Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Storm Financial Group

Jump to new
bunyip said:
I agree.
It's not acceptable to call people unflattering names because they made some wrong choices and fell victim to con artists.
GG, pull your head in son - you should know better than to lower yourself to that standard.
Click to expand...

Garpal Gumnut said:
I fail to see where I've been derogatory.

Can you enlighten me.

gg
Click to expand...
I don't know why you're addressing your question to me, gg.
I was simply agreeing with what Bunyip said earlier, not making a separate observation of my own. I didn't direct any criticism or otherwise towards you in particular.
There have been various insulting terms used to Stormers throughout this thread by various people. I simply don't think it helps anyone to throw insults around.
 
Julia said:
I don't know why you're addressing your question to me, gg.
I was simply agreeing with what Bunyip said earlier, not making a separate observation of my own. I didn't direct any criticism or otherwise towards you in particular.
There have been various insulting terms used to Stormers throughout this thread by various people. I simply don't think it helps anyone to throw insults around.
Click to expand...

If I've been derogatory towards anyone I apologise.

Being derogatory is not the way to argue, but we all have thoughts and beliefs and occasionally they slip into pen or type.

Apologies to Bunyip.

Apologies to you Julia

And to any bunnies or muppets who I've offended by association with my remarks.

Jeez this brings me back

3 Hail Marys and a Glory....

gg
 
Perhaps GG is referring to the staff as the muppets?

"The Cassimatis Show"

It's the Cassimatis Show with our Very Special Guest Star, Ralph Norris...

It's time to bring out chequebooks
It's time to sell it right
It's time to meet the Muppets at Storm finance tonight.

It's time to ramp up gearing
It's time to cruise all night
It's time to raise returns at Storm finance tonight.

They always come in here and
I guess they'll never know
Their prized house and their assets
Are on the line to go

And now the CEO's departed
He thinks he should be Martyred
The enquiries have only started
On the most sensational gearingational corruptionational Muppetational
This is what we call Cassimatis Show!

(Julie blows her trumpet)
 
Soft Dough said:
Perhaps GG is referring to the staff as the muppets?

"The Cassimatis Show"

It's the Cassimatis Show with our Very Special Guest Star, Ralph Norris...

It's time to bring out chequebooks
It's time to sell it right
It's time to meet the Muppets at Storm finance tonight.

It's time to ramp up gearing
It's time to cruise all night
It's time to raise returns at Storm finance tonight.

They always come in here and
I guess they'll never know
Their prized house and their assets
Are on the line to go

And now the CEO's departed
He thinks he should be Martyred
The enquiries have only started
On the most sensational gearingational corruptionational Muppetational
This is what we call Cassimatis Show!

(Julie blows her trumpet)
Click to expand...

lol

May I have permission to put it on my blog.

gg

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

http://itoastgg.blogspot.com/
 
bunyip said:
So where does that leave Cassamatis - do you think he'll be refused a financial planners licence in future?
Or stripped of his licence if he still holds one?
Do FP's have to reapply for a licence every year or two years or whatever?
If so, I wonder if the powers that be will have the sense to refuse to renew his licence.
I don't doubt that he'll move to open another financial planning outfit if he's allowed to hold a licence. And it'd be a safe bet that some Storm victims would support such a venture.
Click to expand...


i don't know the details of Storm Financial itself, but it looks like they had their own dealers license to give advice. This means he could do what ever he wanted, its amazing that their compliance guys inhouse would have let these types of investment strategies go by (gearing up clients to the hilt)

gearing is a proven wealth creation strategy, but when greeds come into the equation then the inevitable is that you will lose alot of money,

i don't have any of my clients geared into the market, mainly bc they are young families who's first priority is to pay of their debt. Thats something i will consider for them down the track, the sharemarket will still be here at that time.

my main aim when i meet new / potential clients is to see how i can get them more money in their back pocket, their are various strategies out there which can be utilised its that mr and mrs average don't know about em, thats my job to help em budget and help em create wealth for the future,

wealth creation is a 30 year plan (not 5 yrs like Storm Financial).

Debt is a good servant but a terrible master.
 
If you are a financial planner and you knew that Storms strategy was so dangerous before any of this occurred why wasn't it possible for those of you 'in the know' to do something about it before a tragedy like this occurred. Weren't you concerned about their clients as well or only yours. How were we to know this prior to this occurring. I thought we were in safe hands.

