Storm Financial close to collapsing
Storm Financial clients threaten class action

The clients of the Townsville-based financial planning firm Storm Financial are considering a class action against the company according to media reports in mid-December 2008.
The north Queensland company’s share market funds were terminated in early December and assets were being sold off.

Storm has about 13,000 clients across Australia and about $6 billion in funds and liabilities under advice. The company has 38 financial advisers, two authorised representatives and 164 staff in 14 offices across Queensland (seven are in regional Queensland), NSW and Victoria with a head office in Townsville.

According to lawyer Damian Scattini, a number of clients are considering filing a class action against the company for providing them with inappropriate advice. “They’ve been put into a very high risk venture that’s been presented as anything other than high risk,” he said.

Scattini says some customers are alleging they were not warned they could lose their money through high-risk investments. “These are ordinary mums and dads and sadly grandmums and grandads, who have been put into this vehicle and they’ve been encouraged to use their house as collateral. It’s tragic enough if you are a 40-year-old but if you are a 65-year-old you don’t have time to ride it out, you don’t have time to start again,” he said.

Just six weeks earlier on October 30th, 2008, the Townsville Bulletin reported that, “Townsville’s wealthiest couple has vowed to survive the financial storm. Julie and Emmanuel Cassimatis said their highly-successful business Storm Financial would be around for the next 30 years despite the world-wide credit crunch which has claimed some of the biggest businesses and heavily impacted the Australian financial sector.”

Ms Cassimatis said southern media reports of hundreds of millions of dollars of Storm client stock being dumped into the market and that the company was in turmoil were incorrect. “Storm Financial Limited is a strong company both financially and culturally - we’ve been around for over 30 years and intend to be around the next 30 years. Storm is currently seeking new firms to acquire and continuing with its acquisition path,” she said.

Ms Cassimatis said she was confident Storm Financial had complied with all regulatory obligations in respect to providing advice to shareholders and investors.
According to the October 30th, 2008, Townsville Bulletin report, the Cassimatises boast a fortune of about $450 million and were listed at number 22 on this year’s Sunday Mail’s Queensland Top 100 Rich List.

Mr Cassimatis said they didn’t do anything half-heartedly. Earlier in 2008 the company hosted about 600 of its clients on a group holiday at a Sun City resort in South Africa, while four hundred clients joined the Cassimatises in the Mediterranean for a holiday in 2007.

The very day before this story appeared in the Townsville press, Michael West had written a critical article about storm in the Fairfax press.

“One year ago, financial planning company Storm Financial was trying to pull off a $500 million stock market float. It never quite got that float away, despite the assistance of UBS and Macquarie (and investigating accountant PWC), despite the heady market, and despite two attempts - one mid-year and another in October 2007. Now margin calls have forced Challenger, which acts as Storm’s responsible entity, to dump hundreds of millions of dollars of Storm client stock into the market. Colonial, which also runs indices for storm, is ducking for cover.

“Storm founder Julie Cassimatis and her husband Emmanuel steered Storm from a two-advisor show in Townsville in 1994 to a planning powerhouse with 13,000 clients across the country controlling $4.6 billion in funds under management. There is a fatal flaw in their business model however - failure to come to grips with the fact that bear markets happen.
“The Storm way was to get clients to borrow using their house, and any other asset which could be leveraged, and hop into the stock market every time it dipped. This worked a treat for years: the market kept dipping then surging to fresh new highs. Finance was abundant and cheap.

By 2007, Storm was on a serious acquisition binge. It had bought a planning group in Melbourne, then expanded across Queensland into Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney. It snapped up 10 companies in March 2007 alone.

“The “pathfinder” prospectus - a copy of which has been sitting on the desk here for a year in the knowledge that it would soon come in handy - shows Storm agreed to pay $32.9 million for a swag of planning businesses. But there was a catch: “This consideration is to be paid in the form of shares” from the IPO.

