Storm Financial Group

Maybe a good lesson in ..If you are in in control you are not in control. ..wonder how many could have done the same thing by use their house ATM and buying Blue chip and doing it all themselves????
I guess most people trusted SFA and got SFA.

chops_a_must said:

Ouch. I feel really sorry for you.

Unfortunately, the finance industry is not there to serve you.

And a lot of people here, that work in it, and are planning to work in it, are going to have an almighty shake up, as some of the things that have been perpetrated are beyond comprehension.

Just a shame as a lot of people here, with a basic understanding of investing, would have been able to give you much more worthwhile advice, and certainly actually understand risk.

I don't actually know why financial advisors exist to be honest.

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I agree, I have no idea why they exist either. However if you pay good money, and a substantial amount of it to have them give advice and run your investment, and they partake in doing so, why then are they not there to serve you? I employed that person to do a job for me and they failed in that job. There must be some accountability for their actions.

I was not naive, and did, and do understand a lot about investing. But one thing I failed to mention was, I had a update meeting, while I was in margin call, and was told I was not, and that the investment was fine for the moment. Obviously many other things were discussed. But I can not disclose them on a public forum.

I like many other people, only found out about his when the bubble burst so to speak. And prior to, now believe I was been blatantly lied to.

Monario said:

I agree, I have no idea why they exist either. However if you pay good money, and a substantial amount of it to have them give advice and run your investment, and they partake in doing so, why then are they not there to serve you? I employed that person to do a job for me and they failed in that job. There must be some accountability for their actions.

I was not naive, and did, and do understand a lot about investing. But one thing I failed to mention was, I had a update meeting, while I was in margin call, and was told I was not, and that the investment was fine for the moment. Obviously many other things were discussed. But I can not disclose them on a public forum.

I like many other people, only found out about his when the bubble burst so to speak. And prior to, now believe I was been blatantly lied to.

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Monario, you are way ahead of most investors / traders.

I got caught in the 1980's by a mob called Estate Mortgage.

They sent me broke.

I believed them.

I lost all my hard earned.

Since then I have been completely dismissive of financial advisors. They are in the same business as Real estate agents, Motor car salesmen and Late night health/aerobic machinery.

They sell a dream and make too much from it.

I would also include all tip sheets, Intelligent Investor, Huntleys and the Eureka Report in this motley mob..

The Australian , AFR and SMH , with the WSJ, Economist and Financial Times are all you need, all for free online to know as much about the market as the next bloke.

Best for the future, you will be a winner in the long run.

gg

The real problem comes down to the way they are paid I think.

There is no money in telling you to go away as it is now. That is a problem.

Monario said:

There must be some accountability for their actions.

I was not naive, and did, and do understand a lot about investing. But one thing I failed to mention was, I had a update meeting, while I was in margin call, and was told I was not, and that the investment was fine for the moment.

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Isn't this the sort of thing that the mooted class action will be looking at?

Monario, are you participating in this action? I saw Damian Scattini discussing this on ABCTV.

Julia said:

Isn't this the sort of thing that the mooted class action will be looking at?

Monario, are you participating in this action? I saw Damian Scattini discussing this on ABCTV.

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Unfortunately by the time these actions get up, the money is gone, to spouses, families, super funds immune from action. etc.

Sorry to but in but I've been there.

Any thoughts Monario?/ Julia

gg

Garpal Gumnut said:

Unfortunately by the time these actions get up, the money is gone, to spouses, families, super funds immune from action. etc.

Sorry to but in but I've been there.

Any thoughts Monario?/ Julia

gg

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I suppose that's often right, gg.
I've never been involved in any class action, but many years ago had a very small investment via a lawyer in his private mortgage scheme. The first couple of developments went fine, the interest came in every month and the capital was returned at the end, but then - despite all the valuations and other documentation looking good - it all went bad.
ASIC were completely useless until it was too late. Eventually they appointed receivers whose fees were huge and whose efficiency was virtually non-existent. It went on for a couple of years and eventually I got back about 5% of my invested capital.

