Recently my partner and I were contacted by ABC Financial Group.  They came to our home and talked to us about investment in another state.  My partner and I have some knowledge and understanding in investing as we currently have an investment property in residential.  This was advised to the sales consultant.  Unfortunately, it was not enough to convince the consultant as our investment was not in Melbourne.  After one and half hours of talking, we were then advised that the Company may be interested in discussing investment further with us but it would cost $395.00 to do so.  As we live in a regional area and both work and have children, we had to try and juggle our schedules as they would only give us 28 days to travel down to Melbourne, as the consultant would not get his commission.  Even though I was apprehensive about jumping and paying $395.00 to attend, my partner was interested to see if there was anything further we could learn.

During our meeting with the consultant, the usual questions were asked like, how much do you earn, how much in your super.  I had informed the consultant that I worked for the government and that my super was government controlled.  I had also advised the consultant that I really didn't think we were eligible at this stage.  He insisted that we pay even before we found out if we were or not.

Within a couple of days, we were advised that we were required to fly to Melbourne for the investment talk as we looked like potential candidates.

So on the day we flew down, had a lovely evening in Melbourne, stayed in a really nice motel and generally, yes, enjoyed some quality time together.

On the day of the meeting, we were greeted with a warm welcome from our driver, who we discovered also dealt with the property investment side of the business.  Upon arriving, we were greeted again warmly and moved into an office and was given the speel on how investments worked.  After an hour, our paperwork on our life was handed to another officer for her to review our financial situation.  After 20mins, we were advised that we weren't candidates for investment through their company and was told to go and enjoy Melbourne a little longer and we could come back at 3.00pm to be collected and delivered to the airport.

As much as I appreciate their honesty in advising, that due to other financial commitments, we would be living very tightly if we proceeded, what I didn't appreciate is the lack of review or research prior to us having to travel to Melbourne and paying for same and then made to feel like second class citizens when we just didn't meet the criteria. 

I agree with all that they are delivering and can see what they are trying to sell/suggest, as I said before, we are currently doing that ourselves already but in our regional area.  My only suggest is to this organisation and other organisations that work like this, may consider possibly obtaining more information from potential applicants ie. copies of super information either emailed or faxed, before they arrange flight bookings and charge a cost of $395.00.  It would probably source out more potential than non potential candidates, without a further cost to those that would be considered non potential.

For those that have the potential, go have a chat and gather as much information as you can but please do your research with your accountant before you sign the dotted line.