“A glossy presentation to funds managers shows a list of Storm’s multi-millionaires.

Client AO - 8 years, 6 months invested. First investment $350,000, current balance $14.9 million.

“Another started with Storm just before the September 11 market crash. First investment $300,000. Current balance $37.8 million.

Fees on that account were $330,000 for March 2007 for an accumulated total of $1.2 million.
“According to the prospectus, Storm was to have offered 160 million shares to the public, including a 28.5 million selldown of the $1 shares by the Cassimatises. Market cap at the IPO was to have been $424 million to $498 million with the Cassimatises keeping 54%. Some $14 million in proceeds would go to repay shareholder loans and $110 million was earmarked for acquisitions.

The husband and wife team were to have picked up a salary of $513,129.20 apiece and were on quite a nice fee wicket to boot, thanks to licence arrangements for selling their Ignite research service and their Phormula leverage service to Storm.

“Storm itself earned only small income from the “non-Stormified” clients but once they were geared up and Stormified, Storm could expect an up-front fee of 6.5% to 7% of gross investment. The usual trailing fees applied, both to Storm and to the planning companies that had been acquired by Storm.”

Jamie Mcintyre, Chairman of 21st Century Education says if only these clients had taken the trouble to obtain a financial education costing no more then a few thousand dollars they could have avoided loosing this money.

Mcintyre is a long-standing critic of the financial planning industry and the ethics and integrity of many of the companies and people involved in the financial planning industry. Even before the sub-prime crisis emerged in the US thousands of Australian investors, many of them retirees, had lost their life savings in dubious financial schemes promoted by financial planners. He even wrote a best-selling book on the topic, What I didn’t learn from my financial planner but wish I had (21st Century Publishing, 2007)

He said many novice investors try to save a few thousand dollars by not investing in their financial education but were paying 7% in fees to Storm Financial to manage their money in high-risk investments and now stand to lose everything.

The basic education we teach our clients at 21st Century Education, Mcintyre says, is to protect their share portfolio. “We stress to clients if you ever borrow for shares, never leverage more than 50% and use income producing strategies such as share renting and selling insurance in the share market.

Mcintyre says 21st Century clients following it’s strategies are making tens of thousands a month at the time of this article (mid-December 2008) from the share market, despite the financial woes being experienced by many at that time.

The reason for the success of these 21st Century clients McIntyre says, is because they invested in a financial education with 21st Century Education, an education sadly lacking in their schooling. “These people are now reaping the rewards whereas those who blindly followed the expensive, commission based advice of financial planners such as Storm Financial are now paying a huge price - their life savings in many instances.”

Just days after the Storm problems were reported in the press Reuters reported what may be the biggest ever scam by a “financial planner”.

In mid-December 2008 investors were scrambling to assess potential losses from an alleged US$50 billion ($76 billion) fraud by Bernard Madoff, following the arrest of the prominent Wall Street trader in the US.

Prosecutors and regulators accused the 70-year-old, who was chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market in the early 1990s, of masterminding a fraud of epic proportions through his investment advisory business, which managed at least one hedge fund.

Madoff’s hundreds of investors included captains of industry, corporations - some of which are publicly traded - that used Madoff almost as a high-yielding cash management account, endowments, universities, foundations and, importantly, many high-profile funds of funds. “It appears that at least US$15 billion of wealth, much of which was concentrated in southern Florida and New York City, has gone to ‘money heaven,’” one person said.

Federal agents arrested Madoff at his apartment after prosecutors said he told senior employees that his money management operations were “all just one big lie” and “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme.”

A Ponzi scheme is an illegal investment vehicle that pays off old investors with money from new ones, and is dependent on a constant stream of new investment. Because the invested capital is not earning a sufficient return on its own, such schemes eventually collapse under their own weight.

Madoff is the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a market-making firm he launched in 1960. His separate investment advisory business had US$17.1 billion of assets under management.

