Thankyou Corie

I value  information I receive on any of these products.

I haven't given up on the idea of trying it again in the future.

Hi Jamie

I am currently evaluating Investar for my own use on a 7 day trial.

In answer to your question about the valuer and research parts of the site, it seems they are the SOLO package of Pricefinder.com.au
which is powerful indeed.
You can buy this part of Investar from PriceFinder for the similar price I believe.

Overall I like the concept and the search engine but with the amount of bugs and annoyances I have found so far whilst using it I personally don't think it is value for money at this time and I think they need to try a bit harder to make the product better value for money.
I just got the feeling that it was released to early to the market and that the consumer is funding the R & D to finish it off.
Also it is not something I want to use 12 months of the year every year at this stage. Maybe at some time in the future.

My Pros:
1) An excellent concept for a realestate search engine with the ability to search so many and varied criteria.
2) The population statistic pie chart is a winner.
3) Ongoing free webinar and demos for site functions are good.
4) The time saved in searching for what you are looking for is great.

My Cons:
1) The upfront costs are ugly.
2) The monthly fees are expensive given the bugs still in the system.
3) Being locked in for 12 months after trial period at those prices is unacceptable (to me).
4) Dates are not in Australian format.
5) I do not need Analyser or Tracker functions as I have these already in another format and I do not like the idea of that level of     personal financial details going offsite (out of my computer) and potentially out of my control at any time.
6) Things you think are included in the prices are not and there is a lot of on-selling like audio podcasts and reports and so on, so you might as well talk to residex or terry ryder or price finder etc etc.
7) Having to sign up to a free trial with my credit card before I can access anything. ( Normally this smells to me like a scam)

One thing I do not know is the accuracy of the information or how updated it is.

I do however think it is worth trying out to see if it suits you versus the money paid versus the value of your time  etc

Only you can make the final decision, just make it an informed one.

I'm pleased it has worked for you.

I was thinking of going with the wife, but doing the coaching course, but after looking at it we feel confident enough now to have a go ourselves with the amount of research we have done already and will continue to do,
before we became aware of Ana's course's.

Besides we can always do one later if we feel the need.

I believe the main complaint with Commissions is that they are hidden and not in your face as are fee for service payments.

Then there is the issue of the performance based incentives, I believe they are called Soft Dollar Commissions.

We all know the whole finance industry needs scaling, gutting and cleaning and then stuffed with good business ethics, then put in a moderate oven for a few years to bake some type of decent outcome out of it.

The US Lead GFC via the sub prime debacle is proof.

For a bit of 2005 nostalgia, below is an email I sent to Neil J back in mid 2005 with my suspicions.

It was free and I was suspicious before I turned up and it turned out I was right.

I apologise for the formatting but I don't know how to make it look better on here.

All I can say is, "Whatever floats your boat"

There are no winners or losers, just people who cross the finish line at different times.

The truth will eventually prevail.

I made the mistake of giving the Hans Jakobi people my email and postal address a few years back and for the next 6 months I was almost pestered and  harrassed with reams of emails and literature inviting me to spend thousands of dollars on courses.

maybe the courses were ok, I do not know as i wasn't interested because i was being pestered and bothered by an annoying mosquito of an organisation.

Hi

I have found by sheer luck an accountant who is an actual property investor himself and while we don't take his advice every time, if at all, at least we know that he knows the basics and understands our position from his investing point of view and an accounting point of view.

And best of all,
1) He does not advise us except on accounting matters.
2) He is fee for service, like it should be.
3) He takes no commissions or dodgy commissions or back handed deals.
4) He doesn't try to sell us something under the disguise of being an adviser.
5) He doesn't treat us like a Gym membership, ie: sign us up, take our money, treat us nice for a week then never help us again.
6) He is one member of a team of professionals we are building to help us with the detailed stuff.

My point being, you can build your own team without using an adviser/planner if you find the ones that are interested in the same thing you are, investing. 

As for Destiny, like any others out there, one shoe does not fit all, research them against others and the different strategies out there.
Also, each franchise will be run by different people of differing talents and self interests, try to find the best ones for you if you can.
I, like many others I personally know out there have been conned by advisers we thought we had checked out thoroughly only to find out differently, so now we are self educating big time only to now come across a mountain of so called education products that most are beginning to stink (lets take your money and tell you nothing, but wait, pay more for our next course to be drip fed some info) and so on. 
To be fair, some I researched were reasonable value for money and even a little inspirational.
Fortunately  I hadn't spent anything on them but know someone who thought it was good enough to give it a go, with mixed results.
If you can find people out there to genuinely help you along that aren't going to suck your finances out of you, then hang onto those people when you find them.

Try to find (network with) people of similar interests in investing as you that have actually achieved what they set out to do or are in the process of learning but moving forward and trade tips and ideas and investigations.

Eventually if you are set up correctly and genuinely interested enough you will learn how to run it yourself and only need to consult your fee for service people when needed.

If I ever find a good, actually interested in me as a client, genuine fee for service, non commission taking, non dodgy deal taking, non back hander taking, trying to sell me stuff or con me into buying or selling stuff when the market is wrong adviser / planner again then yes I will use there services but until then I am certainly no fan of them at all.

Sorry, I did get carried away a bit, but I hope you get the general idea.