Lightminded

No Work No Pay

Coert — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:52:05 +0000

Performance-based Remuneration

The recent recession once again emphasised the value of an excellent and well-known old business principle. In the good times, when businesses are making plenty of money, they don’t worry too much about this principle; but when the wolf is knocking on the door they’re suddenly very sorry that they ignored it. Then they diligently want to try and put it right, but in most cases it’s too late. The principle I’m talking about is performance-based remuneration.

Plenty of people know exactly what it is, and a lot of people even use it in the good times; certain professions will always stick to it regardless of the state of the economy. These include professions like estate agents and insurance consultants, who usually always work on a commission basis. That’s exactly what performance-based remuneration means in its simplest form, but most people think that it’s something that applies only to salespeople. Definitely not.

Other situations where you’ll find performance-based remuneration fairly regularly in all circumstances include, for example, directors’ performance bonuses at the end of the financial year. If this system works well for salespeople and directors, why not for other staff and managers as well?

It’s not always practically possible to apply it to each and every function in the business, but if we could, we would have staff who are worth every cent that they earn – and that’s what will make the difference for the company in tough times. In good times everyone looks good, but in tough times you can easily spot the passengers. And if they look like passengers in tough times, then you can believe me when I say that they were even worse in the good times. You just couldn’t see it amidst all the prosperity. Now they stand out like sore thumbs, and it pains you to pay them a fixed salary that they “aren’t earning”. The good staff who also didn’t get noticed in the good times are now shining like diamonds, but they’re also now suffering under the financial burden placed on the company’s limited reserves by the passengers.

What companies then usually do is start time-consuming and expensive staff layoffs in order to get rid of the passengers. It’s all so unnecessary and could be so easily avoided if you always handled your staff’s remuneration exclusively on a PERFORMANCE-BASED REMUNERATION BASIS, regardless of the economic conditions or the company’s financial position.

The philosophy behind performance-based remuneration or paying for performance is to reduce any job function in the business to measurable units so that you can then pay a pre-determined fee for that unit of work to be done.

Think about it like this:
If someone is paid for the time they work versus being paid for the results of that work, they are incentivised to do as little as possible per hour as they know that they need to stretch the work load to fill up the hours in the day. If however they are paid for the completion of a task at a certain quality standard, then they are incentivised to do as good a job as possible in the shortest possible time.

Performance-based pay links remuneration to individual achievement (or non-achievement) of predetermined outcomes and/or the performance of the company. It takes several forms, including performance-based changes to base remuneration and the provision of bonuses and other one-off type rewards.

Think about it: if your business had already switched over to a performance-based .........................

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The Disappearance of Treoc Investor Club Franchises

Coert — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:34:00 +0000

During his time as CEO of the Treoc Group, Jose Delgado established the Club Franchises. The idea was good, but its execution was unfortunately a massive failure, for the following reasons:

1. Some of the franchisees were not successful property investors themselves, but had to give advice to potential property investors.
2. Then there were other franchisees who didn’t care much about their members. For them it was just about making money at any cost.
3. Most of the franchisees had no business experience and so they weren’t capable of running their franchise businesses successfully – especially not once the recession hit.
4. A few franchises were very well managed and worked well, but unfortunately they couldn’t survive the recession.
5. All the franchises, without exception, could not meet the marketing requirements in terms of the franchise agreement.

After Mr Delgado’s departure, Treoc entered into an agreement with Mr Desmond Seeley to solve the franchise problem. Mr Seeley submitted a full proposal to Treoc’s executive management and gave the assurance that he would achieve the proposed corrective objectives within .........................

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On a lighter note

Coert — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:37:42 +0000

The Perfect Body

This week’s story is a little bit foul and not for sensitive readers.

I’m sure you all know the children’s story where all the organs of the body are fighting about who is the most important; but for those who don’t I’ll gladly repeat it, since there’s so much to learn from it, and my conclusions at the end of the article won’t make sense if you don’t know the story.

One day the body’s organs held their annual meeting and decided to elect a President for the first time ever. Each one got a turn to give an election speech and to tell the voters why he thought he was the most important and why they should elect him.

The Brain was the first one to speak and he explained in no uncertain terms why there should not be any further discussion about the subject. It was quite logical to the Brain that he should be the President. The Heart didn’t agree, of course, and put forward his case in a long scientific speech that quoted Dr Chris Barnard’s research. In the same way the Stomach, Lungs, Pancreas and all the other important and less important organs each got their turn and put forward strong arguments.

When it came to the voting, a thin, wheezy little voice right at the back, in the middle, pointed out that he had not yet made his speech. Everyone turned around and then burst out laughing when they saw that it was Anus who was talking. They ignored his request to put forward his case and went on with the voting. Who would want an Anus as President? Heart won the election and everyone apart from Anus got a post in the cabinet. Who would want an Anus as Minister?