Reading this forum it is very obvious that there are those of you out there who are extremely experienced investors who have enough 'know how' and nous never to participate in any sort of financial investment scheme to those of us who are complete amatuers.

I'm a storm 'muppet' who has been stripped of everything and trying to get 'on with it' is impossible. I have reached for the anti depressants, the sleeping pills etc anything to cope. Nobody takes advice from a licensed expert to get so decimated.

Storm Financial was the one and only time we have ever been game enough to trust anyone with our money and what little we have left will no longer be 'banked.' All our bank accounts have been closed.

I no longer trust finance people or the banks. Thank you to those of you who have advised me to try educating myself about investing but it's a bit hard when you're full of tablets to numb the brain.

I dearly wish that I had the brains and know how to invest wisely as many of you have, good on you, I doubt that I will ever have the 'guts' or money to invest in anything but will continue to try educating myself.
 
hi Harley

i am sorry for your loss, believe me, when i read your post i do feel really sad of what you are saying.

Storm Financial was known in the financial planning circles but we could not just go knocking on their door and tell them how to run their business or tell them to stop what they are doing, that is the job of the ACCC and ASIC to investigate these matters,


Its like i cannot go next door and tell the hubby and wife to stop having their arquement, its their business not mine.

Every year i get a compliance visit from Accompli (A third party compliance team) who come out and audit my files, they pick my client files on random, to make sure i am doing the right thing by the client.

Even a piece of paper not secured in the client file could be a breach, thats how stick they are.

Every time i produce a Statement of Advice for a client, they fall in one risk asset allocation, even if they fall in the "growth" asset allocation it specifically states that
"as a growth investor you should have your funds invested in the following asset classes...

45% Australian Shares
35% International Equities
10% Fixed Interest

etc etc

so i cannot fathom how the hell they put ALL their clients money in one asset class (Aussie Shares)

major compliance breach just there!
 
Harleyquin, I'd like to suggest that you get some counselling from a good psychologist (this is free with Medicare), rather than numb your brain with chemicals.

The medication may make you feel less upset and anxious but it doesn't allow you to learn coping strategies. A psychologist will help you deal with what has happened, give you techniques for dealing with grief and anxiety, and equip you for the future.

Also, as I've suggested before, to take the view that you now cannot trust any bank or financial professional is a bit unreasonable on the basis that you have been stung by one who was without morality.
 
Julia I've been under a doctor, a mental health nurse and a psychologist for months.... nothing helps.

Unless you have been through something like this you have no idea what we are going through and nobody puts themselves in this position deliberately.

I keep repeating myself here but we honestly thought we were going to a genuine financial planner and although we don't like borrowing money we were convinced by these people that this was the new way forward for us.

We never borrowed money to buy a house or a car but they talked us into this saying this is the way it's now done and when we questioned others who were investing with financial planners they too had a debt.

Apparently debt is now widely used as a genuine investment strategy. Of course we were worried about borrowing money and the interest but we were told we would never have to worry about this debt. The monitoring of this investment and the protection of our finances were supposedly what we were paying a professional financial advisor for. I had no idea how to monitor the stock market I could only be guided by the All Ords.

I have been reading many of the threads on the ASF and picking up quite a lot of useful information but it's a huge learning curve for someone on the verge of retirement who has to start all over again after saving religiously all of our lives and losing the lot and still in debt, we can never ever repay the debt.

I find the newbie lessons by Sir O very interesting but don't know how to apply the information into actually investing. Have also been reading about investing from recommended internet sites and books. Have info overload at the moment. My biggest concern is 'do we risk playing the stock market with what little knowledge and money we now have'.

Our home is on the market and very soon we will have nothing except debt, no home, no money nothing and we will be on the old age pension for the rest of our lives unless a miracle happens.
 
Harleyquin said:
Julia I've been under a doctor, a mental health nurse and a psychologist for months.... nothing helps.

Unless you have been through something like this you have no idea what we are going through and nobody puts themselves in this position deliberately.

I keep repeating myself here but we honestly thought we were going to a genuine financial planner and although we don't like borrowing money we were convinced by these people that this was the new way forward for us.