“I expect to get back zero,” said Floridian Susan Leavitt, who invested through Madoff. “When he tells the feds he has US$200 million to US$300 million left out of billions, what can you expect?”

Prior to Madoff’s arrest, investors had wondered how he was able to generate annual returns in the low double digits in a variety of market environments. Many questioned how US regulators were able to ignore numerous red flags with regard to Madoff’s operations.

Investors overseas were reeling from the alleged fraud. Benedict Hentsch, a Swiss private bank, said it had 56 million Swiss francs (AU$71 million) of exposure to Madoff’s investment advisory business.

Madoff said “there is no innocent explanation” for his activities, and that he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there,” according to the federal complaint.

Prosecutors also accused Madoff of wanting to distribute as much as US$300 million to employees, family members and friends before turning himself in.

Charged with one count of securities fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a US$5 million fine. The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate civil charges.

New York-based Aksia LLC, an adviser to hedge fund investors, had previously warned clients not to put their money with Bernard Madoff after learning of “red flags” at his company, including that its books were audited by a three-person accounting firm, Friehling & Horowitz, an auditor operating out of a 13-by-18 foot location in an office park in New York City’s northern suburbs.
Aksia urged clients last year not to invest with Madoff’s firm after learning the identity of the New City, New York-based auditor, according to Jake Walthour, head of advisory services at Aksia. Friehling & Horowitz included one partner in his late 70s who lives in Florida, a secretary, and one active accountant, Aksia said.

“Our judgment was swift given the extensive list of red flags,” Aksia wrote yesterday in a letter to clients.

The copy of the four-page report, dated Dec. 18, 2006, attested that the financial statements of Madoff’s securities firm were “in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.”

The financial analysis said Madoff Securities had US$1.3 billion in assets, including US$711 million in marketable securities and US$67 million in US debt. Member’s equity, the firm’s net worth, was US$604 million, according to the document.

Aksia’s Jim Vos said, “I’m shocked by how investors turned a blind eye to returns that were too good to be true, constant steady small positive monthly returns. When something is too good to be true, it probably is.”

Madoff told senior employees that the firm was insolvent and “had been for years,” prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.

Among the other “red flags” cited by Aksia was the “high degree of secrecy” surrounding the trading of the feeder fund accounts, which provided capital to Madoff Securities, and its use of a trading strategy that appeared “remarkably simple,” yet “could not be nearly replicated by our quant analyst.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission had not examined Madoff’s books since he registered the unit with the agency in September 2006. Madoff’s investment advisory business was never inspected by US regulators after he subjected it to oversight two years ago, people familiar with the case said.

Madoff had advised the SEC how to regulate markets and donated regularly to politicians and had told his sons he was operating a long-running Ponzi scheme in the New York-based firm’s business advising rich people, hedge funds and institutions. His ability to avoid detection may fuel debate about the SEC’s effectiveness and the adequacy of its resources for policing money managers.

“Given what the SEC claims is the magnitude of the fraud, this is something you would hope an inspection would have uncovered. It’s hard to imagine a fraud of this alleged size not being accompanied by significant and pervasive compliance problems,” said Mercer Bullard, a University of Mississippi law professor and former mutual-fund attorney at the SEC.

Always remember, in both bull markets and bear markets - a financial education can be your best insurance against schemes such as these.

21st Century Education can assist you on the path to wealth creation in the 21st Century. For further information log on to: www.LearnToBeRich.com.au

21st Century Education have a range of books by Jamie McIntyre available, including:
What I didn’t learn at school but wish I had
What I didn’t learn from my real estate agent but wish I had
What I didn’t learn from my financial planner but wish I had
What I didn’t learn from Google but wish I had
What I didn’t learn from my accountant but wish I had

Here is a clip of the new dvd :

“How to not only Survive but THRIVE in a Global Credit Crisis”

How to make a fortune in a stock market crash.

Order Your FREE* copy Click Here

*Free To Australia Residents

Learn how you can Thrive in a Global Credit Crisis.