Anus was very unhappy about being snubbed like this and decided to strike. It was chaos! Within a week the Stomach was bloated, the Brain was foggy and the Heart had even begun to flutter. All the organs were in deep trouble and pleaded with Anus to open his door and start service delivery again. He stated his demands and the organs called an emergency meeting. They decided, with a large majority, to end Heart’s presidency and to inaugurate Anus as President. The problems came to an end immediately – or so it seemed, because who can know for sure when an Anus is your President?

About 20 years ago this children’s story took on new meaning for me during a conversation with a priest. I’d confronted the priest about one of his congregation members who was continually bringing the church into disrepute through his bad behaviour; I will never forget the words that the priest used that day. He said, “Brother Coert, we consider the congregation to be the spiritual body of Christ and we consider the Body of Christ to be perfect. Brother Coert, just as the natural body is not perfect without an asshole, so the spiritual body is also not perfect without an asshole.” I was shocked! That was one of the few times that I’ve heard a minister use a dirty word, but I think it was exceptionally appropriate. It struck me like a sledgehammer and I had no further questions. I understood!

Every time I read or experience something that would have seriously upset me prior to that day, the priest’s words come back to me. Like these days, when I read about a certain Youth League leader’s arrogance, .........................

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Thousands of Companies and Closed Corporations being deregistered….

Coert — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:53:42 +0000

PROFIDEND NEWS

Your company might be in danger… a danger you are not even aware off. Business owners, please read this. Sometimes you have to do the boring stuff too!

My business service providers, Henzel and Profidend brought this scary issue under my attention and I think it is crucial for our subscribers with companies or close corporations to take urgent notice of this silent killer. Perhaps just another way of the government to make money, but a very disturbing way. That is for sure.

Companies and close corporations (”CCs”) are required by law to lodge annual returns with CIPRO and pay the relevant fees. The lodgement of the annual returns is a recent legal requirement which starts to bite companies and CCs. Failure to lodge the annual returns timeously can cause a company or CC to be deregistered by CIPRO. During November 2009 CIPRO placed hundred thousands of companies and CCs in process of deregistration due to their failure to lodge their annual returns. It is anticipated that the registration of those companies and CCs which have still not lodged their annual returns, will be cancelled in the very near future.

Directors of companies and members of CCs are well aware of the legal responsibility of the preparation of annual financial statements for their businesses as well as the filing of income tax returns. The annual returns, which must be lodged with CIPRO, is a further legal requirement with which companies and CCs must comply irrespective whether the annual financial statements have been prepared or the income tax return have been filed.

Annual returns of companies and CCs must be lodged annually in the anniversary month of their date of incorporation. The end of the financial year of companies and CCs is not used to determine when the annual return must be lodged. If a company or CC was registered in August 2007, the annual return must be lodged during August of every subsequent year. CIPRO does not send notifications to companies and CCs to remind them of their responsibility to lodge annual returns. The responsibility therefore rests with the owners of companies and CCs to ensure that they are aware when annual returns must be lodged and have procedures in place to ensure timeous lodgement of the annual returns.

A company or CC must supply all the current information of the entity when lodging the annual return. This information will assist CIPRO to determine whether the information required to be disclosed in terms of the Companies Act by the company or the Close Corporations Act by a CC, has been disclosed and is still valid. This means that a company or CC must ensure, as required by law, that whenever there is a change in its information, the required forms containing such new information are lodged with CIPRO. The information supplied in the annual return should therefore confirm the information on record with CIPRO. If the information contained in the annual return differs from that on record with CIPRO, CIPRO will request the company or CC to lodge the appropriate forms to update its records accordingly.

If an annual return has not been lodged within the month following the month in which the anniversary of the date of registration falls, (September in the example used above) CIPRO may place the company or CC in process of deregistration. CIPRO may cancel the registration of a company or CC if the annual return has not been lodged within 6 months from its due date. Such cancellation of the registration is referred as final deregistration. It is also important to note that at times CIPRO does not wait for the 6 month period to lapse. Applying another provision in the Acts, CIPRO may consider that a company or CC which has failed to lodge its annual return timeously, is dormant, and immediately proceed to finally deregister such company or CC. .........................

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John Maxwell Invite

Coert — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:23:39 +0000

Dear Lightminded Subscribers

Dr John Maxwell, one of my favourite American writers, will be visiting South Africa this month. He will speak on 6 March at Gallagher Estate in Midrand on the I Can Leadership Conference from 09h00 till 16h00.

Vanessa and I will attend definitely, and we thought this might be a very good opportunity to invite a few members to join us and fill a table of ten. The cost will be R3700 per person. If more members are interested, we will assist in filling up tables, but obviously only the first 8 members who respond to this mail and pay the fee will share my table if you wish.

Please contact my office at 021 851 2730 if you are interested.

