What do people think of Steve’s the US Passive Income Fund?

I am not in the fund but considering enrolling.

Below is an update.

http://www.passiveincomefund.com/stu-silver-update-1404

Id love to hear from more people currently in the fund. Considering the $$$ invested not much is said on here about it.

Hello peeps! The fund is going great from what I can see. I invested early and it’s taken some time to find traction but looks like it’s about to reach a tipping point. If I had more spare cash I’d invest again in this fund right now!

Why am I posting this. Becuase the fund WILL close in the next 6 weeks. Please don’t come back in 2 months time and say “Can I get on board?”

My only association with the fund is that I’ve put hard earned into it and wish others would take advantage of the opportunity.

Check it out!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by  Dwight.

It’s interesting reading through these older posts then looking at the current situation. I have heard through some that invested in Steve’s fund that all is going very well indeed. Here in SW Florida, not only housing but commercial too is booming. Everywhere you look there is growth and new buildings going up.

jaffafal wrote:

I am so glad I got into Steve US passive income fund. The profits are great, but it’s the regular updates and educational insights Steve very generously shares have been the highlight. He makes property investing fun!
Also I have family over in the US and hopefully I can take the kids to see some of the fund’s commercial property and claim part of trip as a tax deduction.

Wouldn’t be deductible though – especially expenses for the kids.

TM wrote:

Surely anyone that did this fund is laughing right now. I wish I was around when the offer was available. Any one know how its going?

Hi TM, you can track the Fund’s performance here:
http://www.passiveincomefund.com/performance/

Just heard the fund has a delivered a 45% return (apologies if that is not correct) since inception, and this month, those that want to, can cash in their units.
Ahoy, Freckle. You were full of trash talk words in 2012 and 2014, where are you now you keyboard hero?

Au$ is predicted to fall back to 65, it has been trending south for quite some time and has recently broken the 70 barrier.

I think anyone who has invested in US or the fund would have made some great gains purely on the currency play.

Hi All,
New poster here but have been looking into this fund for a while as I have a friend invested in it. I checked out the funds website and read through the FY14/15 Financial Report and a few things didn’t completely stack up from my end.

I watched the 50 minute webinar and thought it was a bit unusual to be honest……the results stated a 26.12% return on capital with 8c per unit in dividends making an overall 34.12% after fees. If that is correct then that is outstanding. If so, then well done to all concerned.

I have some concerns though about the claim of a 34.12% return per annum based on the fact that the property prices are internal appraisals and not necessarily true valuations. In this current economic climate, who is making a return of 34.12% after fees on their investments? This must be one of the best performing asset classes going around?

Interested to hear other peoples views on the fund and if they have any concerns at all with the fund.

Now I am not exactly an expert in breaking down financial reports as such but the figures with this fund do not seem to stack up but I am happy to be corrected if I am off the mark…..
The FY14/15 Financial Report has a $3.78 Million profit before distributions and a $2.3 Million loss before distributions from the parent entity. That’s a $1.5 Million profit realised for the fund. Total Fees and Reimbursements were $3.64 Million for the year.
There was $4.7 Million paid out in distributions for the year at 8c per unit. Capital Growth was reported as 27.61c per unit reported as an overall increase of 34.12% after fees for FY14/15. Who is making a 34.12% return on their money after fees in this current economic climate? Those returns are amazing if the figures stack up.

The fund has reported Total Net Assets of $82.3 Million as at 30 June 15 with just over 66 Million units on offer……that seems to indicate a Unit Price of approx. $1.24. The performance data has the Unit Price at 1.3277 as at 30 June 15. Mind you a Unit Price of $1.24 is still an outstanding ROI if correct.

The properties acquired appear to be internal appraisals rather than independent valuations as the PDS states that properties will be independently valued every 3 years or earlier if required. When you watch the webinar, some of the properties are ‘appraised’ with a Fair Market Value of over 40% CG for the last 6 – 12 months! Those returns if realised, seem to be too good to be true.

For those that believe that FOREX has made the fund heaps of cash, the reported FOREX gains for FY14/15 were only $327,984 with an unrealised FOREX gain of just over $6 Million. Surely these unrealised FOREX gains will only hold up if the properties are sold at the prevailing exchange rate and would be a very tricky gain to rely on throughout the life of the fund.

I also not that the first ever redemption window from the fund was activated in Oct 2015 and the Unit Redemption price was $1.2889 (the Responsible Entity can also control how much redemption is allowed) and yet the buy in Unit Price was $1.4216? Surely the Oct 15 Unit Price had been calculated based on Total Net Assets and the Redemption Unit Price was not a 13c per unit discount?

Anyway, hopefully my figures are wrong and the fund is achieving these results because if correct, it must be one of the best performing asset classes out there but I am not convinced the numbers stack up. Happy to be proven wrong though……

As you have said, you are not an expert, and your analysis is incorrect, which is a pity.

Appraisals are independent. Most currency gains, as required per Accounting Standards, are unrealised at this time and sit in the FCTR rather than the P&L.

The difference between the buy and redemption price is due to the redemption price being adjusted for imputed sales costs (which are not allowed to be deducted under Accounting Standards but need to be adjusted on the redemption unit price. Normally there would be a corresponding foreign tax offset but this is foregone by redeeming before the asset is sold).

Note the redemption price does not take into account the distributions received.

As for the accounts not stacking up… There is a team of four qualified accountants on staff, plus an independent CPA in the US, plus the accounts are audited by Moore Stephens.

Steve

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by  Steve McKnight.