Australia is one of the most over governed countries in the world when it comes to promoting financial products. If you want to form a syndicate you need a prospecus which by the time you add on the compliance costs makes the process to exspensive to do. Yet dispite all this two major corporations have gone to the wall the first being Westpoint and now Fincorp have also gone. Most of the people who have invested in Fincorp were elderly people who at best will get back 30 cents in the dollar and may have to wait for up to 5 years to get that.
ACIC was established to protect the consumers. What are they doing. It has been clear to many people that these companies represented a huge risk to the public. Why were ASIC not warning people about these groups.
Nigel Kibel
http://www.propertyknowhow.com.au
http://www.changingplaces.com.au
Buyers advocacy
Australian and New Zealand The United States Property Researcher and educationNigel Kibel | Property Know How
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Don't know much about Fincorp, but Neil Jenman has a fairly in-depth story about Westpoint on his website, and a recent comment about Fincorp.
Nigel Kibel wrote:ACIC was established to protect the consumers. What are they doing. It has been clear to many people that these companies represented a huge risk to the public. Why were ASIC not warning people about these groups.
What ever happened to people taking responsibility for their own actions? If both these products were thouroughly researched people getting into them would have been aware of the risks without waiting for asic to come down and protect them!
I agree that people can be protected to a degree by cracking down on scammers but in doing so, asic is also creating a dependency mentality amongs the public, most people's brains are on automatic pilot and they wait for the meida or the government to do the thinking for them. In having no responsibilities, they are robbed from great investments because they just dont know the difference between those and a useless scam!
I agree with everything you are saying. Ther problem is that their is a myth and that is if you are seeing a financial planner they are working in your best interests because they are Asic approved to give advice. Many financial planners were promoting Westpoint and telling their clients that their money was safe. It was reported in the press that someone who invested a great deal of money in Fincorp was advised to do so by their solicitor.
Dont get me wrong I believe we are so heavily governered by ASIC that it is almost not worth trying to promote products in this country due to the high complience costs. In New Zealand they do not have an ASIC and even in the United States their is nothing as restrictive as ASIC to deal with.
I also agree with the research comment. Anyone who knows me understands that I am a great believer that it is your money and you should check carefully with what you are doing with it. I train people to invest in property I teach them how to do the research. If you are going to spend your money at the very least you should do some due dilligence.
Nigel Kibel | Property Know How
http://propertyknowhow.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeWe have just launched a new website join our membership today
In USA and NZ if that happened they would go after all assets including wifes and family members associated with such a collapse. In addition to that they would prevent those people from being a director or shareholder of another company for many years.
Many people out there are not sophiscated enough to do their own home work and even many financial advisors can only go on what is presented. If these investors had put their money into a one bedroom cbd appartment at least they would not lose their money, I believe that stocks and share investing in like gambling, you just hope and pray.
In the end I feel very sad for all those "decent" peolpe who have lost their savings, IMHO
D
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