New security system

There is a new security function on Lightminded that will be implemented shortly. This new function will require all subscribers to log in at least once to Lightminded.com. Thereafter the specific computer will be remembered .........................

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One-man Businesses

Coert — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:13:07 +0000

Why one-man operations remain one-man operations forever

Most small businesses remain small because they are one-man operations. However, there are exceptions: some one-man operations get quite big, with various people working there, and on the other hand, some small businesses are by no means one-man operations. But wait, let’s just stop there for now, because I know you think I’m contradicting myself. How can a small business not be a one-man operation, and how can a one-man operation have a number of people working for it? Of course it’s possible for a number of people to work for a one-man operation, and in reality, that’s always the case. Think of the butchery or doctor in town. The owner isn’t the only person who works there, but it’s still seen as a one-man business.

Why is it called a one-man business then?

There is only one man who makes all the plans, accepts all the responsibility, provides all the sureties, has all the knowledge, and so on. These aspects do play a role in determining whether it’s a one-man operation or not, but to me it’s actually about the mindset of the owner instead. If he has a one-man operation mindset, then as far as I’m concerned it’s a one-man operation, regardless of how big or small the business is.

Not all one-man operations remain small, but most do, because it takes an exceptional person to make a huge business out of a one-man operation. As far as I’m concerned, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is the most successful one-man business in the world. Have you ever wondered what will become of Virgin when Sir Richard is no longer there one day? I’m sure they’ve thought about it a lot already and have their plans in place, but I’m just wondering.

Few of us are in Sir Richard’s class though, and I think most one-man operations come to an end when the founder/owner dies or is no longer around. I’ve seen the evidence of this when businesses like this get sold. Many of them collapse shortly afterwards. I even saw it happen with a successful business that I sold years ago. It could not continue to exist without my skills. I learnt a lot through that and started making sure that my other businesses would be able to continue without me. How does one do this?

Duplicate yourself. Appoint people who can do the work as well as or better than you can. This sounds easy, but for most one-man business operators it’s the hardest thing on earth. It’s easy to make the decision, and you know you have to, but it’s not going to work if you don’t get rid of your one-man operation mindset.

As long as your mindset is not right, you’ll take one step forward and appoint people to do the work and then the first time that they get stuck you’ll take the work back again. So the person you’ve appointed is not being utilised, but is still getting paid. This means that you’re still doing all the work, but you now also have a paid spectator. So you’ve taken a few steps backwards, because the business is in a worse position than before. Your staff numbers are growing and the value of your business is decreasing.

Get your mindset right and accept that other people cannot do things as well as you can, but that there is no other option than to push through; or else make peace with the fact that you will have to work until you die and are doomed to eternal mediocrity.

By the way, no investor will invest in a one-man operation. Investors invest only in businesses that can operate successfully without their founder. That is value!

Business Seminar

The week of 8 February 2010 was a crazy one. On Monday the .........................

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The banks have no more money

Coert — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:54:09 +0000

It is time for us to help ourselves

This week I have good news and bad news, but let’s kick off with the good news!

Good News!

According to ABSA’s latest Quarterly Report as published on 15 February 2010 the prices in the middle segment of the South African housing market, which is the market in which we invest, grew with 4.7% year on year for 2010! What makes it even more special is the fact that the apartment blocks in the CBD areas of Johannesburg with a negative growth of -11.5% is part of this. Take that out and I am sure we talk double growth figures for our type of properties.

Growth for the last few years were:

2007 – 16%
2008 – 1%
2009 – 5%

This is phenomenal if you keep in mind that it was achieved during the worst recession in 70 years.

The property market is recovering fast and I hope you are part of this party!

Are there still any fools out there doubting the property market? I don’t think so and I rest my case as they say in the movies!

Capital growth of 4.7% can easily be geared to 47% return on investment per annum if the banks only had money!

This brings me to the bad news:

The banks have no more money

This is common knowledge; anyone who has recently applied for a bond or refinancing will know what I am talking about.

What is our solution?

Our investors’ club is looking for an institution to finance the properties belonging to our thousands of clients. A rapidly growing book of R36 billion at a prime rate of 10.5% at the moment must surely be one of the best investments in the world. It’s also safe, because it is backed by bricks and mortar, in a property market that held up better than any other property market in the world during the recession.

Something else that is important to know for a potential financier is that we are talking here about an exceptionally healthy book, since our investors’ club members are all trained investors with access to specialised property management software. This is why our clients have the lowest default percentage of all groups in the country according to the banks.

Somewhere out there in the world there must be an institution with money who can spot the opportunity of a lifetime, and who chooses to invest their money in a strong and solid economy rather than in something built artificially and on sand, like Dubai.

I am sure our members know someone who knows someone who can finance us. Let’s look after ourselves for a change! So I’m putting out a request to our thousands of Lightminded readers:

Please send this article to as many friends and acquaintances as possible.

