Ever buy a toy as a child and race home, open it, and discovour that it is useless without the batteries? Toy marketers caught on a long time ago that a prominent “Batteries not included” label was appreciated by parent and child alike, because unmet expectations can be avoided. Some include the batteries now (Nintendo do this for their Wii) - I believe that if you make something, you should always include the batteries.
My partner Helen and I are discussing investment and lifestyle choices now that we’ve been cohabiting for a while. I bought a few books on investing in shares and property. Helen needed a book to read on the bus to work the other day so I suggested one from our “to be read” pile: Margaret Lomas’ “The Truth About Positive Cashflow Property”. She handed it back to me that evening and said “She says not to read this one until you’ve read some of her other books, what else do you have to read?”.
I thought I must have screwed up when I bought the book - I have my moments, but I do pay attention to order when buying books. For example, I wouldn’t buy part 3 of a science fantasy series without having read parts 1 and 2. I looked at “The Truth About Positive Cashflow Property” today - there on the cover is the recommendation from Neil Jenman, famous for his honesty in an industry not famed for it. There is the list of Margaret’s other books, and on the front, her smiling face. OK, so maybe it is in the front matter. Nope, there are pages of raves from other readers, but nothing about “Don’t buy this book until you’ve read my other ones”. Then I read the introduction - nothing there on prerequisite reading. I was beginning to wonder if Helen had misread it, so I started on the first chapter. Four pages into chapter one, there it is:
It is crucial that, in order to grasp the basics of how to successfully invest in true positive cash flow property, you read one of the books in my How to series, plus A Pocket Guide to Investing in Positive Cash Flow Property.
She goes on:
Once you have educated yourself about positive cash flow property and you are fully conversant in the process you must follow to buy it, you will then be ready to read this book.
As a reader I have a few options. I can get over feeling suckered and go and buy the other books. I can throw this book in the bin and never intentionally purchase another book by Margaret Lomas. Or I can ignore her advice and read the book anyway, and see if that buys back some of my trust - which is a conundrum, because if I trust her I would not read any further. Whichever way I go, I feel foolish for having bought the book in the first place.Why has she done this? If her intention was to prevent the reader from making my mistake, she probably would have put the warning on the front cover - or at least the back - that this was an “advanced topic” book that requires some pre-reading. It is OK to do that, serial fiction authors do it all the time, as do the writers of academic texts. Because I have a trust issue with her, cognitive dissonance leads me to think badly of Margaret even when there is no evidence to support it. So now I think, rightly or wrongly, that she has deliberately hidden this warning in the text of the book (nine physical pages) so that I would have to buy her other books to find out what happens in this one. I don’t know her from a bar of soap, and was prepared to trust her until proven otherwise, so I may have this wrong. Neil Jenman’s recommendation aside, I have no logical reason to feel this way about her - but as a human being, I distrust what I percieve has burnt me.
How could she have avoided this? By being up front - totally transparent - and discussing the prerequisite books, if only for a paragraph or two, somewhere that could not be missed, and stating plainly why they should be read before this one. Who knows, I might have decided to buy one of the others first.
But for now, the book goes back into the shelf, because Margaret should have included the batteries. I will seek out other authors that cover the same or similar material, and sadly I may be a little wary of Neil Jenman’s recommendation on the next one. This is a pity - my late father spoke highly of Neil and in his (brief) career in real estate said that he was a man to be trusted.
Hi…
I am Russian but work on the field of marketing at constructive company in Russia. I can speak English a little. That is why sometimes I turn to experiences of English-speaking countries. Hence I found Margaret Lomas advices.
I can answer you why she does this. It is very easy and you know it.
She just wants to earn money.
Russians say: Who can’t do business they become advisers.
This is your beer:
http://fotoplenka.ru/users/larisa72/314787/5772883/
Hi Larisa,
I suspect you are right - it is often the case that someone says “and if you liked this book, please read my other ones” - I guess what bugged me in this case was that she was pre-selling her other books before I read the others
PS: Thanks for the beer
Best regards, Andrew
Hi. I too bought the Truth about Positive Cash Flow book first. I did know about the others, but I thought it would condense a lot of the info from the previous titles. I too came to the same “you must the others first” part. However because I already found resonance with her ideas by this stage, I did seek out some of the earlier titles, and I have to say, I think it is worth doing so. I like to read very widely before I come to my own opinions, and I do think that Margaret Lomas (and Neil Jenman) are some of the good guys. It might be worth borrowing the How to Have a Income for Life from the library if you don’t want to spend any more money on Margaret, but I do think you’ll find her ideas worthwhile. Then go back to the Truth about… and you might find your way.
