Jet sitter

I receive dinner invites 4 or 5 times a year from investment firms. They obviously want you to listen to their marketing pitch and normally I just throw them away, but today I received one that invites the wife and I to one of the most expensive restaurants in the area. I'm thinking about going and coming down with chest pains after the meal. Has anyone else received these invites and have you attended?

Lainey

No invites. I'm not in their "league."

Jet sitter

^ I don't know where they get my name, but probably my bank.

jukngene

I receive a couple per year, but like you, throw the invitation into the trash. My general feeling is that these investment "advisors" are the equivalent of used car salesmen.

Your approach about feigning a heart attack sounds like a good way to get a free meal!

valentine

We get those things all the time. So far we've never gone, but it certainly has been tempting. The free dinners are at realllllly nice and expensive restaurants. We just feel like we'd kind of be trapped by the sales pitch and unable to enjoy that nice dinner. We've always shredded the invites.

LostMotion

I used to be involved in throwing these events. I can tell you they are usually extremely "low key" and no pressure. You will have to communicate with the representatives about investing (well you don't have to, but it would be awkward if you didn't) but other than that I wouldn't be too worried.

If you have absolutely zero intention of using their services though then it's just a decision which rests on your conscience. Is a $250 meal worth it? If you have enough money to get these invites, probably not, unless you are genuinely interested.

Jet sitter

I visited Orlando, Florida several years go. The week I selected, it rained every day. I was leaving my hotel one morning when a real estate company handed me tickets for my family to attend a property pitch. I had the meal and afterwards we were all put at separate tables with a salesperson selling the properties. I tried to be courteous and say that I wasn't in the market for property at the time, but they wouldn't let you leave. It was like the gestapo. Finally, I went into an act where I began, to my wife's chagrin, saying that I was a failure. That I wasn't sure that I had enough money to buy gasoline for the return trip to Connecticut. They quickly hustled me and my family out of the room.

Jet sitter

Good point! Where do they obtain your information?

Jet sitter

I probably won't go, but if I do, I'll let you know the outcome.

Morris

I get them all the time, but being a CPA they want me to attend, then send them clients. They are definitely NOT like the time-share pitches which are high pressure. You might even learn something.
A response a friend of mine uses at the time-share pitches is that he stays at very high-end places and the XYZResort they are selling just doesn't measure up. What can they say?