A short 5 Minute clip from the free dvd. If you would like more information or your own copy of the dvd please click on products at the top of the page.

Testimonial from the 4 Day Education For Life Seminar - Melbourne Feb 2008

Testimonial from the 4 Day Education For Life Seminar - Melbourne Feb 2008

Testimonial from the 4 Day Education For Life Seminar - Melbourne Feb 2008

Testimonial from the 4 Day Education For Life Seminar - Melbourne Feb 2008

Testimonial from the 4 Day Education For Life Semainr - Melbourne Feb 2008

Testimonial from the 4 Day Education For Life Seminar - Melbourne February 2008

Just a quick update in these crazy market conditions.

What is going on in the world, are we heading for depression, recession or just a very volatile time? Who knows, some experts say one thing, and others say the opposite. The thing to be aware of is that even in times like these, there are massive opportunities for those with the knowledge.

Do you remember how Jamie was teaching you how to rent out shares on his Free DVD, and you can earn a monthly income from the market, making a few percent per month on shares?

What if there was a system set up to teach you how to make a daily income from the market, working from home, with handholding support every step of the way?

Can you imagine making a living from home, working just a few hours a day, being able to take time off whenever you choose? Many traders are making $500 to $1000 a day, starting with as little as $2000.

The current market volatility has been great for people trading in the Eminis market. It doesn’t matter which way the market is going, up or down, the more volatility, the better.

If this gets your attention, then have a look at the Eminis trading system by clicking on this link and ordering a Free DVD, or booking into a webinar.

http://www.eminisglobal.com.au/cmd.php?af=685629

You will be amazed at the simplicity of this trading system.

Have a prosperous month

Warm Regards

Keith Mason

LearnToBeRich.com.au

Ian Thomson - Homestudy Graduate Testimonial

What is the key to becoming wealthy in the 21st Century? Do the same key principles which were in vogue, 70 or 100 years ago still apply? Is psychology and the personal mindset a major contributor to wealth creation?

In 1937 American born Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), wrote in his landmark book Think and Grow Rich, “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.”

Hill is considered to have influenced more people into success than any other person in history and has been perhaps the most influential man in the area of personal success technique development, primarily through this book. He did not just write about some theory of how to think and grow rich - he wrote from his own numerous experiences and the experiences of America’s most successful people.

Hill was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich, is one of the best-selling books of all time. Hill spent 20 years writing this book and interviewed many of the most successful people in the U.S. in the process. Think and Grow Rich was reprinted twice in the year it was first published while the world was still suffering the effects of the great depression and since then has sold more than 7 million copies.

Hill stated in his writings, people are free to believe what they want to believe, and he examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. The huge sales of Hill’s books prove that the secret of achievement is still highly sought-after as key plank in wealth creation. Using the philosophy of achievement, Hill stated, was the responsibility of every American.

“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve” is one of Hill’s hallmark expressions. How achievement actually occurs, and a formula for it that puts success in reach for the average person, were the promise of Hill’s books.

Hill considered freedom, democracy, capitalism, and harmony to be important contributing elements. For without these, Hill demonstrated throughout his writings, personal beliefs are not possible. He contrasted his philosophy with others, and thought achievement was superior and responsible for the success Americans enjoyed for the better part of two centuries. Fear and selfishness had no part to play in his philosophy, and Hill considered them to be the source of failure for unsuccessful people.

The secret of achievement was tantalizingly offered to readers of Think and Grow Rich, and was never named directly as Hill felt discovering it for themselves would provide readers with the most benefit. For according to Hill, 98% of people had no firm beliefs, putting true success firmly out of reach.

Hill’s early career as a reporter helped finance his way through law school. He was given an assignment to write a series of success stories of famous men and his big break came when he was asked to interview steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie commissioned Hill to interview over 500 millionaires to find a success formula that could be used by the average person. These included names familiar to most Australians such as, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Charles M. Schwab, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wrigley Jr, John Wanamaker, George Eastman, Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, John D. Rockefeller, and F. W. Woolworth.