Since then lawyers like S. & G. and Scattini seem to have run a lot of these actions so I'd hoped they would be useful.



Have you had any discussions with Mr Scattini, Monario?

Anyone else had any recent experience with class actions on other failed companies?

Garpal Gumnut said:

Unfortunately by the time these actions get up, the money is gone, to spouses, families, super funds immune from action. etc.

Sorry to but in but I've been there.

Any thoughts Monario?/ Julia

gg

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Yes GG your probably correct in saying that..However I have been told that they carry insurance on a per client basis, and this is where the class action will be focused...

I will be part of the class action, if it proceeds, in the mean time I am still in touch with my advisor and waiting to see the outcome of their actions.. I hold little hope of recouping any funds through them directly. However, I do believe they are tryimg, as I stated in a prior post if they do nothing, they are only hurting themselves! Not holding my breath though.

One good thing I have time on my side as I am not close to retirement, and out of this I have learnt that I myself can manage my own investments, to a much safer level, and without hefty commisions. The added bonus of this, I will have direct control over my investment rather than having to deal through incompetent and inadequate fund managers/advisors.

The sad thing is, I like many other people will never work through an advisor again, the repercussions for the financial industry that this will create will hit hard, and be felt throughout the country. And on a moral level, I am trying to reach as big a part of the community as I can to make them aware of such problems with advisors.

Julia said:

I suppose that's often right, gg.
I've never been involved in any class action, but many years ago had a very small investment via a lawyer in his private mortgage scheme. The first couple of developments went fine, the interest came in every month and the capital was returned at the end, but then - despite all the valuations and other documentation looking good - it all went bad.
ASIC were completely useless until it was too late. Eventually they appointed receivers whose fees were huge and whose efficiency was virtually non-existent. It went on for a couple of years and eventually I got back about 5% of my invested capital.

Since then lawyers like S. & G. and Scattini seem to have run a lot of these actions so I'd hoped they would be useful.



Have you had any discussions with Mr Scattini, Monario?

Anyone else had any recent experience with class actions on other failed companies?

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I have been in touch with Slater and Gordon, they are to date doing a great job. To my knoweledge at this stage, they have said there will be no upfront fees, and if the action is succesful, 30% is their fee. I am comfortable with that and happy to have someone like scattini, genuinely concerned, and working for us.

Solly said:

I found this link on a Fairfax news site, this apparently is a copy of a letter sent by Storm advising what you described above.

http://www.theage.com.au/ed_docs/Letter.PDF

If I received something like this I'd definitely be seeking another opinion. This to me is scary advice, not something I'd welcome.

How could you be in a margin call situation for 6 weeks and not know about ?
There must be a duty to disclose this to you in a 'reasonable' time frame. My expectation is that a Finanicial Adviser, who is getting paid handsomely would have my best interests at heart and would have these issues all in hand..

Although I have seen on a Colonial Margin Loan T&Cs that says:

Clause 4.4
You are responsible for:
(a) monitoring your portfolio and determining when your loan is
subject to a margin call;

Clause 4.3 also says
(a) You agree that we may provide notice of margin call by any
or all of the following ways to you or your Client Adviser:
• In writing (including by fax, email or other electronic
means)
• Orally, including by telephone

I believe that this is all getting more complicated than it ever needed to be.

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The date of that letter would be critical with regard to any legal action.

To me that seems like a crystal clear warning.

One investment mantra that I decided long ago was to never inject additional security to meet a margin call.

It wold be astonishing if anyone was allowed to be into margin without knowing!

Evidently Storm must have had pooled funds, in order for this to occur, otherwise the margin lender would have closed individual positions surely?

Terrible for the investors

I even feel sorry for the FPs...they would be completely broken.

In a previous existence, I saw a few FP who were broken men, as a result of the stress of the '87 crash, which saw many geared investors wiped out, blaming them.

