A Week In The Life Of Another Wealth Coach | Annie Kaszina

First off, let’s redefine the title slightly: since I’m only let loose on this column once a month, how about a month in the life?

So what has been going on in this Money Gym coach’s life?

Well, I have, so to speak, said a fond farewell to my lovely MG clients for this year, in terms of actively coaching them anyway; but the relationship remains.  It is always a pleasure and a privilege to work with fabulous people around something as important as their life, and the respect and esteem continue.  So, too, does the repartee, as it has with Sue Trinder (aka the MG choir mistress) over a little known Madonna anthem (“I’m a Virgin!”) and some highly decorative book shelves that she was marketing!

Over the past year my lovely clients have learnt a lot about themselves, what they really want, what they believe they can have, and how they move forward.  Of course, we all want to be multi-millionaires, at least theoretically.  It’s the rare person who would say no to vast amounts of money choosing them.  But the reality is that the more clarity we have about ourselves, the more money we create and accumulate comfortably; that is to say in a way that is consistent with our fundamental beliefs, values and attitudes. (Oh dear, Annie is in philosophical mode! The annual jaunt to Venice, and canal-to-canal culture and frivolity clearly beckon!)

Less frivolously, the thing that has most exercised my mind over the past few weeks has, of course, been the demise of Passive Investments.  (I do tend to ruminate over things.) I’ve expressed my feelings about everyone’s losses, including my own, elsewhere, so no need to go over that ground again.

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Passive Investments | Liquidator Named

James Tickell, director of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, the insolvency practice chosen to disband the Passive Investments empire, says the matrix of firms will formally enter liquidation on 11 December.

Contact:  London Office, 43 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JG, Tel: 020 7925 2651 / Fax: 020 7925 2652 / Office email: post@portbfs.co.uk

Passive Investments Liquidation | Further Money Gym Statement

Last week the news broke about Passive Investments going into liquidation and Greg Ballard and Andy Shaw facing bankruptcy proceedings and one of the most difficult phone calls I had to make was the one telling my much-touring singing sister, Heather, about the news.   In my journey as a wealth coach, and the subsequent journey of creating and building The Money Gym, I don’t think I can remember such a difficult and horrid week.

As you know, I regard Andy and Greg as friends of mine, and they helped me so much, both practically and emotionally, when I was going through the difficult time with trying to sell the hotel, after the planning permission for change of use was refused.   I really could not believe that they had done anything wrong.

While all of my friends and family are grownups and able to do their own due diligence and make their own decisions, I still feel responsible that I have introduced them – along with my treasured clients – to something that I really believed at the time was good, even great, but now turns out not to be.

As more and more information comes to light about Passive Investments and the way they have treated some people, I am starting to feel very bad indeed about having promoted them, but I can only say that I (and then the Money Gym) did that in good faith, and the moment we started to suspect that they might not be delivering on the customer service in the way we would have liked, based on Judith’s personal experience as a client, we ceased to do so.

We were paid commission on referrals by Passive Investments. However, I can say, hand on heart, we never introduced Passive to anyone that we felt would not benefit from their service, and both Judith and I often actively talked some people out of it.   If an investment opportunity does not feel right in every way to our clients, we discourage them from proceeding with it.   We can honestly say that we have never introduced anything to our clients for the purposes of securing our introduction fee only; that is a bonus only.

Judith has educated me, over the weekend, about how Passive should have handled the client fees and how it seems they may not have complied with proper accounting procedures.

With hindsight, the statement we released last week was written hastily in response to the discussions on our private forum and comments on the blog and came from our hearts, but perhaps we should have waited for a few days before issuing it while the full story filtered back to us.

My position has always been that I (and The Money Gym) would only promote something that either I, or someone very close to me, had invested our own money in and were happy with.  The service that Passive offered was so attractive that nearly all my friends and family jumped on board, followed by a lot of our clients and subscribers.  However, in light of the developments last week, I feel that The Money Gym will be reviewing it’s stance on introducing anyone or anything at all, let alone quite so wholeheartedly, in the future.