We never borrowed money to buy a house or a car but they talked us into this saying this is the way it's now done and when we questioned others who were investing with financial planners they too had a debt.

Apparently debt is now widely used as a genuine investment strategy. Of course we were worried about borrowing money and the interest but we were told we would never have to worry about this debt. The monitoring of this investment and the protection of our finances were supposedly what we were paying a professional financial advisor for. I had no idea how to monitor the stock market I could only be guided by the All Ords.

I have been reading many of the threads on the ASF and picking up quite a lot of useful information but it's a huge learning curve for someone on the verge of retirement who has to start all over again after saving religiously all of our lives and losing the lot and still in debt, we can never ever repay the debt.

I find the newbie lessons by Sir O very interesting but don't know how to apply the information into actually investing. Have also been reading about investing from recommended internet sites and books. Have info overload at the moment. My biggest concern is 'do we risk playing the stock market with what little knowledge and money we now have'.

Our home is on the market and very soon we will have nothing except debt, no home, no money nothing and we will be on the old age pension for the rest of our lives unless a miracle happens.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with Julia, Harlequin.

You have to be in the right frame of mind to invest as it often involves loss. You should have a plan that your losses you accept as part of a bigger plan, made up for your winnings.

Its called money management with a trading plan but it sounds like you don't have enough shekels to do this.

Your mental state is too fragile to enter this space at present.

Stick with Scatini and the lawyers and try and recoup as much as possible.

By all means see a trickcyclist and stay on medical treatments if they help.

Sometimes staying out of the market is a wise move.

Exercise, meditate and visualise. Its on the net if your GP or trickcyclist doesn't give it to you. Just google those three words.

Stay positive if you can.

Grieve for your losses and try and try to see some poor bastard who is worse off than you. There always is. Start in your local park at 5am when they wake up.

Best of luck mate.

gg
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
Yes mate its a caveat emptor or buyer beware situation.

Many of the older financial planners are ex insurance salesmen who sold insurance nobody would ever need.

The younger ones just do courses that any old jack could do online or through TAFE.

Investing is risky.

We are all prone to greed and fear.

Just recognising that is half the battle. some poor storm bastards say they weren't greedy. If they weren't that is a surprise. What they lacked was fear, because Manny , and the other Storm advisers who are now connected with SICAG took care of that with their spiel.

So trust nobody.

Recognise greed and fear.

Make up your own mind about investments.

Have a stop loss, that is a point where if you are wrong you get out and go into cash or another investment.

Anyone can be a financial planner.

Oh and if you go to one and they have a good looking sort at the front desk, fish in a tank and a crapper better than yours. RUN.

gg
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you GG, the older blokes are just ex insurance salesmen who want to make a quick buck (commissions)

the education standard is woefully low 4 subjects through an external educational institution and you can call yourself a financial planner, sorry but this is just crap,

i did it the right way, went and did my degree in financial planning through griffith uni a few year back, got my CFP and i call myself a financial planner,
not some DIK with 4 subjects in a diploma course!
 
Harleyquin said:
If you are a financial planner and you knew that Storms strategy was so dangerous before any of this occurred why wasn't it possible for those of you 'in the know' to do something about it before a tragedy like this occurred. Weren't you concerned about their clients as well or only yours. How were we to know this prior to this occurring. I thought we were in safe hands.

Reading this forum it is very obvious that there are those of you out there who are extremely experienced investors who have enough 'know how' and nous never to participate in any sort of financial investment scheme to those of us who are complete amatuers.

I'm a storm 'muppet' who has been stripped of everything and trying to get 'on with it' is impossible. I have reached for the anti depressants, the sleeping pills etc anything to cope. Nobody takes advice from a licensed expert to get so decimated.

Storm Financial was the one and only time we have ever been game enough to trust anyone with our money and what little we have left will no longer be 'banked.' All our bank accounts have been closed.

I no longer trust finance people or the banks. Thank you to those of you who have advised me to try educating myself about investing but it's a bit hard when you're full of tablets to numb the brain.

I dearly wish that I had the brains and know how to invest wisely as many of you have, good on you, I doubt that I will ever have the 'guts' or money to invest in anything but will continue to try educating myself.
Click to expand...