I and my team of experienced and highly qualified experts are prepared to make a full presentation to a potential financier anywhere in the world, at our own expense.

Regards
Coert Coetzee
coert@lightminded.com.

Brainwashing

Contrarily to what most people will believe nowadays is that I am actually an introvert and old friends from the distant past cannot belief that I present seminars and can speak in front of hundreds of people. In the old days it was difficult for me to speak in front of people in my home language and speaking in English was impossible!

How is it then possible that I can do it now as I am doing for the last seven years and even if I have to say so myself, I think I am not too bad! It is actually very simple. I told myself over and over I can do it and that I can even do it in English. The following article reminded me about those days. I hope you will enjoy it!

Positive Brainwashing

By Cornelis Boertjens on www.MindPowerNews.com

Brainwashing is a term perceived in a negative way by most people. But you know what, I think our brains could actually do with a bit of a washing sometimes!

You see, everyone comes into this world with a clear mind, and a belief that everything is possible. All is positive and well. Remember as a child, you could do and become everything, without any boundaries!

As we grow up however, we pick up beliefs, fears and limitations from our surroundings and peers that gradually form the person we are today. A lot of these beliefs unfortunately are negative and as we build our lives they limit us in our actions and being. Very often they therefore contribute to unhappiness or feeling unfulfilled in our lives and business.

It can be the smallest — seemingly harmless .........................

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Response on Gatvol

Coert — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:53:53 +0000

Court has independent trustees in its sights

I want to thank all the members who supported me on the Gatvol issue from the bottom of my heart. I received so many mails that is not going to be possible to answer you all personally. However in this mail you will find many answers as well as the contact detail of the people who will answer all further questions.

Journalists, I have a message for you too at the bottom. See it at the seminar detail.

If you want to read the English version of the “Coert is Gatvol” mail, please go to:
http://www.lightminded.com/2010/02/07/coert-is-gatvol/

The Treoc Way is not a stagnant, antiquated model that stays the same year after year. As the market changes or as the laws change, so we change as well. That’s why the guys who imitate or attack us can’t keep up. By the time they’ve found out how we’re doing it now, we’re already doing it differently, and the old way has sometimes become obsolete and dangerous.

I see that every Tom, Dick and Harry is a “trust specialist” these days. I wonder whether they have the faintest idea of the kind of fire they’re playing with. When I say fire, I mean serious fire, as in possible jail-time if you don’t do it correctly. I don’t have much sympathy for the amateur “trust specialists”, but I have plenty of sympathy for the poor person who trusted the amateur and then suddenly lost all his personal assets.

As you know, we continually monitor court cases involving trusts in order to test our methods. So we know what the judges like and what they don’t like. A recent court investigation into a trust insolvency where Treoc was NOT the trustee once again highlighted to us a few places where we should strengthen our trusts.

This case has not gone to court yet, but the way the liquidator is questioning the witnesses in the preparatory investigation indicates very clearly where he is looking for the trust’s weak spots. The poor attorney acting as independent trustee in this case really battled in the questioning and actually came across as very inexperienced. He’s not really inexperienced, but the very experienced investigator made him look bad and tried to make a case out of the fact that the independent trustee is not really independent – because of course, if he can succeed at this, then the rest will be easy. A trust that doesn’t have a true independent trustee is nothing other than you yourself, and the trust assets are then regarded as part of your personal estate. But .........................

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Coert is gatvol

Coert — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:30:58 +0000

(Please scroll down for English version)

Nou het ek genoeg gehad!

Hierdie ope brief aan almal vir wie ek gatvol is, is nie vir sensitiewe lesers nie, want ek is kwaad en as ek kwaad is praat ek lelik en ek praat Afrikaans. Dit is ook nie ‘n impulsiewe brief nie. Ek is al lankal kwaad. Ek kan egter nie toelaat dat my basiese ordentlikheid om nie mense persoonlik aan te val langer in my pad staan nie. Partymaal moet mens maar ‘n ding by sy naam noem anders maak mense misbruik van jou ordentlikheid.

Ek is gatvol vir joernaliste soos Karen Breytenbach en Ian Fife wat stories skryf oor Treoc en Werner Britz se bankrot Surf Trust terwyl Karen nie eens met my of enige Treoc direkteur of werknemer gepraat het nie. Ian Fife het darem ‘n kort telefoongesprek met my gehad, my woorde heeltemal verdraai en die feite wat ek vir hom ge-epos het totaal geignoreer. Hulle was ook nog nooit op ‘n Treoc seminaar nie. Ek kan verstaan hoekom Steve Hofmeyr joernaliste met tee wil versuip!

