For those interested, Paul Resnick has written an opinion piece entitled "Are you an agent for me or my money" which appeared in Money Management 29th January.
Here's the opening paragraph:
"Much of what is wrong in financial planning will be found in the very public unravelling of the Storm Financial Group. Time and the courts will tell if there has been any form of illegality. In the meantime, the nature of their business model will become more open to public view.
I have no doubt the community’s confidence in the integrity of the financial planning services available to them will continue to be severely undermined by a number of issues that have emerged to date:"
And here's the link to the full article:
http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/Article/Are-you-an-agent-for-me-or-my-money/436296.aspx
I hope you find it interesting.
4 Corners - The Perfect Storm
Reporter: Paul Barry to be Broadcast: 09/02/2009
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2008/s2482023.htm
The link mentions....
Townsville rocked by layoffs of hundreds of workers, as resource companies cut costs and production or close down mines.
Carey Ramm tells Four Corners, "Productive enterprises that employ thousands of people are struggling to refinance......"
The collapse of Storm Financial threatens to wreck the lives of thousands of average Australians.....
It is a good article. But it did rather leave me with the impression that the author was not allowing for any responsibility to have been taken by the Storm clients. I emailed him to ask his thoughts about this. Here is his reply:To those who may still be confused by why it all went pear shaped for them, I can only add my support to what's already been said about and in the article by Paul Resnick in Money Management:
http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/Article/Are-you-an-agent-for-me-or-my-money/436296.aspx
Sums up with clarity, the whole mess perfectly.
I could not agree more. I have argued for almost 10 years that we needed to have a planning process that encouraged clients to take responsibility for their financial plan and the consequences when it failed. At its simplest it is a three step process:
how much risk does the client need to take to achieve their financial goals
how does this differ from the risk they would take on if financial goals were not an issue
a process to reconcile the difference between 1 and 2 so that the client can own the final decision.
Unfortunately I was unable to gain any traction.
There are plenty of retirement income calculators available to help you work out what you will need. This should also be an essential question addressed by any financial planner when offering advice.Do you have a dollar figure where you know for sure what will keep you going for the rest of your life..... My crystal ball is obviously not as good as yours.
I'm really sorry that you feel anyone on this forum is being unreasonable in the questions asked. I don't believe a single person on ASF doesn't have some sympathy for your situation or doesn't understand how angry and upset you must be.... I was prepared to use what I had acquired to add to my nest egg.... prepared to be in it for the long haul..... and thought with PROFESSIONAL advice I would be able to sell down when needed and sit it out until it was safe to get back into the market... that was what I signed up for..... not to be stalled and kept in the market until the margin loan was higher than the securing portfolio.
So you were started off with a fairly conservative plan but as your confidence increased and the profits also, then you were encouraged to borrow more, and more?.. how else do we explain to you all...we were not greedy when we signed up with storm..... our expectations were hightened as we went along..
I don't quite get the relationship between having paid taxes and expecting high returns from investments.. and yes we expected good returns... but I have paid a heap of taxes over the years...having well and truly done my bit..
It may well be but I don't see who is the tall poppy here. Certainly not Storm and certainly not the Storm clients.. tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in Aus.
I don't believe anyone has 'bashed' you. It's not for me to speak for anyone else but I'm just genuinely interested in how so many people seem to have been swept up in some sort of magic scheme where you could have leverage on leverage with no expectation of a day of reckoning when the market turned.... I will recover...I still have some get up and go.... Cassimatis will not sink me... nor will all the nay sayers on this forum like those who seem to relish kicking those who have taken a king hit.... say what u will.... words are cheap.... I must say all of your bashing has made me realise the only people that really count are those I respect and hold dear... I'm glad I have those people in my life and take what the likes of this forum have to say with a grain of salt..... it's been well interesting....!!!!!!
ASIC has now been granted an order in the Supreme Court today in
freezing an account linked to Storm.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/04/2482387.htm
You must read a different forum to me, I have yet to see anyone putting the boot in, a few that are incredulous at the investment strategy followed, a few wanting to seek clarification on the process involved and some saying that Storm's clients have to bear some of the responsibility but not boot sticking in from what I can see.
Absolutely correct.
The emotional and in some respects abusive tirades from Shibby and Mash were completed unwarranted, and did neither of them any credit.
It's a bit hard to feel sympathetic towards anyone who displays that sort of reaction when presented with views that don't mirror their own.
Incidentally, Mash, we're still waiting for answers on whether you ever hunted for bargains or attempted to negotiate the price downwards in your favour when buying real estate.
Talking of real estate the agent took me through Manny and Julie's pile on Melton Tce. the other day. Its not a house I'd want to live in, Palazzo Pizza type place, smaller than I thought, the lift works and the views are ok, but only just ok. The chandelier doesn't look worth the money, Waterford crystal are in receivership so it may increase in value if they fold up shop. The bedrooms are ok, but not fantastic. I didn't like the kitchen. Garpaldog would not be happy in the yard. The fengshui is all wrong.
gg
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