It is probably useful to have a summary, now that we have everyone at the table, including some of Manny's minions in the last few days.
On reading all the posts again this is my summary.
1. Much money and many people's life savings have been lost in the Storm debacle.
2. Many unsophisticated investors were conned in to sophisticated financial instruments and gearing by smooth talking financial advisers employed by the Cassimatis' and Storm Financial Group.
3. The FPA Financial Planning Association and Australian Security and Investment Corporation ASIC knew of the problems but were tardy in their reaction.
4. Some bank officers must have known that the targets were unsophisticated and by collusion or turning a blind eye assisted the investors into these instruments, thus leaving their institutions, BOQ, CBA, Macquarie, open to litigation.
These are the known knowns.
Anybody like to add to this.
gg
i still want to see justice done so this can never happen again to anybody else
Originally Posted by Garpal Gumnut
It is probably useful to have a summary, now that we have everyone at the table, including some of Manny's minions in the last few days.
On reading all the posts again this is my summary.
1. Much money and many people's life savings have been lost in the Storm debacle.
2. Many unsophisticated investors were conned in to sophisticated financial instruments and gearing by smooth talking financial advisers employed by the Cassimatis' and Storm Financial Group.
3. The FPA Financial Planning Association and Australian Security and Investment Corporation ASIC knew of the problems but were tardy in their reaction.
4. Some bank officers must have known that the targets were unsophisticated and by collusion or turning a blind eye assisted the investors into these instruments, thus leaving their institutions, BOQ, CBA, Macquarie, open to litigation.
I know people who were wiped out by cassimatis.
They were brainwashed into thinking that they had an understanding of the market by a very slick salesman.
They were guilty of failure to accept any common sense approaches to investment such as diversication and understanding that gearing magnifies losses.
Well this is how stupid I am - I thought I was diversified
Real estate; my home, (mortgaged, but still real estate)
Cash; $50,000 - $100,000 so called dam account for my $37,000 per annum drawings and my $3000 per month mortgage, please note $37,000 per annum not $100,000 as someone keeps referring to. (The $100,000 per annum was the imaginary figure that storm/banks (take your pick made up to get our loans approved by the banks),
Portfolio of shares; spread over technology, industrials and resources.
I thought I had it covered.
Naïve, stupid, inexperienced that’s why I was with a financial planner.
What I didn’t count on was Storms greed, not my greed.
What I didn’t count on was the lies.
What I didn’t count on was that they would not cash us up until things improved, despite numerous requests.
Therefore Naïve, stupid, inexperienced.
Hi SJG1974,
A small addition to my original disclosure for clarity.
I should say I am/was close to all above mentioned parties over the past many years, but due to events in recent months I have not been in regular communication with any of the above parties for one reason or another depending on the party. Therefore, I am not a conduit to getting answers on current questions.
So to answer your second question in relation to the Cassimatis website, I do not know if or when the website will be reopened. If I had to guess, I would think that it would not be reopened anytime soon.
In relation to your very first query, my primary intent was firstly to simply warn those innocent readers and contributors of the potential dangers when accepting advice or opinions provided here as neutral and “helpful”. As we know, the internet, due to its seeming anonymity, is a haven for this sort of behaviour but it seemed exceptional when reading this thread.
As to your first query SJG1974, well my second priority was to do just as you suggest over the next few weeks. Stay tuned, I think you will be interested.
Storm's Townsville HQ is to be auctioned this morning, I wonder what gg's top bid will be? Garpal Inc will look pretty flash in the new digs......
Storm's Townsville HQ is to be auctioned this morning, I wonder what gg's top bid will be? Garpal Inc will look pretty flash in the new digs......
Although to be honest I agree with my fellow Townsvillian on another thread that we are set for another huge downtrend on the ASX, a big bear, so perhaps it may come on market for less in the not too distant future. I'm all cash at present.
The star Australian economist over the past two or three years has been Morgan Stanley's Gerard Minack. He's the bear who cogently warned any who wanted to listen of the impending crash and the reasons for it.
This morning, as the international stock market rally turns eight weeks old, the bear is having trouble growling, daring to say that the low for the economic cycle is in sight.
First, the focus on economic recovery means a focus on 2010 corporate earnings potential, taking the sting from the lousy 2009 results.
Secondly, "if the 2010 earnings forecasts are anywhere near correct, equities are cheap''. And thirdly:
"The rub for still-cautious strategists, such as myself, is this: It's not clear what the near-term catalyst will be for the out-year earnings forecasts to be significantly scaled back. It seems likely that earnings downgrades will moderate as long as the macro data continue to surprise on the upside (even if, in absolute terms, the data remain poor). That opens a window for the current rally to continue, driven by investor repositioning.''
That's a big concession for a bear
And what would that justice be? It will certainly happen to many other people many times in the future. It's human nature, and as one of the letters said, how do you protect people against themselves. They're as much to blame as anyone, as they ultimately made the decision.
. anybody got any suggestions to help us rather than bag us??
There is pages of useful advice in here for you. You seem to regard useful advice as someone taking the "p_ss". What you seem to want is a way to get all (or most) your money back and be on track ? and put all (most ?) of the blame onto others ? The best advice I can give to that is to stop thinking like that. Your house is not the biggest single financial decision you will ever make. The investment decisions you make with the million(s) of dollars you earn in a lifetime is. People will research out the ying yang what car to buy but not so much with the millions they earn.
Here's my advice
1. Don't trust your money to FP's, this is your financial future you are talking about. You have enough ability to turn a computer, join a forum and make a post, this ability equips you with enough acumen to probably not need them.
2. Having Lawyers involved will bring a whole other world of hurt to you, this will drag on for DECADES, with the slim chance you might get a a few cents back in the dollar. Be wary of white knights that say they have your interest at heart, this is what EC et al also said. They are there to make money out of you and your predicament,maybe with even the best intentions at heart (perhaps like EC) but none the less, your the one "paying"
3. Regardless of what you think about comparing things to doctors, mechanics etc and the fact they too have a bit of paper on their wall (you do know there are plenty of dodgy doctors and mechanics don't you ?) , Storm LIED to you, the market does not always go up, there are long periods of correction. Warren Buffets bit of advice on that is free, if you can't survive a 50% fall, then don't buy. You need to accept that you were taken in and move on. If you want to get back into the market and invest, dollar cost average into a listed index fund, and use little or no leverage, will you make a motza like this, possibly not but you won't go broke either... and read read read. If you want to retire without a gov't pension, be frugal, save hard, invest as above, do that for 30 years, then retire. If time is no longer on your side, you will have the OAP as a safety net. Never invest in anything you don't understand. I see references to people saying "how could I have been lent so much money for a margin loan". This sends up alarm bells straight away, they had no idea how a margin loan works !!!!! WTF !!!!
4. and most of all, look after your mental health.. hard as that may seem.
and best of luck to you all.
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