Ek is gatvol vir Ian Fife, die stigter van eiendomadviesgroep YDL, wat persoonlik swak woonstelle in Johannesburg en Berea aan my wou verkoop waar ek verlede jaar volgens ABSA se statistieke 14% van my kapitaal sou verloor het. Ek blameer hom nie vir die swak advies nie, aangesien die resessie ons almal seergemaak het en gelukkig het ek nie vir hom geluister nie. Die rede hoekom ek vir hom erg gatvol is, is omdat hy sy lyf nou hoogheilige joernalis hou wanneer dit hom pas en dan in die Financial Mail ‘n klomp onbewese gemors oor my, sy konkurent, skryf. Mens doen dit net nie! Lyk my hy is kwaad omdat ek nie woonstelle by YDL gekoop het nie. Hy het darem my uitnodiging om die seminaar in Pretoria by te woon aanvaar.

Ek is gatvol omdat Werner Britz beweer ek het hom leer lieg nadat hy homself vasgelieg het. Hoekom vertel hy nie vir die likwideerders wie regtig sy finansiele adviseur was nie? Of het hy daaroor ook gelieg?

Ek is gatvol vir Neels Stander wat Treoc se kliente met bedrogwenke bedien het, ons kantore in Canal Walk oor ‘n naweek wederegtelik betree het, Werner Britz en ander kliente se lêers verwyder het, op kamera gevang word, by die polisie aangekla word en dan skotvry wegkom omdat ons land se polisiediens nie funksioneer nie.

Ek is gatvol vir die tandelose ou Financial Services Board (FSB) wat vir mense soos Stander en sy trawante toelaat om voort te gaan om ander mense met “advies” te bedien nadat ons die saak by hulle ook aangemeld het.

Ek is gatvol vir firmas soos Delgado en Velosa se Best Trust Company wat te kenne gee dat hulle hul kliente se belange op die hart dra en dan toelaat dat hul kliente se trusts skuld aangaan wat hulle nie kan bekostig nie soos die Werner Britz saak waaroor die media my die vark van die verhaal maak.

Ek is gatvol vir onetiese joernaliste wat by die likwideerders vertroulike inligting kry en dit verdraai. Hierdie is die storie van die Vier Varkies en Rooikappie. Die joernaliste se storie verskil natuurlik baie hiervan en is baie onvolledig.

Eerste varkie – Uit die hofstukke is dit duidelik dat Jose Delgado se Best Trust Company die Surf Trust se onafhanklike trustee is.

Tweede varkie – Dit is ook duidelik dat die Surf Trust se rekenmeester een van Delgado se ander maatskappye, die Total Trust Company, is. Dit kom duidelik voor in hofstukke dat advokaat Olivier Delgado se onafhanklikheid en etiese waardes ernstig bevraagteken, maar hieroor word niks geskryf nie.

Derde varkie – Die eiendom is blykbaar gekoop by Jodel Properties (klink soos ‘n afkorting vir Jose Delgado, maar hy ontken dit toe advokaat Olivier daarna vra)

Vierde varkie – Die finansiering is by Treoc Finance (Pty) Ltd gedoen op grond van ‘n blykbaar vervalste Inkomstebewys uitgereik deur Werner Britz se persoonlike rekenmeester wat ek van geen kant af ken nie.

Rooikappie – Ek het in my lewe nog nooit by Treoc Finance of enige van hierdie maatskappye gewerk nie. Hierdie Surf Trust voorval het in 2006 plaasgevind toe Delgado die Treoc Groep se Uitvoerende Hoof (CEO) was en ek die Nie-Uitvoerende Voorsitter van die houermaatskappy. Ek het nog nooit met enige klient, Werner Britz ingesluit, gekonsulteer nie, maar ek is volgens die media die vark van hierdie verhaal. Magtig, dit is nou soos om vir Rooikappie in die bekende Drie Varkies se storie te sit! Sy hoort nie eens daar nie en dan wil al die varkies en joernaliste haar nog bykom ook!

Terwyl ek nou aan die gang is en lekker op spoed is:

Ek is gatvol vir joernaliste soos Ian Fife wat Sharemax uitsonder omdat hulle winkelsentrums .........................

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The Provider Road Show

Coert — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:16:13 +0000

Overwhelming response

I am astounded by the overwhelming response we received to last week’s message about the Provider trusts. Our readers showed once again that they care about their fellow man, and also that they are aware of the fact that the pension industry is leaving people in poverty.

Just to emphasise the problem again, last week, while I was waiting for the dentist, I came across an old Noseweek from 2008, and the following headlines about the pension industry immediately grabbed my attention:

“Investec’s multi-billion rand pension rip-off”

“Directors ‘assumed’ thousands of elderly were dead – so they could grab their cash”

“The banking group is confident it will succeed in making the pension fund case go away by throwing enough lawyers at the problem”

These kinds of problems are common these days, of course, and that’s why the response to the Provider trust has been so favourable and overwhelming!

We have already received various invitations to present it to groups and clubs. David de Jager of Polokwane was first, and offered us his 300-seat conference facilities for free. It looks to me like we’re going to kick off there with the first Provider mini-seminar. I’ve already started working on my presentation!

