Storm Financial Group

[bunyip]

Sorry to shout, but if I were face to face with them then that is what I would do, so I'd appreciate it greatly Solly if you could deliver my question in a loud belligerent tone, and if you could "accidentally" spill your cappuccino all over his "lap" so much the better:

LOL.....Good to see a man whose retained his sense of humour in spite of the humourless position that Storm helped to put him in!

 

[Rainbow]

bunyip, these are excellent questions, what do you think gg ?

Anybody else got any questions to pose ?

Why doesn't the Professional Indemnity Insurance cover our losses like it should - or was the premium squandered on refuelling the private jet?

 

[Solly]

I'm sure gg will be pleased to know that Mr Jellich has taken the stand today dressed professionally in a sharp suit and tie.

Yes you are correct gg, it does portray a much better image and respect for the court.

 

[chrisgee]

gee ive been trying to keep up with whats going on but it sure is hard with all the posts-i really really hope that they get to the bottom of things now-sounds like theres been some brave people in the court telling them as it is-good on them-see alot of people only invested to make their familys future safe and secure after many years of bloody hard work-ordinary people sold a dream thats now turned to this nightmare-its a real damn shame and christmas is comming and most dont know what the new year will bring-i want all stormies to remember to stick this out till the end-just think what we all will be saying this time next year-everybody will be talking about how justice was served and how the stormies won-thats my dream and NOBODY WILL TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME !!!!!!

 

[Smiley]

Why doesn't the Professional Indemnity Insurance cover our losses like it should - or was the premium squandered on refuelling the private jet?

Insurance is not paid when the law has been broken . . .wonder if this means if Manny does not go to jail; if the stormfied will get indemnity payouts from the 40 million insurance?

Still hope he gets tried for trading while insolvent, etc.

 

[bunyip]

Why doesn't the Professional Indemnity Insurance cover our losses like it should - or was the premium squandered on refuelling the private jet?

Apparently Storm's Indemnity Insurance was woefully inadequate.
Damian Scattani of Slater & Gordon has said that even if ID was paid, it would be spread very thinly among Storm clients.

 

[-Bevo-]

Apparently Storm's Indemnity Insurance was woefully inadequate.
Damian Scattani of Slater & Gordon has said that even if ID was paid, it would be spread very thinly among Storm clients.

Manny Manny years ago when it was Cassimatis Securities I attended a education night.
I can remember EC telling people if they ever invest check with the Financial Planner to make sure they have adequate Insurance in case something goes wrong.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Solly

When or if you come face to face with Cassamatis, you can ask him a couple of questions from me. I already asked him these questions on his website, but in his typically weak and cowardly way he didn't respond.

If you were managing your clients portfolios, why did you let them evaporate into thin air? Why did you let them sit through more than 12 months of one of the worst bear markets in history, without taking any defensive action that would have saved their portfolios from being decimated?

Well of course we all know the answer - selling clients out would have dried up his cash flow, firstly by eliminating Storm's ongoing management fees, secondly by effectively preventing new clients from coming on board with Storm. I mean, if word had got out that Storm were evacuating their clients from the stockmarket, then nobody in their right mind would have walked into Storm and asked to be put into the market.

There were many faults with the Storm model......
too much gearing
excessive borrowings relative to clients capacity to service their loans
no diversification
excessive up front fees.

But the biggest failing of all was Storm's total lack of risk management.
None of the above shortcomings by itself, or even collectively, would have wiped out Storm clients if only there had been prudent risk management in place.

We can blame the banks for selling down the portfolios, we can blame them for excessive lending, we can blame the faulty data late last year, we can blame the stokmarket crash, if we're really gullible we can allow Cassamatis to pull the wool over our eyes with his claim that the economic meltdown and market crash were 'unprecedented', and if we're extremely naive we can believe that nobody saw the crash coming.

But the truth is that if Storm Financial had been doing their job they would have hauled their clients out of the market long before they got anywhere near margin call.
When it's all said and done, it was the gross incompetence of Storm Financial, and in particular their total lack of risk control, that brought Storm clients undone.

So Solly.....if you or anyone else ever come face to face with Cassamatis, ask him that question for me....Why didn't you take your clients out of the market before their portfolios were decimated?
I'm surprised that nobody has yet asked him that question during the Parliamentary Enquiry.
I challenge SICAG to put my second last paragraph on their website.

Mates there are only three main groups of questions that I would ask Manny if he agreed to meet Solly and myself for an explanatory breakfast in Brisbane.