I would hate to be a geared property developer in North Qld over the next few years.

As for that Madoff character, I seriously believe the appropriate punishment for him, would be the same as what was issued to the Chinese fellow in charge of Food and Drug administration.

Thanks Garpal Gumnut,

I thoroughly enjoys reading your varied entries into different forums in ASF.
Your views are mature and pragmatic indeed.

I too, have ONLY bad experience with Financial Planners.
With their mouth , they profess to be a Client's Advocate!
But, heck, most of them are just greedy $$$ Nazis.

Back in the 1990s in Singapore, banks use to use cheongsam clad ladies to lure male suckers like us and dirty old men (D.O.M) into parting their life savings and CPF aka Central Provident Fund (Singapore's version of OZ Super Annuation Fund) into various Unit Trust investments.

None of them made any money and it was soooooooooooooooo bad that when the Singapore Government began a thorough reform of these schemes, any company that wants to take client's money for investment must return at least 2.4% per annum or else they would be OUT the next year!

Next come my financial planner. In good timnes, they profess to the mantra CAPITAL PRESERVATION!

It's all bull $%##. When I was back in Singpaore to visit my dad in July 2008, I specifically instruct them to withdraw my money. They did NOT.

And when I check with them a month later, I loss SGD$20,000.

It's all HEART ACHE!

I guess the biggest issue confronting the industries mentioned by Garpal Gumnut and a few other discerning old birds in ASF , these industries including the Real Estate Agents, Car Salesmen, etc is this:

VESTED INTEREST> Most of these to put it very diplomatically and nicely are probably people who began with the right intentions to EARN a decent living & plan to contribute to the economy and the world with $$$ producing activities.

But as time went by , and under greedy and ungodly bosses, their TRUE NORTH shifted as $$$ creep into their eye balls and Eustachian Tubes (ear canals).

VESTED Interest is the biggest single determining factor I believe that destroys the integrity of these industries.

Let us continue to and exercise $$ Diligence when making our investment decisions.

A good tag line whether I am approached by a call center in India or a cheap sounding blog from Sydney for some "Holidays' I won is this:

"Oh, sorry. U must have got the wrong person.I live in a rented address, have just been pronounced bankrupt and am about to hang myself. Any last words??????????".

Most of them just hang up!

Together, let's beware of MORE STORM Financial and FINCORP NAZIs!

Beware, some of them may not use storm tactics, but rather sweet words!

Cheers mates...........................Blessed Xmas. and Healthy 2009.

Thanks mate.

I'm not as old as you think.

My cv includes

Roadie for the Allman Brother Band.

Giving that Irish git who tries to save Africa his first gig in Dublin.

Being batonned by the coppers during an anti apartheid demonstration in London.

Helping a well known corporate "person of interest" ( not Rene ) find his bags at Melbourne airport on my migration to this great land, and being invited into his circle and making my second million as a result.

Moving to glorious Queensland and working with Vinnies, a great bunch of people.

Serving in the ADF in E Timor and as a result having an absolute respect for the resilience of the human race.

An absolute contempt for financial planners, cockroaches upon the crumbs of life, also tip sheets.

Perhaps I am old but on reflection but I wouldn't do it any different, and I don't feel old.

Storm is Storm. there will be more.

gg

Ha ha Ha!
Oh GG, you are damn hilarious!

I was in East Timor too, in 2006 helping for 2 weeks on a social re-engineering mission with a church from Singapore.

The east Timorese are just simply resilient, and humble people.

I am happy you've your $$$.
Fully agree with the cockcroach thingy.
Hmm,. we should have more cockcroach sprays ready to give away
free to our fellow ASF , now that times are bad........more cockcroaches will come out when the land is dark........................

agathos said:

Ha ha Ha!
Oh GG, you are damn hilarious!

I was in East Timor too, in 2006 helping for 2 weeks on a social re-engineering mission with a church from Singapore.

The east Timorese are just simply resilient, and humble people.