Good luck!
Bud (from Sydney)
Hi Bud,
thank you for your comment.
Based on your recommendation, I’ll give Margaret another chance and find a copy of How to Have an Income for Life. It is probably not worth letting my perception of underhandedness get in the way of what sounds like really good information.
Best regards, Andrew
Seriously not intended to mislead and I was guided by my publisher. This book CAN be read as stand alone book and perhaps the statement should read ‘If you want more detailed educational information, read one of the other books too”. That book, however, does deliver the information it promises on the back cover.
Just to clear up a common misconception - authors do not make much from book sales (truly, about $1.50 a book) so referring to past books is not a ‘money making’ strategy. Rather, it is provided for your information - the Truth is not meant to be an educational guide as such, just a warning about the truly bad characters who are out there and some up to date details about buying proeprty in the current climate. The advice to read the other books is only for those who really want more education and guidance at the base level, as I did not want to repeat it all again and have people really upset at buying another book with the same stuff in it!
I certainly think that I probably can do business and became an adviser to assist others (all due respect to Larisa, as I do know many ‘advisers’ who may not be good at their jobs. Here we say ‘those who can do, those who can’t, teach!). Again book writing is a low paid occupation
and I really just wanted to share the information at a time when people were being encouarged to pay thousands of dollars for ‘courses’ and seminars which taught them nothing. I figured if I could make better information available at $25 then I could eventually make those opportunists extinct! I am quite successful in business, so I did not need to make writing my main occupation.
Please don’t think badly of Neil - he is truly one of the only good guys in the whole country and I am privileged to know him. He does fantastic work to protect others, so be mad at me but allow others to continue to trust him for the help he gives daily to those who have really been ripped off.
The next print run for my book is due soon and will be sure to address the issue. I try to be genuine and honest every day, so I do hope you accept my explanation and appreciate that there really was nothing sinister in it at all, and it certainly was not a marketing ploy. I can only prosper as a business from the professional service which my branches provide to people and if I am not trusted then this will not happen, so I am sure you can agree that it would be silly for me to take actions which upset people.
Thanks for making your feelings so prominently felt though. Times like this only help me to strive to be better
Hi Margaret,
thank you for your comment.
I wrote the above post more in sadness than in anger. I must admit to being confused by your references to Mr Jenman (whom, as I said, I have always seen as an honest man in an industry not famed for them) and what I perceived as hidden prerequisites.
At Bud’s suggestion, I did get some of your other books. I will read them as soon as possible - and it is my sincere hope that my perception should be proved to be inaccurate, and that I may be in a position to offer you an overdue apology.
I understand that there are a lot of people around in the investment advice game who are less than honest, and that writers do not make a lot from each book sold.
Best regards, Andrew
It would be great to see your forum perhaps looking out for some of these ‘less than honest’ people and pissibly even encouraging others to write if they have had experiences with them. The only way to eventually stamp them out completely is to continue to expose them.
Bringing about regulation in the property investment industry is very important to me - as such we (my company) have become foundation members of the Property Investment Association of Australia (www.piaa.org.au). This is a ‘not for profit’ organisation whose aims are to foster and administer some form of regulation so that we can further protect property investors. At present ASIC plays no role in supervising this industry and in fact there is NO LAW at all - this means anyone, with any background, can say they are a property investment adviser and basically broadcast whatever they want, whenever they want to!
I am on the education committee of this group and we have developed a course, offered through Deakin Prime, to enable advisers to become ‘qualified’. It is our hope that the government will introduce some form of licensing and make courses like these the minimum basic requirements for all property advisers. We have a long way to go but at least the journey has begun.
Neil is everything you say he is. He has started a group to which donations are made so that people who have actually lost money by being taken advantage of can apply for some relief (I am not sure he would give you back the $25 you spent on my book, though :)). He is truly interested in helping those who have been left high and dry by the unscrupulous.
As for me, no apology needed. We need to keep our antennae tuned in for those who really have no interest in helping us. You can’t possibly know if I am one of those or not, and even me telling you I am not is not enough (I am sure Henry Kaye told every one he was a good guy, too). I am perfectly OK with the negatives people say about me - you have to take the good with the bad. It just means people are looking out for themselves.
Hi Margaret,
thank you for your reply.
It is pretty scary that anyone can call themselves a property investment adviser - I previously thought that ASIC were all over anyone who gave investment advice in any capacity.
You are right that more needs to be done to expose the cheats and liars - as well as the plain incompetents - within the property investment advice industry. Is there a way for an Australian blogger such as myself to do so without getting sued into abject bankruptcy? If there is, I’m willing to give it a go, and I think that I could persuade others to join me.