1. Manny, before I ask my second question do you agree to pay for Solly and my breakfasts.

2. Manny , may I ask you to give the waitress your credit card now please, before breakfast is served , so that she can enter it and your pin into the machine lest you have to leave suddenly.

3. Manny, how could you have been a such a muppet, to think that the sharemarket would continue upwards and onwards in a bulll pattern, continue to leverage your clients, and deny to them the opportunity to convert to cash in the event of a bearmarket.

Thats the nuts of the questions really.

If he stuck about I might also ask him if he was a member of SICAG as he lost a lot too remember.

And I might ask him if he'd sell me his mansion on Cleveland Tce for $754,000 as I want to lighten my RIO holdings by that amount soon..

gg

 

[Solly]

I see it is reported in The Courier Mail that Ron almost came to fisticuffs with EC over a few issues.

I believe that's a strange position for business associates to take.

 

[Farencue]

I see it is reported in The Courier Mail that Ron almost came to fisticuffs with EC over a few issues.

I believe that's a strange position for business associates to take.

Gosh, I'm surprised Mr Jelich still believes in the Storm business model.
I'm wondering if Mr Jelich could perhaps find himself another position as a financial advisor, maybe with other advisors who also believe in the Storm model.
Which reminds me, the SICAG mob have been a bit quiet lately.
Looks like the banks weren't the only evil ones.

 

[Judd]

How long has the person been a financial planner for goodness sake?

Sure, gearing can help but not:

(a) when margin buffers are continually being exceeded; or

(b) when equity has been totally wiped out leaving nothing but debt.

That's been proved over and over again since margin loans were introduced by Bankers Trust in the late 1980's.

Sheesh.

 

[Soft Dough]

Mates there are only three main groups of questions that I would ask Manny if he agreed to meet Solly and myself for an explanatory breakfast in Brisbane.

1. Manny, before I ask my second question do you agree to pay for Solly and my breakfasts.

2. Manny , may I ask you to give the waitress your credit card now please, before breakfast is served , so that she can enter it and your pin into the machine lest you have to leave suddenly.

3. Manny, how could you have been a such a muppet, to think that the sharemarket would continue upwards and onwards in a bulll pattern, continue to leverage your clients, and deny to them the opportunity to convert to cash in the event of a bearmarket.

Thats the nuts of the questions really.

If he stuck about I might also ask him if he was a member of SICAG as he lost a lot too remember.

And I might ask him if he'd sell me his mansion on Cleveland Tce for $754,000 as I want to lighten my RIO holdings by that amount soon..

gg

wouldn't work,

He would cut and run at the first question.

 

[Ironhalo]

But Mr Jelich acknowledged – under questioning by lawyer Craig Wilkins – he had never read the detailed statements of advice sent out to clients.

Mr Jelich, a Storm representative since 2003, said the statements were generated by the firm's head office in Townsville and he had no reason to believe they contained "anything untoward".

Mr Jelich conceded he rarely had direct dealings with clients. (from the Courier Mail)

Hang on, is this the same Ron Jelich who wrote in his parlimentary submission that he had a 'very close relationship with his clients?' So to clarify, as the Redcliffe-based financial adviser, he never once reviewed/read his 'close' client's SOA's? Never once considered that the $100k p/month salaries on the loan apps didn't add up?

Mr Jelich told the court that the prospects of him falling in to bankruptcy were now "very real" as he owed more than $5 million on two properties.

In a submission to the inquiry into Storm's demise, Mr Jelich estimated his personal loss from the economic downturn at between $15 million and $20 million.

'Waaaaa despite my neglect of my customers, and being party to driving most of them into financial ruin due to my own neglect/apathy/greed/laziness, I now might be in a bit of financial poo myself. Despite being a financial adviser in a city of barely ~40,000 people, I pretty quickly amassed a personal fortune of between $15-20 million bucks from trailing commissions and exorbitant fees from my trusting elderly and self-retiree clients.

One of my properties in my $5 million portfolio could be sold....oh the humanity.'

And this clown was waving the flag for SICAG members to 'get the banks, mang! Seek justice!' a few months ago, appearing in the Redcliffe Herald hands aloft triumphant as it was announced Slater and Gordon would be going after the banks.

If they haven't already, SICAG would do well to cut their ties to this germ. Him, Manny, Julie and the rest of the corrupt hedons should be the next ones up on the block having every last asset taken off them to recompense the betrayal of their clients.