I apologise unreservedly for my part in bringing the services of Passive Investments to the attention of so many people.

Nicola Cairncross

Note:  James Tickell, director of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, the insolvency practice chosen to disband the Passive Investments empire, says the matrix of firms will formally enter liquidation on 11 December.

Contact:  London Office, 43 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JG, Tel: 020 7925 2651 / Fax: 020 7925 2652 / Office email: post@portbfs.co.uk

Why I Have Sent Tudor Equity A Cheque For £2.5k With A Smile On My Face by Clare Hanbury

Money Gym Subscriber Clare Hanbury-Leu says: The relationship with Passive Investments was built on trust. I have trusted them to find the right properties – to renovate them to a high standard – to rent them out as quick as they can – to advise on the best mortgage deal – to re-mortgage and turn things around as soon as they can etc.

Most of us must be happy to accept risk to put so much trust into the hands of people we don’t know well. My friends, my financial adviser, my partner all felt nervous of the arrangement and advised against it but I pursued it – uncharacteristically ignoring their advice. My instinct felt strong on this one.

I have been involved with Passive Investments for 3 years and have two properties. The rental on one of these was a little slow in coming and the turnaround on the first mortgage again a little slow. I had one property fall through and lost a bit of money on legal costs and survey etc. All this said, I have been delighted with the results of the investments to date and delighted with every contact I have had with the company. I have felt totally supported by them. I like having them in my life. Every glitch, every query has been dealt with quickly, politely, humorously.  I have been happy to talk to two potential clients and chat through my experiences with them.

I have had some contact with Greg in the last few months and found him open and straightforward. He is an ideal business partner. Even prior to my contact with him there was no doubt in my mind that these are very tough times for the company with its peculiar business model that clients pay when we have done well and not until then! I am staggered that he has stuck at it as long as he has with no salary. I know he has worked for the future of his own properties (which is good thing) but he has also worked free for me too!

When the letter came though last week, the trust I had placed in them suddenly felt foolish. However after a few minutes indulging in panic…most of what I felt was what a WASTE of the talent and expertise that is this team. I felt upset that I would not complete the portfolio. I felt nervous about having to deal with the properties on my own and I felt frustrated to have to do so when they have a good system in place. I have a property in London too which I manage myself and would much rather it was in Passive’s care! Then I read that Steve wanted to keep things going with the team there and I was keen to know how I could help.

So…..there is this 2.5k (which is a LOAN) to help Tudor Equity capitalise – this is money that the very same advisers, partners friends etc will describe as throwing good money after bad – but I don’t think so. From a numbers point of view…Because the 15K back payment /property has been reduced to 10K this means that by the end of completing the portfolio of 5 properties, there will be a SAVING to me of 25K from the original agreement AND I’ll get the 2.5 loan back.

Hmnnn why is this a difficult one to agree to? I guess that it’s difficult because of trust. Do I trust them again? The way I see it is that they have ALREADY done so much for me re: my properties that they have ‘earned’ this AND if the team don’t think they can make a go of it because there are not enough of us signed up – we’ll get the money back anyway…and if they DO think they can make a go of it – well I am willing to give them an opportunity to do so.

My cheque is on its way to them with a smile on my face. I really want to help keep this business going and I am grateful to them for giving us a chance. I have not yet spoken to anyone outside of Passive and I have not looked on the internet to read what is being said so my words are unaffected by others’ opinions.

I don’t see any point in NOT supporting the team now. I feel the market is not only stabilising but strengthening – I think we all know this and what we also know is that we have a dedicated team and they will be even more so if this can go ahead. I really hope there are enough of us to give them a chance to navigate a path to creating a robust business again. I’m sure they can do it. The banks won’t help but I will.

Clare Hanbury B.Ed (Cambridge) MSc (London) MA (London)
International Development Consultant ClareHanbury.com

Passive Investments In Liquidation | The Money Gym

Read The Latest Money Gym Statement Here>>>>

Nicola says: Following the shocking news that Passive Investments have gone into liquidation, and that Andy Shaw and Greg Ballard are being made bankrupt by one of their larger creditors, many people are asking us to comment, both on the blog and in our private google group.

