Many of our clients that have come over from other advisers have one common complaint: we lost money from investing in failed products.
One principle that Level One has fiercely upheld in the 9 years we have been advising is that we do not invest in the types of products that have been seen to fail. This predominantly means that we do not invest in mortgages, unlisted property trusts and agribusiness products.
Here is a list of some of the products that suffered greatly or failed in the lead up and amidst the GFC. You should note that most of the products are mortgage, unlisted property trusts and agribusiness investments:
- Trio Capital / Astarra
- LM Investment Management
- Opus Capital Group
- Basis Capital
- MFS Limited (now Wellington Capital)
- Aspen Property Funds
- Real Estate Capital Partners
- Prime Property Fund
- SAIteys McMahon / Orchard (now Arena Investment Management)
- Australian Unity
- Prime Retirement & Aged Care Property Trust
- Australian Unity Property & Mortgage Funds
- Timbercorp
- Pilandri Wines
- Willmott Forests
- Great Southern
- Banksia
These products at one time or another offered inflated returns for investors and extra-large commissions for advisers.
Level One has not and will not ever invest in the above products. We will, where possible, always refuse commissions from product providers and will never let this sway our judgement of the actual financial product on offer.
In adhering to our principles of conservative investing we believe that ‘if it seems too good to be true, it probably is’ and we don’t touch it.