A Dodgy Investment - A Dying Man Wants His Money Back

O

one world

This cautionary tale is from Neil Jenman's site. For all of those forumites who listen to financial advisers, maybe its time to take things into your own hands and think thrice before listening to slick gurus and salespeople.


http://www.jenman.com.au/news_alert.php?id=107

Rick Snowden is dying. He has a disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). It's a dreadful disease in which the body slowly cramps itself up. Victims often choke to death.

You won't meet too many nicer blokes than Rick Snowden. In his early 60's, Rick runs a small business in the building industry; although, these days, it's getting harder to work at all. Rick doesn't know how long he's got to live, perhaps a couple of years, maybe more, maybe less. With this sort of disease, nothing's certain except a terrible end. It's a heartbreaking way to die.

Right now, what he wants, more than anything else, however, is the best quality of life possible. But that takes money. Rick and his wife need to modify their home to cope with Rick's progressive debilitation.

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Aaron_C said:
I read the article - this has to do with a dodgy lawyer who was disbarred - it has nothing to do with financial advisers?
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Forgive me, my learned friend.

How about we put it this way:

"A disbarred lawyer who was giving a naive old man dodgy financial advice? "
 
one world said:
Forgive me, my learned friend.

How about we put it this way:

"A disbarred lawyer who was giving a naive old man dodgy financial advice? "
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I'm not sure I understand - were you trying to make a point?

Most of us know there are a lot of dodgy operators out there, particularly with marketed off-the-plan real estate "investment" companies.
 
thatbum said:
I'm not sure I understand - were you trying to make a point?

Most of us know there are a lot of dodgy operators out there, particularly with marketed off-the-plan real estate "investment" companies.
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Forgive me TB. I never mentioned that he was a lawyer until Aaron mentioned it. There are many decent people in Law and it was not my intention to sully the entire industry.

That the protagonist was a former lawyer is irrelevant - much more relevant is the fact that he deceived a sick old man and claims to have no money despite driving around in a shiny Mercedes.

Most people know there are dodgy operators out there, as you say. But in the current bull market, there are many starry-eyed people who need reminding that they need to be vigilant.
 
The article says in the context of the complaint he was a property developer. He behaved illegally in that he sought investors without putting out a proper prospectus and various other things that need to be done. Without futher information the article doesn't single out any particular industry, other than to say that one guy got talked out of his money by another guy.

Financial planning has changed substantially since 2009, but even back then, Rick's outcome would probably have been far better had he actually sought advice from a financial planner, or a solicitor. Instead he simply took another guy at his word and handed his money over. This article is very thin on detail and more about a sob story, when it should instead be advocating getting proper financial advice.

I'd be happy to express some opinions on the Jenman system, but that would likely result in a nasty letter to the forum moderators.
 
PT_Bear said:
Rick's outcome would probably have been far better had he actually sought advice from a financial planner, or a solicitor.
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Well, the person in question was a solicitor, albeit disbarred.

PT_Bear said:
This article is very thin on detail and more about a sob story, .
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Some would argue it's all the victim's fault. A fool and his money are easily parted, as the bible says.

PT_Bear said:
I'd be happy to express some opinions on the Jenman system, but that would likely result in a nasty letter to the forum moderators.
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I know nothing about Jenman's system.

What I do know is that he does a great deal for the underdog.
 
one world said:
Forgive me TB. I never mentioned that he was a lawyer until Aaron mentioned it. There are many decent people in Law and it was not my intention to sully the entire industry.
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Ha, don't worry - I didn't take it like that. I just wasn't sure why you needed a re-phrase in the first place.

Anyway I'm used to the lawyer stuff. I had a good chuckle last night when I was watching Newsroom and one of the characters said to the lawyer on the show:

"You are a member of a race of godless, soulless extortionists".

I thought, "fair call".
 
dtraeger said:
He isnt much different to ACA / TT. Just making headlines about 'australian battlers'
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There's no comparison.

ACA and TT make money from advertising.

Jenman, on the other hand, spends his own money standing up for underdogs, or so it would appear.

Perhaps he is a well intentioned do-gooder narcissist?
 
Jenman makes his money by bringing agents under a franchise system for which he charges them ongoing fees. A lot of he marketing basically breaks down to, "All the other agents are unethical, but we're not." It could also be interpreted as fear based marketing.

I don't see any evidence that he's actually spent money on standing up for the underdogs, other than building a website with a bunch of old articles on it along side a whole lot information about the mistakes you'll make if we don't help you.
 
PT_Bear said:
Jenman makes his money by bringing agents under a franchise system for which he charges them ongoing fees. A lot of he marketing basically breaks down to, "All the other agents are unethical, but we're not." It could also be interpreted as fear based marketing.
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Thanks for the heads-up.
 
Don't get me wrong, I agree with a lot of his views, especially around many property sprukers. I just don't believe that it's a selfless act and whilst his system may work well for some people, I've seen plenty of circumstances where it has delivered an inferior result.

As an example, many years ago they were promoting that they only let 'qualified buyers' through your property. The argument was that many people don't like letting strangers through their house for fear they'll steal something. Whilst this may be a valid concern, it also meant to view the property you had be genuinely interested in it before even looking at it, and then you had to give the agent a lot of details about yourself, including some financial details. This meant that a lot of people would simply pass by the property and not even bother to view it. It's unlikely the vendor will get the best outcome without maximum exposure.

They've also been very anti-auction using the argument that it's rife with dummy bidders and tricks by the agent. I'd argue the opposite, that a private sale gives agents more opportunity for deception. In some circumstances an auction will be the better sales strategy, in others it will be via private sale.

I don't know if all this is still the case, we haven't heard much about Jenman in the last few years, but these have been very public statements from them in the past.
 
It's the same old story.

There are good people, and there are bad people. The majority out there are probably not very good, but probably aren't too bad. Some will be very bad. And few will be good.

If I were to invest with someone I hardly know (or even if I know them), I'd err on the side of caution.
 
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