Hill became an advisor to Andrew Carnegie, and with Carnegie’s help he formulated a philosophy of success, drawing on the thoughts and experience of a multitude of rags-to-riches tycoons. The secret to success is very simple but you will have to read the book to find out what it is! Napleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich is not only about making money, it is about a better way to live a rich life.

Napoleon Hill made many interesting observations including these:

•  A goal is a dream with a deadline.

•  Action is the real measure of intelligence.

•  All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.

•  All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination, Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.

•  Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.

•  Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what the majority of men do.

•  Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.

•  Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

•  Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.

•  Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

•  Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

•  Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

21st Century Education can assist you on the path to wealth creation in the 21st Century. For further information log on to: www.LearnToBeRich.com.au

Financial educators and financial coaches are seeing a boom in their business as financial coaching appears set to overtake financial planning as people demand more then just commission based advice which is very often seen as - and later proven to be - conflicted and expensive.

Financial coaching is a value added service and is about empowerment motivation and education rather then just relying on often flawed advice from a financial planner who is entirely dependent on commissions.

21st Century Education provides financial coaching and has more than 25 contracted financial educators and turned over $30million in the last financial year and is on track to be a $50million business this year.

21st Century Education Chairman and founder Jamie Mcintyre says the government has told people for years that there won’t be a pension to rely on in retirement. “You need to become a self-funded retiree. This means everyone has to become an investor, yet no one was taught about financial education and self empowerment at school.”

According to McIntyre even ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) asks the wrong question. “How do we get more people to see a financial planner?”

The correct question according to Mcintyre should be, “How do we get more Australians to be empowered to take charge of their financial future?”

There is this huge demand for people to be financially educated and empowered and unfortunately financial planners have so far failed to fill this gap McIntyre says. In the near future he is confident financial coaches and financial educators will be utilising self empowerment strategies that take more and more of the traditional financial planning business slice unless financial planners shift to the provision of more education and empowerment, rather then just commission based advice and selling managed funds.

Consumers want more than that McIntyre said when he explained why he founded 21st Century Education, a personal services and financial group that employs nearly 100 people and has doubled in size in the last year. The reason for founding his successful 21st Century Education business, McIntyre said, was to provide a financial education to people who should have received that education as part of their schooling.

It is also why he wrote his first book What I didn’t learn at school but wish I had, which has been distributed to over 250,000 Australians. To assist with his goal of a financial education for all Australians, McIntyre gives this book away for free on his company website www.21stcenturyacademy.com despite it selling in bookstores for $35.

McIntyre became a self made millionaire by getting a financial education many years ago and said he doesn’t need the book royalties and has just committed to donating up to $1million worth of copies of his books to be given away over the next 5 years to assist in providing an education he strongly believes we all should have received at school.

One of Jamie McIntyre’s greatest passions has been to create an educational system that is designed for the 21st Century as opposed to an outdated education most of us received at school so we can create an extraordinary quality of life that most people only dream about.

McIntyre believes people’s dreams can come true, just like they did for him, once he learnt the information he shares in his book, What I didn’t learn from my financial planner but wish I had This book provides an education for life and explains what it takes to create the necessary financial abundance to have an extraordinary quality of life.

McIntyre is appalled that superannuation nest eggs have taken a hit after funds recorded their worst annual return since 1987 of minus 6 per cent. The higher cost of living has also forced more workers to curb their voluntary contributions, leading super experts to warn these people now risk missing out on any upswing in returns when the sharemarket recovers.

In early July 2008, figures from the independent research company SuperRatings revealed returns on the median balanced super fund shrank by 6 percent over the year. On a typical balance of $50,000, this represents a $3000 hit, not including contributions made during the year.

The Federal Government is expected to come under renewed pressure to ensure the adequacy of retirement savings, with several members of its super advisory panel stating this should be the highest priority.