 

[bunyip]

Apparently Storm's Indemnity Insurance was woefully inadequate.
Damian Scattani of Slater & Gordon has said that even if ID was paid, it would be spread very thinly among Storm clients.

Correction to the above.....I meant to say 'II', not 'ID'.
Maybe I should have just typed 'Indemnity Insurance' rather than trying to abbreviate.

 

[Judd]

Hang on, is this the same Ron Jelich who wrote in his parlimentary submission that he had a 'very close relationship with his clients?'

Only when he rubbed shoulders with them at a BBQ at Manny's hacienda.

'Waaaaa despite my neglect of my customers, and being party to driving most of them into financial ruin due to my own neglect/apathy/greed/laziness, I now might be in a bit of financial poo myself. Despite being a financial adviser in a city of barely ~40,000 people, I pretty quickly amassed a personal fortune of between $15-20 million bucks from trailing commissions and exorbitant fees from my trusting elderly and self-retiree clients.

One of my properties in my $5 million portfolio could be sold....oh the humanity.'

Now be reasonable. One must keep one's personal matters, especially financial ones, apart from the client's issues in order not to impose or be accused of any issue of bias or conflict of interest.

And this clown was waving the flag for SICAG members to 'get the banks, mang! Seek justice!' a few months ago, appearing in the Redcliffe Herald hands aloft triumphant as it was announced Slater and Gordon would be going after the banks.

If they haven't already, SICAG would do well to cut their ties to this germ. Him, Manny, Julie and the rest of the corrupt hedons should be the next ones up on the block having every last asset taken off them to recompense the betrayal of their clients.

Remember that it pays to never give up, regardless of how you may be viewing the competition from your current vantage point. Steve Bradbury can attest to that.

 

[The Sponge]

Hello to everyone on this thread. Have been reading this for months and I am learning so much from both sides of the fence. Nearly got sucked into Storm in Mackay, however , thank god, I had been a amateuar investor for a number of years and didn't quite like the sound of 7.5% management fees or equity lending for a branded fund. Am very sorry to read the plight of many of you. To be in the later years of your lives with all the hard work seemingly done and then to be told your broke must be a living hell. All that I can hope is that justice prevails and they nail the culprits (Manny & Co). The trouble is that, as most often happens, the wolves cry and the lambs die. Apologies for the corny name but I do love to read and learn everything you all have to say.

 

[Harleyquin]

Bunyip I know that Julia wasn't saying it was easy to live on the old age pension I was being very tongue in cheek and saying 'we will find out how easy it is to live on the old age pension!!!'

I know people including my parents who lived on the old age pension and although it wasn't easy they were very resourceful people and if placed in that position I'm sure we would all be the same. All I'm saying is I'd prefer not to be in that position given a choice. We will continue to strive to improve our financial position as best we can.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

From the Courier Mail.

All muppets please be aware, this may all just start off all over again.

STORM Financial's former national business development manager said yesterday he still believed in the investment model that was used by the failed advisory firm.

Brisbane-based financial planner Ron Jelich told an inquiry in to Storm's collapse that heavy borrowing to invest in shares had worked for many clients over 20 years.

It all now makes more sense how the SICAG model and site are presented.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26247374-3122,00.html

gg

 

[Harleyquin]

Hello The Sponge we did get sucked into the storm in Mackay and to lose almost everything in your later years is a living hell.

Ron Jelich is coming in for his share of criticism after appearing in court and giving evidence. I give the man credit to come forward and give his side of the story. What I want to know is where are all the other advisors? Why haven't they all been called up to explain their actions?

When we joined storm we had to fill out a personal profile and choose the level of risk we were prepared to take. The box that we ticked and signed said 'I am prepared to accept volatility if in the medium to long term the investment growth is higher and the risks over that term are minimal or eliminated.' It was our advisor who asked us to sign this paperwork and it was our advisor who gave us his advice which ultimately destroyed our finances. Why were we asked to choose a level of risk if they were never going to adhere to our wishes.

I want him to stand up in court, explain his actions and give us his side of the story like Ron Jelich has done. Are there any other ex stormies who want their advisors to do the same?

 

[The Sponge]

Hi Harleyquin! That is the frustrating part, all the evidence in plain sight and all these so called educated, caring, pillars of society bumbling and lying through their teeth hoping the circling vultures don't peck their eyes out before they are carrion. What point is there in filling out any paperwork if the system doesn't back it all up, may as well have a handshake agreement like in the movie Jerry Maguire. ( Strong as oak, that is my word).