We did, but the response was "a look to the heavens", "a knowing smile between fellow investors", and being ignored and cut from conversations and being marked as "ignorant" or "negative". After a while we took the attitude "well lets wait and see".
And what do we see?
None can or could be told when things were looking up.
 
Landyman said:
We did, but the response was "a look to the heavens", "a knowing smile between fellow investors", and being ignored and cut from conversations and being marked as "ignorant" or "negative". After a while we took the attitude "well lets wait and see".
And what do we see?
None can or could be told when things were looking up.
Click to expand...

When I first commenced reading about this Storm stuff, I had the attitude of how [insert derogatory description] of these [insert further derogatory description] who placed money with Storm.

I have read many of the posts in this thread from former Storm clients and also the submissions to, and transcripts of, the Parliamentary Inquiry.

As a result, my view has altered and that Landyman's post is probably the core of the issue. Storm clients were and are not dumb. A few, a very few, were greedy and deserve their just deserts in my opinion. As for the rest you wouldn't wish such a situation on your best enemy or worst friend.

I am not sure of the population of Townsville (around 180,000?) and it doesn't really matter but I tried to place myself in a situation where all I was receiving from a relatively small society of friends, family and acquaintances was positive feedback about investing via Storm and the only negative was "being cut from conversations and called ignorant" if I didn't. Would it be possible for me to be seduced by such a siren call?

It was stated in one of the transcripts, I think it was from the ASIC or the FPA, that most referrals to financial planners are by word of mouth. So yeah, unless I deliberately sought out the "negative" views of those who didn't invest with Storm, it is certainly feasible unless you were especially thick skinned or, more fundamentally, hated revealing to anyone anything about the family's financial situation.

So no I don't think those who have been shafted by Storm - I'll leave any culpability of the banks out of it for the purposes of this post - should be totally down on themselves for their decisions. Responsible for those decisions for sure and need to recognise that (no one was tied to a chair and had a gun held at their head to convince them to invest) but not so hard that they become flagellants.
 
Solly said:
"Storm 'asked about insolvency' before moving $2m"

"THE founders of Storm Financial asked their accountants for information about insolvent trading two days before ordering $2m be moved from the company into their bank account."

More by Anthony Marx in The Courier Mail here;

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26197995-3102,00.html
Click to expand...

The inquiry also heard that on October 14 PWC had told the Cassimatises their liabilities were greater than their assets and that could put in them breach of their financial services licence
Click to expand...

From the article above.

Oh dear Solly, it looks as if 2011 is on.

I had to go down to a meeting in Lennons today and was given a room to freshen up. I must admit I was shocked by the state of the hotel. Much below my standards.

May we change the venue for the get together to the Marriott on the upper floors. There is an elite area with wifi, free brekkie, newspapers and drinks after a long day, I am told.

I have a mate who runs a limo service and he can get us up to the courts in 5 minutes.

gg
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
From the article above.

Oh dear Solly, it looks as if 2011 is on.

I had to go down to a meeting in Lennons today and was given a room to freshen up. I must admit I was shocked by the state of the hotel. Much below my standards.

May we change the venue for the get together to the Marriott on the upper floors. There is an elite area with wifi, free brekkie, newspapers and drinks after a long day, I am told.

I have a mate who runs a limo service and he can get us up to the courts in 5 minutes.

gg
Click to expand...

gg, sounds like a great idea. I'm very familiar with that end of town, a totally different aspect with magnificent river views. I've been there many times, we'd even be close enough to do a traditional afternoon session with the gang at the Orient just up the road.

I'm very impressed with the wifi and free drinks, if the limo's not always available it might even be worth a quick City Cat trip from Riverside to North Quay to help with the carbon offsets.
 

Similar threads

TiminOz
The dynamics of money and TIME: crimping cashflow for a period
Replies
3
Views
865
TiminOz
TiminOz
BossMan.
The planning of a portfolio
2
Replies
29
Views
1K
Value Collector
Value Collector
basilio
Ozempic: Magic Pill or Devils Bargain?
Replies
10
Views
2K
sptrawler
sptrawler
ducati916
February 2025
2 3 4
Replies
61
Views
6K
ducati916
ducati916
Garpal Gumnut
Mayfair 101/Mayfair Platinum
2
Replies
35
Views
5K
Dona Ferentes
Dona Ferentes
Top