Note: Jamie McIntyre is currently authorised to provide general advice and dealing services in Derivatives, Deposit Products, Managed Investments and Securities (ASIC No. 321 315).

Self made millionaire investor Jamie McIntyre, who is also the author of a series of popular books including, What I didn’t learn at school but wish I had and What I didn’t learn from my real estate agent but wish I had, is predicting another property boom within the next 3 years.

He says due to the massive labour shortage and with immigration levels hitting their peaks the acute shortage in housing will force another upward spike in property prices in coming years.

Mcintyre comments are backed up by article in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) on 25 June 2008 which reported competition for housing among aspiring home buyers and tenants is set to intensify, with a big influx of skilled migrants helping drive the most rapid population growth since 1988 and exacerbating the Australia’s shortage of homes.

Official figures show the Australian population climbed by almost 332,000 people in 2007 to 21.18 million, with more than half of that growth (185,000) attributed to net migration.

Federal government plans to boost the immigration intake by 37,500 to 190,300 in the next financial year have prompted warnings of the rising population increasing the pressure on housing at a time of rocketing rents and low affordability.

Population gain, along with improving productivity, is an important engine of economic growth and also fuels demand and increases the pressure on resources and infrastructure, including the supply of housing.

The AFR reported the nation’s spurt is coming as high interest rates, low affordability and modest returns help stifle the construction of new housing. Dwelling starts were down by 3.3 percent in the March quarter and weak finance and approvals indicate activity will stay flat.

One industry spokesperson claimed a shortfall of 31,000 homes in the number currently being built on an annual basis. He also stated tenants and aspiring home buyers faced an increasingly tough market as any acceleration in the pace of building construction was some time away. Tenants in Sydney face particularly tight conditions with rent costs expected to accelerate by 10 percent annually over the next two years with early relief being unlikely even if interest rates eased and affordability increased as the construction of apartments typically involves an 18 month cycle. This means it could be three years or more before significant inroads are made into accumulated demand.

A second industry spokesperson says the looming boost to migration, though welcome by employers struggling to find the workers they need, will exacerbate the pressure on housing. “If we are heading for 200,000 plus in net migration, then the undersupply in housing will be at its most acute since the 1970s and it is very hard to escape it.

The strong growth in labour supply will help alleviate labour shortages, however the housing shortage is approaching extreme levels worthy of a more activist approach by policymakers.”

The Howard government introduced measures such as the First Home Buyers’ Grant. This meant that more individuals had the money to buy, and so many left the rental market to become owner-occupiers. This reduced the demand for rental properties and so rents remained low.

The increased demand to buy and the limited supply of homes led to residential property prices dramatically increasing. But now, property prices have reached a critical level, where individuals even with the help of banks and the first home buyers grant, can’t afford to buy.

With many individuals being priced out of the market, they are now forced to rent. This combined with record immigration and the city living becoming even more desired has led to rents dramatically increasing.

In order to benefit from the next property boom, become an expert in the suburbs that are going to grow in value first. Get to know those areas so you can pick the bargains in those suburbs near the city, near the water or in the more affluent, the more desirable suburbs. If you buy a good property in those areas you are likely to achieve excellent capital growth in the next 5-10 years.

Then over the next few years the suburbs one ring further out will start to make good investment sense. It is only near the end of the cycle that the outer suburbs, those that have traditionally been first home owner areas get good capital growth.

For investors this is all good news. Will we see another property boom within the next 3 years? At 21st Century Property Direct we believe we will experience a another spike in property prices within 3 years.

19-September-08 by AAP

Naked short selling will be banned on the Australian stock exchange next week to help curb excessive market volatility.

Short selling, where traders seek to profit by selling borrowed shares of companies to then buy them back, in the anticipation their prices will drop, has been partly blamed for the sharp falls of stocks such as Macquarie Group Ltd in recent days.