When I first met Greg and Andy, back in 2004 I think it was, they struck me as two highly intelligent, funny, energetic, successful guys, who had been in traditional business before, who thought very differently to many people and who had created a FANTASTIC model for investing in property. They were also helping their friends and family invest in the same way, on a fairly small scale, as well as building their own portfolios which numbered about 150 properties in those days.

I immediately knew that our Money Gym clients would love to meet them and hear about this method of investing in property, getting your money back out and going again, as the need to leave money in a property was frustrating many of our clients. We organised an Open Day at my hotel, The Acacia, and many of the clients who were there wanted Greg & Andy to do it for them, like they were doing for their nearest and dearest. Greg and Andy put together an offering, and I spread the word into the Money Gym group of clients and subscribers.

I introduced them to Gill Fielding, my first wealth mentor, who immediately invested with them, ditto Maria Davies. Gill then started presenting this opportunity for them. When Gill could no longer present, Maria Davies took over for a while.

Everyone loved the concept, especially busy professionals and people who wanted to invest in property but didn’t have the first clue about how to go about it. Most people really took to Greg and Andy too, as they shared their knowledge freely, helping many, many people make money along the way. I particularly remember one lunch where they helped a Money Gym client to negotiate a purchase, making him an extra £80,000 along the way. They then took him under their wing and mentored him for a while in his own property deals.

Pretty soon, they were so swamped with people wanting them to invest for them, that they had to create a company to handle the demand. Passive Investments was born.

We are also aware that they then developed a “private investor” scheme whereby people with money sitting idle in a low interest bank account lent the money to Greg and Andy personally for bigger property projects, and because I was not one of those people, I didn’t find out any further details and they never sought a public platform for that opportunity though the Money Gym.

My sister Sarah and brother-in-law Nick invested, my sister Heather invested, Steve Watson and I both bought a “place” each too. I would have happily bought more “places” if I could. The company still owe us for some of the second “place” so my family and I are all out of pocket as well as those of our clients who chose to invest alongside us.

One ray of hope is that those of our clients and family who have properties may make up the monies they have lost (by having paid a fee for a service that now won’t be delivered) AND may ultimately end up better off, due to now not having to pay Passive the agreed “back end” fee on the eventual refinancing of their properties.

Judith Morgan, ex-accountant, Money Gym client and now our business partner, invested the entirety of her inheritance from her Mother into her two “places”. This should have meant ten properties in the fullness of time but she only has three. Her portfolio could not be grown once it became impossible to achieve mortgages or re-finance.

I have heard some horrible stories going around about things that Greg and Andy are supposed to have said and done and while I have no personal knowledge of those things, I’m working on the “innocent ‘till proven guilty” theory. I have always liked and respected Andy and Greg, and I feel sure that most of the rumours are unfounded.

Only yesterday Andy’s website was apparently hacked into, allegedly by someone known to the company, and a personal message to members and investors was changed beyond all recognition to cast the worst possible light on Andy. Here is a link to Andy’s correct personal statement.   Remember to click on the Free User button and then the blue Download button.

We have also been re-educating our clients during the credit crunch to take a more active role in managing ALL their investments, including this one which was originally intended to be passive.  You might want to read about one of our clients (who is not alone by any means) who feels that she will go forward with Tudor Equity, the company that some of the management team is putting together to take the portfolios forward.

Feel free to comment on the blog here but be aware that we reserve the right not to publish any comments that are potentially libellous or are simple repeating content from other people’s blogs or emails.

Later Note: James Tickell, director of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, the insolvency practice chosen to disband the Passive Investments empire, says the matrix of firms will formally enter liquidation on 11 December.

Contact:  London Office, 43 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JG, Tel: 020 7925 2651 / Fax: 020 7925 2652 / Office email: post@portbfs.co.uk

Amazing Offers, Radiowaves & Outer Space

So who moved the Bank Holiday from the traditional last weekend in August to this weekend then?  First I knew about it was when GM.tv started wittering on about DIY for the Bank Holiday!

