I had hoped to get away from talking about scams and people being done out of their money this year, unfortunately, no such luck.
And I hate this to be an “I told you so” column, but unfortunately again, no such luck.
Last year I warned that property spruikers had slithered into the self-managed superannuation space and were ready to exploit the unwary with amazing tales of future riches.
Charterhill Group from South Australia comprised a series of entities marketing themselves as part of a “one-stop shop” for setting up self-managed super funds to buy real estate.
Their advertising suggested the potential for retiring with a million dollars in property and an after tax income of $1000 a week.
Yet anyone who’d visited Charterhill to secure a more prosperous retirement will most likely be suffering the opposite.
Two weeks ago Charterhill went into administration and with them went at least $6 million in investor savings – most investors losing $80,000-$120,000 in retirement savings.
Charterhill chief executive, George Nowak, told investors it was a “shock closure”, but the administrators later pointed out they’d been appointed by Mr Nowak!
Either way, Mr Nowak will have plenty of time to get his story straight because ASIC applied to the Federal Court to freeze Nowak’s assets and hold his passport for safe keeping.
It’s only early days, but it’s emerged that many investors had transferred their superannution over from an average industry fund to have Charterhill set up a SMSF.
The superannuation funds were to be used as deposits on property, but those deposits vanished.
The other interesting news was Charterhill had been attempting to do a backdoor listing on the share market via a previously delisted company; however this fell over back in September.
It would seem the ASX listing was meant to bring new funds into Charterhill and when that didn’t happen, well, we can only speculate on why those deposits disappeared!
Finally, many investors were recommended to Charterhill by their accountants – keep that in mind.
Peter Mancell is a director of Mancell Financial Group and FYG Planners AFSL/ACL 224543, www.mfg.com.au This information is general in nature and readers should seek professional advice specific to their circumstances. Looking for highly rated financial advisers in Australia to reach your goals?