A form of the practice, known as naked short selling, involves selling without first borrowing the stock, or even ensuring they can be borrowed.

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) said today it would remove all securities from its list of stocks approved for naked short selling from Monday.

“The removal will remain in force until further notice,” the ASX statement said.

“It will be reviewed when the government’s foreshadowed legislative amendments to the reporting of covered short selling activity take effect.”

Treasurer Wayne Swan and Corporate Law Minister Nick Sherry welcomed the move.

“Australia has a world-class regulatory system and this action today will help ensure ongoing confidence in the operation of Australia’s financial markets,” Mr Swan said in a statement.

“This action shows that our regulatory system is working well in responding to challenging global circumstances.”

Senator Sherry said he was concerned by attempts to manipulate markets through the use of short-selling.

“As previously announced, the government will be introducing legislation to strengthen disclosure of covered short-selling into the parliament very shortly,” he said.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said overnight it was considering temporarily banning naked short selling there.

Earlier today, Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) deputy chairman Jeremy Cooper told a House of Representatives economics committee hearing in Sydney investors could only make naked short sales if they were on “an approved list maintained by the ASX”.

“The government’s indicated that it’s considering new disclosure obligation regarding covered short selling.”

Mr Cooper said ASIC would provide whatever advice the government needed in considering new regulations.

When asked whether existing rules were adequate, Mr Cooper declined to comment as it was a policy question.

In March, ASIC and the ASX reminded investors of their disclosure obligations when short selling stock.

ASIC also said it was concerned some individuals were spreading false and misleading information about listed companies to provoke sales of securities.

On the Australian sharemarket today, Investment bank Macquarie Group jumped $9.85, or 37.81 per cent, to $35.90.

The stock has recovered most of the value it lost during the week, having slumped 38 per cent by yesterday’s close.

E.L. & C. Baillieu director, Richard Morrow, said today’s gains in the market were most likely the result of short-covering amongst investors following the surge on US indices.

Short covering is where investors buy the shares at a higher price than they sold them to cover positions that have gone the wrong way.

“It smells of some very, very heavy short-covering, especially in the finance sector, specifically in Macquarie Group,” Mr Morrow said.

In the US, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke held a closed-door meeting tonight with members of congress.

The ban, if enacted by the SEC, may well be unprecedented and a reflection of regulators’ concern about the widening scope of the financial crisis.

http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/66638/Naked-short-selling-banned-on-ASX

This is how Keith spent his 50th Birthday. Climbing Cradle mountain in Tasmania. The climb took approximantley 7 hours. We had both rain and snow during the climb but we keep going until we reached the top.

The once was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. In fact, he sold very good hot dogs.

He put up highway signs telling people how good his hot dogs tasted. He stood by the side of the road and called out, “Buy a hot dog, mister?”

And people bought his hot dogs. They bought so many hot dogs, the man increased his meat and bun orders.

He bought a bigger stove so he could meet his customers’ demands. And finally, he bought his son home from college to help out in the family business.

But something happened. His son said, “Father, do you not watch television, or read the newspapers? Do you not know we are heading for recession? The European situation is unstable, and the domestic economy is getting worse.”

And the father though, “My son is a smart boy. He has been to college. He ought to know what he is talking about.”

So the man cut down his meat and bun orders, took down his highway signs, and no longer stood by the side of the road to sell his hot dogs.

His sales fell fast overnight. “You’re right son,” said the father, “We certainly are in a serious recession.”

Soure: “What I Didn’t Learn At School But Wish I Had” - available for free from http://learntoberich.com.au/free_products/free_ebooks.php 

What I learn’t from this story is you should not always listen to your friends and family if you are trying something different. Just because you think somone is well educated and smart doesn’t mean they know what they are talking about. All your decisions should be based on doing research and investigating all possible outcomes. Looking at the facts of the situation and not make a decision based on emotion is the best way to decide what you should do. This story is based in USA and the European market was the one in recession, not the US market. The father thought his son was right as he stopped all his marketing efforts and his sales declined. 

