Wow,
When I wrote the original post, I didn't think it would stir such emotion. My theory on why API has Margaret so prominently featured is because positive cashflow seems to be the buzz word(s) these days. Every man and his dog wants positive, positive, positive! And that's what sells magazines.
Margaret used to post at MSN, I think I'm the reason she no longer does. It says a lot about a person when they seem to relish the limelight so much (by writing huge articles and three books) but stop posting on a forum when someone asks some tough but valid questions.
She is aware of this forum (and will probably see this thread) but never posted here. My suspicion (this is strictly my opinion only) is that she wouldn't post here, because some forum members would be less than kind to her postings.
I mean, I own no properties, yet find it relatively easy to pick the inconsistencies in her articles, issue after issue. Although I will say that I thought the article in the most recent edition was more balanced than I thought it would be. It was still skewed in favour of positive, but what do you expect? Actually, come to think of it, why did they have her write the article? Getting Margaret to write an article about cashflow vs. growth is like asking an advisor who works for, say, the Commonwealth Bank whether they are independent. You're not really going to get a balanced view. But I guess with this subject, it's nigh on impossible to get a balanced view.
Another thing I found interesting is that she seems quite keen to distance herself from the property selling side of what she does. She claimed she does not sell/source the properties, an agent does this for her. Then someone who claimed to have purchased property from her mentioned something about her not disclosing commissions earned. As a financial advisor, she is actually breaking the law if this is true, as ASIC requires full disclosure to clients where a product is sold and a commission earned. I guess that's why she was trying to distance herself.
Mark
'no hat, some cattle'