Best regards, Andrew
Thanks for the offer. I think the main thing we can all do is encourage others to speak out about their experiences. You can not be personally sued if you receive a post from someone who genuinely had a bad experience. You see, for me to speak out and name names it can look like I am just trying to promote myself so I have to be careful.
Let me tell you about some of the sorts of things I mean.
Some spruikers advertise ‘workshops’, ’seminars’ or ‘boot camps’ where the offer is made that attendees will learn the ’secrets of the rich’ or ‘how to accumulate a property portfolio worth $x (usually millions) with no money down’ etc etc. Usually these workshops span a weekend and cost several thousands of dollars - often up to $10,000 per person, and many presenters actually offer a ‘finance’ deal to those who cannot afford the ‘tuition’.
These groups will usually use a company name which contains words traditionally thought of as being solid and ethical - ‘institute’ ‘academy’ etc to further lure the innocent.
The courses themselves contain either strategies with extreme risk, strategies which actually cannot be applied in the real world, strategies which are unethical or push the legal envelope, or in the worst cases, a further lure to attend an even more expensive special ‘event’ (reserved for only the 50 lucky people who can pay the $20,000 or so price) or to buy in to a property scheme involving high risk such as mezzanine financing or financing property developments with over enthusiastic forecasts about their money making abilities.
These courses will always be attended by successful ‘disciples’ who give their personal testimonial - typically the one percent of people who previously attended their courses who actually had the luck (and trust me it is always only luck or fortunate timing) to have made money from the strategies.
The story that is never told is the one about the other 99% of people who spent hard earned money to achieve nothing. In some cases, these people have used valuable savings or gone into debt in the hope of some sort of salvation for a future which they had previously thought held no hope for financial security - so they are reasonably desperate for an answer in the first place.
It is never revealed (or considered) that the presenter charging say, $2000 a head for a weekend workshop which attracts 150 people pockets $300,000 (less the costs to stage the event of, say $25,000) for two days’ work.
The personal financial circumstances, or details of the success of the presenter in using their own strategies to succeed is also rarely revealed - except to the extent that they may display pictures of themselves in front of a Ferrari or speak about the exotic lives they now lead which you too can enjoy if you follow them (blindly). Rarely does anyone consider that this lifestyle is more likely funded by exorbitant tuition fees than it is by successful investing.
And so on.
How about we encourage any one, from anywhere who has ever attended one of these types of courses to come on this site and tell us about what the real outcomes for them have been. They could tell us the price of the course and then advise if they received value for this money in concrete ways. Did they learn strategies they could really use? Did they get after course support? Were their own personal financial needs assessed and the strategies they learned structured to meet these individual needs?
May be we will find people who attended genuinely helpful courses at good value and this is great. Maybe we might protect others from suffering the same fate. Hey, what if we only save one person? Better we tried!
At the very least we might make this blog about more than just a conversation between you and me ï?Š (that really was a joke)
Meanwhile I will keep working on the government to get the legislation in place. I know it is impossible to believe that there is currently none at all, but apart from issuing vague warnings about people pushing property scams, ASIC really has no governance powers in this industry whatsoever. Very sad, but very true.
Hi Margaret,
thank you for your comment.
Those profit levels for conferences are astounding - there truly is no reason to look beyond “$300,000.00 for the weekend” as a motivator.
I think that what you are talking about might be better suited to a forum than a blog - a place where any might contribute their story. The trouble with forums is that they need to be carefully regulated - they have been used by the vindictive to victimise the innocent (some of the blogs referred to in the Kathy Sierra wikipedia article were forums rather than blogs per se).
That said, I’m game if you are
I’m going to launch DodgyBastards.com when time allows.
Best regards, Andrew
PS: since starting this blog on 05 April 2007 I’ve had 185 comments - please rest assured that while I value yours immensely, there are other conversations here and I hope that this continues
I Love it! Dodgybastards.com
I am going to tell Neil about it too as I know he would love that. He is soon to release a new book in which he will name names and print pictures and I believe he has an extreme amount of dirt on many people, some which will surprise. Dodgybastards.com can make use of that book once it is out.
Thank you for your commitment. It is very refreshing. Since the great wall of china was built single rock by single rock, who knows what we cna eventually achieve!
Sorry Margaret,
that should read “ShonkyBastards.com” - someone else had already grabbed the DodgyBastards.com domain name (my first choice).
I will look forward to reading Neil’s book and hopefully running down some leads from it.
Best regards, Andrew