For more information vist www.LearnToBeRich.com.au

For more information visit www.LearnToBeRich.com.au

For more information please visit www.LearnToBeRich.com.au

This is the intruduction for the interview with Jamie McIntyre on the Sky New channell. Stay tuned as we will have the full interview added. For more information visit www.LearnToBeRich.com.au

Keith from www.LearnToBeRich.com.au on the Bungee ball on the Gold Coast in 2007.

Helicopter Flight Over the Flordland National Park New Zealand 2007

This is us  Helisking in New Zealand 2005

• Do you work for free in your job or business? If not, why not?

• Jamie is committed to donating the initial 3 hour DVD plus provide a team of coaches available to answer questions at no charge to over 100,000 individuals, which is quite generous, considering the expenses involved. However, for those requiring further training, support and access to Licensed Sharebrokers, Property Sourcing Team, Accounting and Finance Brokers to help implement the strategies it requires a fee.

• From experience, Jamie found that those truly committed to changing their life wouldn’t hesitate to invest into their own education.

• Jamie used to do it for free and found people don’t value something as much if it is free, as a result they have a lower commitment, and thus achieve poorer results.

• Jamie doesn’t want uncommitted people doing his Homestudy course, thus by charging it eliminates those who are not committed to improving their life.

• Part of what Jamie teaches is that you should add value and not under charge for your services, thus be confident to charge what something is worth.

• Life is often a reflection of where a person is at, Jamie invested over $100,000 into seminars and tapes to learn these strategies and as a result became successful faster than most people. Those who are reluctant to invest in their education often don’t realise this is reflected by the universe being reluctant to allow wealth to flow into their lives.

• The course comes with a ten times 90 Day 100% Money Back guarantee, thus Jamie has removed the risk for those committed to having a go and wishing to invest in the program.

• It costs millions of dollars a year to run 21st Century group of Companies and Jamie only wants to help those who are willing to help themselves.

For instance, ignorance can be more expensive than education. Can most people afford to continue to miss out on $2,000 to $5,000 most months of the year in extra cashflow that many clients can produce within 90 -180 days of doing the Program?

For any further questions, feel free to contact us or your Personal Account Representative or visit our Online Forum at www.21stcenturygraduateforum.com

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• Firstly, the cost of something is relative, i.e. is it expensive or cheap to do the course if you learn how to make $2,000 to $5,000 many months of the year or more for the rest of your life from just one strategy? After doing the course, many clients realise the program is very inexpensive.

• One should also consider what it costs to go to University. The costs are a lot more than $49 per week or $3,995. And does one’s University fee come with a ten times your money back guarantee or it’s free? Obviously not. A University degree even though very valuable, doesn’t even guarantee a job, let alone skills that can produce real life results for a lifetime.

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The easiest way to order is to Click Here and order online or you can contact the agent who sent you the initial material.

Australia Ph: (02) 4472 1001       Fax: (02) 4472 1010

The programs are usually shipped within 48 hours, however this is not always possible. You should allow 14 to 21 days for delivery however it often arrives sooner. If it hasn’t arrived within 21 days please email info@learntoberich.com.au so they can track where the program is.

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Yes, the strategies work wherever you live in the world with a few exceptions. The share strategies are best done on the Australian Market or the US Market, which anyone in the world can easily access.

The success principles and the mindset of a millionaire are applicable no matter where in the world you live.

The property investing strategies vary from country to country and the property strategies covered are predominantly tailored to the Australian, New Zealand and UK Property Markets. However, if you live outside these countries this is a good insight to investing in these property markets as they represent some of the best property markets in the world. An average person can become rich in a reasonably short period of time from property, i.e. 5 to 15 years or less.

However, the principles for property investing can be adapted to other property markets, especially the United Kingdom and the United States. Other emerging property markets such as Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America can also provide great property investing opportunities as well.

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