The positivity brought about by the good response is contagious, and Kobus Oberholser, Managing Director of Treoc Trust Services, told me that he would be prepared to drop the registration fee for his Provider trust from R3900 to R500, specially for the attendees of the Provider seminar. People, this is a huge gift, and I want to thank Kobus and his team from the bottom of my heart on behalf of all of us! By the way, no-one will be obliged to take a trust through Kobus, but if you would like to, it’s just become an opportunity that you can’t afford to miss.

As you know, last week I wrote that I would present the seminar for free if I could get the facilities for free. But I want to change that now. Wait, wait, before you accuse me of all kinds of horrible things, I’d like to make the following suggestion: I want to ask a charity organisation in Polokwane, as well as in all the other towns where we’re going to appear, to man the registration table for us on that day, to sell coffee and tea, and to collect an entrance donation of at least R50 per person at the door. Those who would like to can donate more, of course; this income will go 100% to the charity organisation. If we can get 300 people at R50 per person, that’s R15,000. And they’ll be able to earn something from the coffee sales as well.

Kobus and his team have also offered to take over the logistical arrangements for the Provider .........................

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The Facts

Coert — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:17:19 +0000

Media reports

(Sien Afrikaans teks onder)

In recent newspaper reports arising from the questioning of witnesses in the liquidation of a trust with the name of the Surf Trust, the following allegations, amongst others, were made regarding Treoc Finance – our bond initiation wing:

– That the trustee qualified on an income of R17,000 for bond financing to the value of R2,900,000;

– That I, according to statements made by José Delgado (a former director of Treoc and a trustee of the Surf Trust), encourage members to commit fraud;

– That Treoc applied on the same day to 4 different banks for financing for the Surf Trust, with the intention of misleading the banks, in that each of them would not have been aware of the other applications;

– That if ABSA Bank had been aware of the other applications, they would not have approved the bond of R330,000.

In light of these allegations, I called for further investigation. If they were true, this would be completely in conflict with the “Treoc Way”, as our method is known. Any one of the approximately 17,000 people who have already attended my seminars can testify that I place great emphasis on the fact that you must be able to afford the bonds. I believe that anyone who has had their bonds arranged by Treoc Finance will be able to attest to the fact that a proper affordability analysis is done for the client. Treoc Finance’s analysis instrument is approved by all the big banks; the client declares his financial situation on it, and then signs it.

What bothered me in particular with regard to this specific case was the fact that the client declared his income to Finance by means of an income certificate from his auditor. However, the income did not correspond at all with the income that he apparently later declared to the liquidator after the bank had repossessed his property.

The following facts emerged from the information that Treoc Finance provided to me:

– It was not a bond for which Treoc had applied on behalf of the Surf Trust (and not on behalf of the trustee), but a further advance of R118,000 (and not R330,000) pursuant to a bond for R430,000 that was already registered at that stage;

– The trustee’s income was verified by his auditor as R36,651 (and not R17,000);

– The application for the further advance was accompanied by the trustee’s bank statements and the ABSA Bank form completed by Treoc Finance;

– Treoc Finance fulfilled all of ABSA Bank’s requirements at that stage in all respects (and in no way were any misrepresentations made regarding the trustee’s income and obligations);

– This further advance of R118,000 was the only bond for which we applied on behalf of the trustee that day (and not 3 other bonds at 3 other banks);

– As far as our information goes, the ABSA Bank bond of R430,000 was the only bond registered in the name of the Surf Trust at that stage; and

– Every time that bond financing was applied for for the trust, Treoc Finance was satisfied – on the strength of the income that was verified by the trustee’s auditor – that they were working within the affordability parameters maintained by us, and when things moved too close to these parameters, the trustee was made aware of this.

I don’t want to go into more detail at this stage regarding this specific case, since I have been advised that the information could possibly be presented in court as evidence and I don’t want to interfere with the legal process at all.

And yet something must have gone wrong somewhere, seeing as how the Surf Trust was eventually liquidated. I would very much like to know what it was – as Treoc is not indifferent to the fate of its members and also doesn’t follow any strategy to make any misrepresentations to any financial institutions, I would like to prevent a repeat of the Surf Trust’s fate if possible.

One of the possible reasons for the problems that confronted the Surf Trust came to my attention on 28 January 2010 in Somerset West, at the Treoc seminar that took place that day. By the way, this was one of the biggest seminars ever in the Western Cape. (I wonder whether the newspaper reports had anything to do with that?) One of our long-standing members had attended the seminar again on that day, and afterwards she came and spoke to me. She showed me a document that indicated that one of our former employees, .........................

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The Profidend Solution

Coert — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:51:09 +0000

Hi Guys

We received a lot of interest on the Provider Trust. People see the potential it has for a personal retirement fund that will be far better than any of the redundant insurance products.

