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