It’s been a weird week without the kids – this year I’m coping better because I’m getting out and about more – except NOT down the beach obviously!! I’m playing poker live around various venues in Sussex.  For £12 a night, you get two games and your dinner and last night at the Montague was a great night all round, with a fine home-cooked Shepherds Pie with peas (yum) or chicken korma with rice.  It was odd going back there as I spent a large part of my teenage life upstairs in The Montague, they used to run a fantastic soul night there, and co-incidentally, this week on Facebook, I was contacted by Steve MacMahon, an ex-Worthing boy, who is now a DJ in New York, whose very sister used to run that soul night!!

Lee the landlord of The Montague is incredibly entrepreneurial, and is running a great pub there, with “cocktails & karaoke”, comedy and cabaret nights in addition to the biggest Texas Hold’em game in the area, up to four tables now.  There’s two computers with fast internet connection, there are notices on the bar telling us who our barstaff are, and lockers to put your drink in if you need to go outside to smoke (not me!).  Join The Montague’s “University of Poker” (M.U.O.P) Facebook group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23133628865

It’s the last day of the Grand Wealth Giveaway – Kathy very kindly extended the deadline by two days, so if you haven’t downloaded your free gifts – and there is some great property investing stuff in there, Kathy having made her money in real estate, go and get them now, as the offer is closing at midnight tonight.
http://tinyurl.com/wealthgiveaway

As a list building exercise, participating in the Wealth Giveaway was a great event for the Money Gym adding over 300 new people to the Money Gym MVS system.  I’m hoping that many of those are internet marketers who will be interested in re-branding and giving away my free reports on their websites and blog.

I’ve had a frustrating week with technology, but we figured out why the admin area of the blog was running so slow – it was a rogue plugin.  After deactivating them all, then reactivating them one by one, it’s now running along nicely.  Having issues with my podcasts from Hipcast though, as soon as I post one, then go to change the catagory, the player disappears!  I’m going to dig out Mike Stewart’s tutorials on podcasting direct from the blog later today.

New at The Money Gym is a great special offer for just £4.97, where we are bundling a great load of stuff, some audio including the first three chapters of the Money Gym book, as read by the author, four reports, the UK’s first Wealth Conference audio and a 30 day trial of the Money Gym Club site…..and folks are signing up in droves!  You can get your bundle here http://www.themoneygym.com/offer/

As I say, I’ve been recording the Audio version of The Money Gym book – listen to Chapter 1 here at http://www.MoneyGymRadio.com .  I’m a reading kind of gal, but I know 30% of the population like to listen to stuff in the car or while exercising, so I’m working my way through the book, and the audio version will be available by next week as an option.

It’s made me realise that I need to rewrite it and update it – I’ve learned SO MUCH MORE since I wrote it.  I think I will lose the “Day by Day” format too, and make it flow more.  Must talk to Debs and Joe at Bookshaker about a relaunch…..”The Money Gym Revisited” here we come!

As part of the run up to the re-launch of the Money Gym Silver Club membership, I’ve been experimenting with some BlogTalkRadio shows.  I’m veering between a “Smashy & Nicey” kind of voice, through to a “late night talk show” voice and it’s a struggle to talk normally.  I’m having an issue with my headset making my voice very quiet too, but I’ll try holding the receiver today (for half an hour?) and see if that helps.  Not quite brave enough to open the lines to phone in’s yet, but there is a chat facility….committed to doing a show every day till the end of next week, then I’ll swap to weekly, probably on a Wednesday at 1pm.  Check it out at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheMoneyGym

The sewing hobby is going well too – I’ve made two linen shirts for me, a pair of gingham short shorts for Phoebe, and cut out two nighties ready to sew this weekend.  I’ve been listening to Frank Kern videos while I’m sewing so it’s not taking me totally away from the computer, but nearly!

I had lunch with Greg Ballard yesterday, and had a good old chinwag, catching up on all the news, and a look round their new offices, which used to be those of my accountant, Mark Nicholson from Spofforths.  It was great to hear that, in spite of the credit crunch, Passive are still picking up lots of great bargains for their clients.