Due to all the questions I am now considering a mini seminar to explain the Provider concept. What do you think? I am even thinking about a road show where I explain the Provider to people all over the country in school or church halls. Nothing fancy. Just a two hour slide presentation to explain the pros and cons of this specific trust in detail and trust law in general. This way we can keep the cost low and maybe a R50 entrance fee will be sufficient. Then it will also be possible for beginners, students and even high school kids to attend. Should we do it during the mornings, afternoons, evenings or even on Saturdays?

If “dominees” and headmasters can become involve and they can make their facilities available for free, I will also do it for free. Let me know what you think and please become involve.

However, while you think about it, please allow me to announce a brand new business seminar at a very low price. Business owners should not miss this one!

Rather let Marina Short tell you about it:

From the desk of Marina Short, MD of Profidend (Pty) Ltd.

Dear Reader

The PROFIDEND Business Seminar

My name is Marina Short and not all of you know me yet, but I am sure you already know Coert Coetzee. Many of you know him as a property investor and seminar presenter on property topics. Many of you know him as an author. Many people also know him as a businessman and that is what this letter is about. Coert made his first business millions long before he became a property millionaire and long before he wrote his first articles and books.

Since Coert started with the Treoc property seminars in 2003, he received numerous questions about his business principles. Especially during the recession of 2009 people wanted to know how he manage his businesses. They wanted to know the recipe because it was very obvious that his companies were doing well during the worst recession we had in 80 years. Coert is frequently invited to conferences as a keynote speaker where he speaks about his unique and popular business methods .........................

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Money always moves from the impatient to the patient ones!

Coert — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:56:11 +0000

Isn’t it funny how the people who want to make money in a hurry usually end up getting poorer, while those who aren’t in a hurry get richer and richer? Have you ever wondered where the money that makes the patient people richer comes from? The heading says it all:

Money always moves from the impatient to the patient ones!

This in itself isn’t news, because I think everyone knows it; but what is strange is the fact that we don’t want to acknowledge it. Sometimes we do in fact acknowledge it, and we decide to be more patient, but as soon as the interest rates go up or a recession hits we forget this simplest of all investment principles and end up doing things that we’ll regret for the rest of our lives. We sell our investments! Some of us sell them at such low prices that we might as well just give them away. Why?

The reasons for this centuries-old mistake made by supposed investors are varied, but I think the biggest reason of all is because we get in too heavily when things are going well. It’s as if we think that things are going to go well forever. We know they won’t, though, because we’ve had plenty of bad times already; but during the good times we get brainwashed by overly positive media reports and opportunistic investment advisors. They make it sound as if we’ll find ourselves terribly far behind everyone else if we don’t put everything at stake now. We plunge ourselves into debt to try and catch up with seasoned investors who’ve been practising long-term investment for ages already. Someone one day said to me that her goal was to own more properties than me as quickly as possible. In the process, she built up her portfolio at a pace that scared even me. And I don’t scare easily!

One of the other reasons that people panic and sell too quickly is also quite simply the media’s .........................

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The PROVIDER

Coert — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:43:30 +0000

Grow your income with a trust for the future

We introduced this product in January 2009 as the Treoc Pension Trust, but after I received numerous questions on how to ensure growing income to make continuous refinancing possible, I realised that many people do not understand the multiple-use purpose of this trust. Maybe the name was a bit misleading. Therefore I have decided to change the name and content slightly and re-launch it as the Treoc PROVIDER Trust.

I’ve often written about how suitable a small property portfolio in a trust is as a sustainable pension that keeps pace with inflation. A portfolio like this is also an excellent provider for income and the cost of your children’s tertiary education. Over the years a lot of our members have set up portfolios with these goals in mind, but in most cases the good intentions have faded and changed, or have been forgotten entirely. I did a bit of investigation and came to the following conclusions:

1. The pension goals get forgotten very quickly and the trust is then treated like a typical “money making machine” trust where refinancing takes place continually.
2. As soon as the equity amount becomes substantial, greed takes over in some people and they want to get their hands on it. And they don’t just refinance the house, they often sell the property to get access to the money.
3. As soon as the economy weakens, the long-term plans are overshadowed by fear, and bad decisions are made. The result is usually a lot of self-reproach when the market turns again later – as it’s been doing for centuries already. Then we want to start from the beginning again; but with a pension plan you can’t afford to start over again each time. Every year later is one year fewer, and when you look again there’s no time left anymore to build a pension.

A trust that is set up for provision and pension purposes must be treated completely differently to the property trusts or so-called “money making machine” trusts that we talk about at the seminars. To help our members make a clear distinction between ordinary property trusts and provider trusts we have, together with our trust attorneys, designed a trust deed that does not just look different, but is also managed differently. The wording of the trust deed and the administration of the trust make it resistant to all temptation, thus ensuring that the long-term goal can never be ignored. .........................