I am happy you've your $$$.
Fully agree with the cockcroach thingy.
Hmm,. we should have more cockcroach sprays ready to give away
free to our fellow ASF , now that times are bad........more cockcroaches will come out when the land is dark........................

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I was based at Maliana and Memo in 2001 on the border with Indonesia.

Great people the Timorese.

They leave the bludgers for dead.

This is turning into a N.Queensland / NT thread.

I have a contract to bring some bulls up to Darwin next winter for the Darwin Show.

Anyone interested in having a financial conference during the show.

I'll give everyone receipts that ASIC and the ATO would not be game to challenge.

gg

Sorry Storm victims I got carried away.

Keep up the anger mates.

gg

Story from Sunshine Coast Daily.

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/dec/27/storm-financial-adviser-wipes-out-retirees/

"Couple owe $1.3 million, are about to sell their $500,000 house and are both desperate to find any sort of work to try to extricate themselves from what seems a never ending nightmare.

The couple owe $855,000 to Colonial and a further $440,000 to the Bank of Queensland. The interest loan repayments to Colonial are covered, but they are being forced to pay $3000 a month to BOQ."


How could this have happened?
I suppose they are not the only ones in this situation.

Hi everyone, Have been following these posts with interest. My In-laws (Retired) told me last Sunday they were with Storm and after my investigation found out they had been completely and utterly stormified. What really got my goat was that they had been told all through the last 6 months that everything was fine (It was not). Storm advised them to sell all stock at the end of October and put into a Cash management trust as it had a 100% cover for their margin loan (In excess of $1M). They where therefore earning around 4% interest on the investment and paying 7.5% on margin loan. An FP told them to do this!!!!!!! After I found this out I told them to get rid of the loan. Upshot is they now have a significant loan against the house and no income. Connolly Suthers in Townsville are also investigating a class action. Not sure what will happen going forward but I do know that they will not lose their house as our family will not allow this to happen. As to the Cassimatis clan, I would hope that the regulators & lawyers chase all of those involved and recover something.

Jifromoz said:

Hi everyone, Have been following these posts with interest. My In-laws (Retired) told me last Sunday they were with Storm and after my investigation found out they had been completely and utterly stormified. What really got my goat was that they had been told all through the last 6 months that everything was fine (It was not). Storm advised them to sell all stock at the end of October and put into a Cash management trust as it had a 100% cover for their margin loan (In excess of $1M). They where therefore earning around 4% interest on the investment and paying 7.5% on margin loan. An FP told them to do this!!!!!!! After I found this out I told them to get rid of the loan. Upshot is they now have a significant loan against the house and no income. Connolly Suthers in Townsville are also investigating a class action. Not sure what will happen going forward but I do know that they will not lose their house as our family will not allow this to happen. As to the Cassimatis clan, I would hope that the regulators & lawyers chase all of those involved and recover something.

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This is a not uncommon story in Townsville.

Keep on fighting for them. Connolly Suthers are a respected law firm in Townsville.

gg

The Storm big wheels will most likely do a Skase and head off overseas. Skase was allowed to get his passport back and leave OZ and he claimed he only had about $1,800.00 in the bank, commonsense would tell you he would not go far on that yet the Judge agreed and we know the rest.

Solly said:

Story from Sunshine Coast Daily.

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/dec/27/storm-financial-adviser-wipes-out-retirees/

"Couple owe $1.3 million, are about to sell their $500,000 house and are both desperate to find any sort of work to try to extricate themselves from what seems a never ending nightmare.

The couple owe $855,000 to Colonial and a further $440,000 to the Bank of Queensland. The interest loan repayments to Colonial are covered, but they are being forced to pay $3000 a month to BOQ."


How could this have happened?
I suppose they are not the only ones in this situation.

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I wonder if we are supposed to show empathy to these people - its was just glorified gambling it seems .....

Bankruptcy must surely look tempting - how many working years do they have left I wonder ?