Steve is working his way diligently through John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 which is excellent and very thorough.  He’s missing the kids but is also getting out and about more with his golf, having bought himself a driver and putter on eBay and a new pair of golf shoes, as the old ones were giving him terrible blisters!

And I’ve been enjoying wandering around the Scienceray blog – check out these AMAZING pics of outer space here http://www.scienceray.com/Astronomy/A-Handpicked-Collection-of-Ultimate-Space-Pictures-3.216589 and look out for the pictures of the planned “doughnut” space station to house the whole human race if we do end up totally destroying the planet, god forbid!

Now, don’t forget to book your tickets for the very exciting two-day “Money Gym Presents….Brett McFall” event on 20th and 21st September – just £25 and all of it (ex the VAT) is going to Great Ormond St Hospital.  It’s the must-attend event for aspiring internet entrepreneurs and We can only fit 300 of you in, and we have 80-odd on our VIP pre-register list, so if all those buy two tickets…..get yours here at http://www.themoneygym.com/brettmcfall

Have fun, we always are!

Nicola

Joint Ventures RIP! Long Live Strategic Partnerships

This week has been an interesting one in the world of both business success and internet marketing.  The excellent Stompernet faculty has opened it’s long closed doors to a limited number of new students and what is rapidly growing into the “must join” membership site / online university has been following the classic “product launch formula” method of giving away great content before selling anyone anything. 

Attraction marketing at it’s finest.

One of the things that Stompernet have been giving away, is lots and lots of free videos on improving your rankings in the Search Engines.  Check out those and their fantastic new and totally free tool to find out what Google sees when it visits your site here >>>

Another is Brad Fallon, founder of Stompernet, together with one of my mentors Rich Schefren, discussing on some great videos on why you should stop thinking in terms of quick and dirty Joint Ventures (where you just mail for them and they mail for you) and start thinking in terms of value-adding strategic partnerships.

Think about who you could work with on a long term basis, that you

1.  Like – this is very important
2.  Respect – you have to feel happy recommending them and their company
3.  Know have unique content that you don’t have that your subscribers / members would enjoy/benefit from

We have long been a fan of this in The Money Gym, with our existing alliances with those who we consider to be the best in their field, such as our “Money Gym Presents….Our Favourite Experts” workshop presenters, but specifically Passive Investments, Tamkin Riaz, Marcus De Maria, Alan Forrrest Smith and now Tim Brocklehurst, Brett McFall, Claire Raikes, and Dave Lee, The Cashflow Investor (see Wealth Highway article today).

But it’s all been a bit informal and I’m starting to think about making it more formalised and also more reciprocal in some cases.

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Despair Of Ever Investing In Property?

This post was written before the demise of Passive Investments.  Read The Latest Money Gym Statement Here>>>>

Every so often a wealth creation concept or different way of doing things comes along, that just blows my mind.

A few years ago, when I came across the way my mates Greg & Andy invest in property, my head nearly exploded with excitement, and I couldn’t wait to share their ideas with my readers.

However, Greg & Andy’s way of doing things does depend on three things

1.  A good credit rating
2.  A pot of cash to use over and over again for deposits / refurb
3.  Ability to get a mortgage (lots of “buy to let” mortgages still ask for proof of earnings)

Now this is great for a large majority of our Money Gym members and hundreds of them have availed themselves of Greg & Andy’s services, via Passive Investments or learned how to do it themselves, via Andy’s book.

BUT………..

I knew there was about 30% of our subscribers who couldn’t “do property” the Passive way, or even buy their own home, due to

1.  No pot of cash
2.  No credit rating
3.  No proof of earnings

Now, I know that there are several other ways to make money from property, without having to buy any yourself, but sadly people just seem to give up at that point, and don’t go on learning about what makes a good property deal, if they haven’t got even one of the above three things in place.

So you can imagine how delighted I was when I met David Lee, via Tamkin Riaz, at the last World Internet Summit.  I really think that the heavens were conspiring that night, because I had met David several times before, but never really fully grasped what he did.

