I'm keeping my skills sharp by attending seminars. So far this year I've attended:

- an advanced IRA class by Enrust and taught by Walter Wofford. Very smart man.

- Real Wealth Expo. Scott Whaley provided some speakers with just education and some with products to sell. It was free and you didn't have to spend any money to get some good education. My favorite was Gene Trowbridges presentation on syndications. Great stuff.

- This weekend, January 31, Bruce Norris is putting on the first of two "Category 5" classes in Ontario, CA. The second class will be in March; the first sold out at 450! I recommend Bruce without any reservations whatsoever! I'll be there.

- Also this weekend, Bill Gatten's group will be putting on a 3-day seminar at the Doubletree in Mission Valley. The education is good and it's free too!

- Next weekend I'm going to Vegas for the Calculator Magic class at the Golden Nugget. It's three days and I know I'm going to learn some things from Gary and Clyde that I hadn't considered or forgotten long ago. These guys are exceptional! If you ever get a chance to sit down with Clyde he will blow your mind! And the Golden Nugget is offering rooms for $45-55/night.

Ask me if you have any questions about any course or instructor.

Remember! if you attend a class or conference or convention and they make a presentation for a product you feel you just have to have... STOP!!! Don't buy it!!! Wait three days and if you feel you still need it, check to see if we have it in the SDCIA library which is free to members and if we don't, get it. Realize that I will probably buy it on Ebay sooner or later for the library.

And the hits keep rolling!

Carlos Royal's Audio and slides are available for download now to members ONLY!!!

We also received permission to release Bruce Norris, Bill Gatten, Robert Campbell, Steve Dexter, Reggie Lal's and Bill Tan's presentations. More to follow as soon as we can catch past speakers.

We are setting it up to provide each speaker's audio & visual presentations if provided.

These are for members only and not for distribution!

The Real Estate Expo is in full swing at the Scottish Rite this weekend. I spoke today on creative financing & it was a hoot! And to think I get paid to do this; darn it, I didn't get paid. Oh well, maybe next time.

People were talking about Bruce Norris' presentation on Thursday. I couldn't make it. Olga had an interesting segment on creating web sites inexpensively and Chris gave a very good financial fitness segment to close out Friday.

Scott is putting on some interesting speakers for you to learn from. The event is free & the education has been pretty good. You don't have to buy anything so why don't you go and check them out. I'll look for you there.

BTW, the speaker at 1 PM on Friday was particularly interesting...

Been a full day so far:
- inauguated a new president
- learned that Citibank agreed to a bankruptcy judge changing the terms & rates on their loans.
- watched the PBS show "The Ascent of Money" which does a great job of explaining the current financial crisis, it's roots and how the financial markets work. Excellent! (those guys from Enron should have really been hammered even more for their part in the California energy shortage!)

I attended the North County Real Estate Investors meeting in Vista and listened to Kim Taylor explain how create syndications for putting together investors money. She did a good job and her mentor, Gene Trowbridge, will speak at the Real Estate Expo Sunday morning @ 9 AM.

FYI, I'm scheduled to speak at the Real Estate Expo this Friday January 23rd from 1-3 PM about Creative Financing and Notes.

This month's speaker is Carlos Royal, one of the most successful foreclosure experts in the country and he lives and invests in San Diego. He's retired twice already and only returns when it's time to start investing again. Guess what? It's time now!