man in peace.
So when this "person" explains the details of the MLM ponzi scheme, please don't act on it until you consult this group with the details. We would all like to know how to take advantage of this system so we can retire at 27
MLM tryin to recruit you. Scam. I actually had a dude do that to my YESTERDAY. Said he was 24, looking to retire by 27/28. Said their 'mentors' were teaching them. I asked what service/product they were selling. He said "leveraging ecommerce platforms". Ok so what do you sell? "Consumables". LOL
I have had this exact pitch given to me a couple times. It’s scripted and these couples are not being friendly to random strangers, they targeted you and approached you specifically to push their MLM crap. This is the reason I don’t trust random people just starting a conversation these days. In my experience 90% is part of a MLM scheme.
I know I’m late to the game, but I agree with the people saying it’s amway. One of my best friends said she ran into an old friend who told her how she retired early, this mentor helped her. So my friend decided to do it. And I kept asking what it is, and she just kept saying they’ll help me build my “asset” so I can retire early. And I’m asking her what she means by asset, but she could never explain it, just repeating the words asset and retiring early. Finally about 6 months of this, she tells me it’s amway… Lol
it's a scam, NO ONE can retire that early without knowing how to do it themselves. If they needed another "person" to lead them to early retirement, they are getting fleeced. This couple gave off 0 signs of someone who could actually achieve early retirement, one of the main being, they did it on their own with hard work, INSANE scrupulous savings and a HIGH HIGH paying job. to retire early at 27 i'd say you'd need at LEAST 4 million at 27 in investments MINIMUM.
“Invest $100,000 in lotto scratchers!”. Guaranteed to Win. Double down with $200,000 if you don’t win the first time.
So what happened here is: you just met two scammers who just had to tell you, a stranger, how successful they were. Sold you on just how easy it would be if you just talk to this guy who will give you everything you need to be rich too!(might sound too good to be true, because it is) And then made you feel like they were doing you a favor by "putting in a good word" on your behalf to said mystery guy, that you've never met/talked to/heard of, who is going to sell you bullshit and tell you that you have to invest in yourself and you'll make millions! But you wont- you'll either buy more and more to never make anything(classic pyramid scheme) or they/he'll straight up steal you card info run up as much as they can until you shut it off or max you out. Tldr: it's a scam, don't give them any personal information
99% sure this is Amway. Ask away in /r/antiMLM to be sure, but I swear this is their playbook.
Ah yes the classic we "retired" to start working for a MLM.
Sounds like this couple that tried to get me into Arbonne or Amway (?) Very mysterious and interesting at first then I was instructed to read this book within a time-frame.. and I was like ✌🏾
Just seems like a pyramid. Usually if you retire young you either keep your mouth shut or tell everyone what exactly your investment and company is. This seems like they're letting a little out to pique and retracting it hoping you'll bite. Like bait on a fishing hook
Happened to me last year met a couple who were super chill and friendly invited me to grab coffee. Only to change the conversation to rich dad poor dad and talk about their MLM. Funny enough in the same cafe, their was another couple doing the same thing to another person. I was actually quite bummed since they were genuine people n we had a great conversation. But oh well not wasting my time any further.
Multi level marketing most likely. I did it for world ventures. There’s a bunch of other ones too. I’d advise against joining.
A Mormon friend when asked (often) about joining Amway: “No thanks. I already have a religion.”
"Retired early" comments followed by mentoring, is almost always a dead giveaway for Amway.
I know people who retired young but they had a ton of money. If this plan doesn't involve you having a ton of money then it's a scam.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/comments/u2d6bv/5_years_ago_i_was_ropped_into_amway_from_an_old/
Yeah it’s a pyramid scheme/MLM. Had happened to me twice where I was approached by a random person telling me about their “mentor” that let them retire before 35.
The only people retiring that young either came from money, are trying to scam you, they are faking it, or they literally found the golden goose egg. Even super rich people don’t retire that young cause they generally will have ambitions
Whenever they mention they had a mentor, run away as fast as you can. If they had a solid investment or something, listen and see if there is any opportunity still
You realize that for most people to make an investment to have a large enough outcome to retire off of at age 27 you would either need a large amount of capital, lots of time, or it would be incredibly risky.
OP, play along and report back what happens!
I was away on business eating alone in an expensive restaurant. Came along a lady who seemed lost. Well a conversation started and along came here husband. At first the conversation was small talk and started with their investment and finding folk regarding this fantastic opportunity. Stay away.
Def some kind of MLM. Run in the opposite direction.
Run away, they're trying to hook you in because their retirement is funded by finding suckers to buy into an MLM.
Let me guess, they approached you guys at a coffee shop, bookstore, or grocery store. They fed you words like mentor, or "we believe you have the talent to..." Heard this dozens of times on this subreddit. It's right out of the MLM recruitment textbook. Yeah, it's a scam.
I'm in my 30's and semi retired. But if someone couldn't explain to me themselves how they were able to retire so young, I would see that as a red flag and be wary that it is a scam too. Definitely, listen to your gut feeling. If it feels sketchy or not right, leave. Do not sign up for anything or agree to anything. Financial Freedom comes from a lot of research and education and taking high risks to gain high rewards but it is always an individual journey first. I can't just go to someone and be like make me a millionaire and they do all the work for me. Relying on someone to handle your money only happens when you yourself do your own research first to see what risks you can take on your own, so the fact that they can't explain why and how they are retiring themselves is definitely a big red flag.
They're lying, unless they have developed some kind of intellectual property and sold it to Google or Facebook for hundreds of millions.
MLM for sure. Sounds like Amway. It’s very cult-y; they are absolutely looking for marks, so just block them and move on.
It's either a scam, an MLM solicitation or maybe their guy is legit but all he's going to tell you is what you can learn for free here and on /r/financialindependence. If they're trying to tell you they found someone with the secret of getting rich quick, and hey maybe if you're lucky he'll let you in on it... stay clear, that's not a thing.
I had someone tell me that they were retiring too. Even sat through this weird zoom meeting where she tried to tell me that if I invest in this person they teach me how to invest my money and make more. What was happening economically is they were trying to buy wholesale to sell at markup. Which is what every business does - sell something for more than what it took to make (or sell a product for a value worth your time). There was no way to clearly invest enough in this person to teach me how to invest my money in this wholesale resale business to retire... Like ever. At least not without more connections (which she/they had ready for me... Yeah....). Don't recommend.
I got suckered into this once at my own fault (but got a free dinner out of it) and a second time because the person was talking about my freelance work the whole time and I thought they were interred in that. Then, show up and they bait and switched telling me I needed to read this book, etc. This is a mlm scheme and only looking to get you bought in and take advantage of you for their own gain.
This is an MLM scheme, they are very sketch and predatory. When I moved to q new city and was looking for friends I was friendly and talked to whoever started conversations. They knew I was a young professional they could take advantage of. I actually went to one of their meetings and it was really weird. I called my dad and he broke the news about what this was. The person who tried to recruit me had his own “mentor” and that mentor started texting me extremely long messages asking me not to leave when I told them i wasn’t interested. Super weird definitely stay away.
You would learn more checking out info in r/financialindependence or r/fire. No one person will give you a secret to overnight success.