On this occasion, I ended up sitting next to him, his wife and son, in the pub, and out of politeness really, asked him again to tell me what he does…..an hour or so later, I still didn’t really get it, but dimly grasped enough to realise that it was a totally different way of making money from property, and to tell Judith we should invite David to speak for The Money Gym.

In January David did a VERY powerful presentation – and he would be the first to admit he’s quite new to public speaking – and his concept and content blew us away.

Can you imagine being able to make money from property without needing a deposit, a mortgage or a good credit rating?  Where you are not competing with all the “below market value” boys, and where you are not only making big chunks of cash, but helping two sets of people?

Let me repeat that……where you are making what we in the Money Gym call “life changing sums of money” while helping two sets of people.

A geniune win/win/win situation.  It takes a bit of a mind-shift, a bit of a leap of faith, and access to some minor cojones to get started, but if you are open-minded and determined…….

I tell you now, this is dynamite stuff.  Judith and I both love it!

Several Money Gym clients signed up on the spot and we have all been working our way through the materials – the detailed “how to” workbook, the many hours of audio with real people, case studies, and student stories.  I have rarely seen a better put together home study course and the backup support from David is superb.

David is doing a presentation soon, and there will be a very special guest there – Rick Otton.

Rick is the guy who learned how to utilise this way of making money from property, firstly in the USA, then Australia, and he mentored David to make it work here.

I have no idea where Maidenhead is, but, if you have despaired of every becoming a property investor, but you want to be, I suggest you get your map out and make your way there pronto!

http://tinyurl.com/574rzb

Don’t delay, places are limited and David’s last events in Ealing and Manchester sold out very quickly.

Take action now and I personally promise you, you will be amazed!

http://tinyurl.com/574rzb

Your Cash – Get Control!

Nicola Cairncross recommends:  If you want to get control of your money, and discover whether you are going in the right direction financially, I highly recommend the Cashflow chapter in The Money Gym ebook (see pic on right for link).

There are two elements to good financial control;  one is to keep on top of and manage your cashflow, and the second is to take a quarterly snapshot of your assets, liabilities, income, outgoings, and overall net worth.  Both of these can be easy to do, with the right (simple) tools. 

Do not disappear up your own derrieres with details, on this one folks!  Remember what one of my first financial mentors, Gill Fielding always says, the best deals can be worked out on the back of a fag packet,and so it is with keeping control of your finances.

On the spreadsheet front, the one on P12 of the book is the old one we used to use, and it’s very good still.  But we now use a different one for our own accounts, one given to us by Greg Ballard of Passive Investments (www.AskNicolaCairncross.com/Recommends/Passive in case you don’t know them – I’m happy to take advice from someone who can take £10k on a credit card and turn it into over £30 million in property in just 10 years!!)

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Wealth Creation Rip Offs

Sometimes I’m almost ashamed to be a “wealth creation expert!”  So many scams going on around me, so many people being ripped off, so many dodgy blokes in suits selling unscrupulous products and services.  I’m sick to the stomach when I hear about some of the things some companies do.

Why did I, in 1999, become obsessed with creating wealth for myself and then have this great idea about sharing what I learned – it’s a bit like deciding on purpose, voluntarily, without having my arm twisted, to become a double glazing or timeshare salesman.

Why didn’t I just do it for myself and keep schtum?

The problem is that there wasn’t a Money Gym around when I was struggling financially, when we couldn’t pay the rent and we had to move to my sister’s tiny cottage and cram ourselves in with our kids, her kids, my husband, then her husband (who was supposed to be away at sea but who broke his leg and came home on sick leave).

There was nowhere to go, to get the very basics of wealth creation in one place.

O yes, you could learn about investing in shares, or building a business, or investing in property (real estate) but there wasn’t anywhere to get all the basics and you certainly couldn’t learn about making money online without wading through piles and piles of emails.  So I could see the need and because I was only a few steps away from feeling the pain myself – how could I NOT share what I was learning.

And that grew into The Money Gym – in those days just me and the telephone, coaching clients myself.  It was only with the arrival of ….. Read more..