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Two sets of books

Coert — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:06:52 +0000

Farmers are shooting themselves in the foot

Over the past few months, I’ve been driving around a lot looking for investment opportunities in the farming industry. In the process I discovered something I’d never realised before in all my years of involvement in agricultural risk management. It’s strange how something that you know suddenly acquires new meaning when the penny drops.

Very few farms are investment material, which is actually shocking. Our farmers may well be the best in the world when it comes to farming, but when it comes to business principles and administration we lag far behind the rest of the world. It’s not that our farmers can’t handle their administration – in fact they’re quite good at it, because keeping two sets of books for the same business isn’t easy. It’s a juggling act, my friend, a tricky juggling act. So if they’re so good at their administration, then you’re probably wondering what the problem is. The problem is a lack of principles – both moral principles and accounting principles.

The principle of keeping two sets of books, which is of course dishonest and unethical, is something that gets passed down from generation to generation. It’s so much a part of some farmers’ lives that the mere suggestion of having their books done correctly, ethically and professionally is met with the strongest objection. In some cases it’s so much a part of their lives that the dishonesty of it doesn’t even enter their minds anymore.

Let me explain why it’s not just dishonest, but in fact criminal. Let’s use one of the simplest examples: it is unlawful to not put cash income through the books. Some people will ask what’s wrong with that. And by the way, it’s not only farmers who are guilty of this – thousands of business owners do exactly the same thing. Those who are guilty of this think they’re saving on tax by doing it this way. Friends, that’s not how it is. You aren’t saving tax money, you are stealing tax money. There’s a very big difference between saving tax and evading tax. The former is legal, but the latter is a criminal offence. One person told me he’d rather keep the money than give it to the government, because there it gets stolen by crooked government officials. That is wrong! As the saying goes, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” You can’t steal the government’s money because you’re scared somebody else is going to steal it!

But .........................

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Nothing beats this!

Coert — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:45:57 +0000

Return on investment of 40.8% to 69.1% per annum

Every time that I make a remark like the one in the heading, there are people who attack me – especially if I say that it’s easy and that anyone can do it. Some people say I’m crazy, others say I’m an idiot, and some even say that it’s fraud. Lots of people also firmly believe, quite rightly in most cases, that if something sounds too good to be true, then it’s not true. Perhaps everyone else is right and I am wrong, but can you imagine how you’re going to kick yourself one day when you discover that I was right? Why don’t you just listen for a moment to my method before you decide that it’s impossible?

The numbers speak for themselves – all you have to do is go to www.treocinvestor.com and enter your free login details. Then go to the Shared Investor link and click on the Deals link. There you’ll see various deals. Click on House 1 and page around a bit. You’ll see on the Deal Projection page that the return on investment for that house is 204.18% in the first 5 years. That means an average of 40.8% per year. House 2’s return is 345.34% in five years, or an average of 69.1% per year. Click on the Deal Settings and see whether the assumptions I’ve used are acceptable.

Now decide whether I’m mad or not.

The above-mentioned examples assume 90% bonds and that costs will be paid out of your own pocket. That’s realistic, isn’t it? Can you imagine if I could do everything, costs included, with financed funds? Most of our members are doing these things without it costing them a single cent!

If you’ve .........................

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Parents Beware!

Coert — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:40:48 +0000

Parents often become the victims of their children

Friends even become the victims of their friends.

Many of our members have told me about horrible experiences they’ve had with their friends or children, and I think it’s important that especially all those with adult children are made aware of these things.

To avoid embarrassing anyone I’ve changed the names of people and places, but the people I’m talking about will recognise themselves immediately. There will probably be many others who’ve been made victims in a similar way who will also recognise the situation immediately with painful memories.

Johnny du Preez is a 37-year-old man from Roodepoort who has already been divorced twice and has also had many other relationships that have failed. He’s had numerous different jobs, as well as several failed businesses. Johnny is the stereotypical born loser, who will always be battling. He has borrowed money from several family members in the past and has never paid it back. He has a brother-in-law in Durban whom he has cheated out of a lot of money already. Because of that, this man wants nothing to do with Johnny.

Johnny’s father, Dup, is 67 years old and lives in Durban, where he works for his son-in-law because he has no other option – Dup didn’t make provision for retirement when he was still young. Isn’t that the problem with many young people? They think that getting old and battling are old people’s problems. Until they’re old themselves!

At least Dup does have a small townhouse that’s almost paid off, and as long as his son-in-law keeps taking care of him, he won’t have any worries. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

But Johnny struck again, and Dup’s old age is no longer looking that rosy. A year ago Johnny convinced his father to lend him R300 000. At first Dup didn’t want to, but Johnny played on his emotions and said that any father would do this for his son and he himself would gladly do it for his own children any time if he could. Johnny swore that he would pay the interest every month and that he would repay the full amount within six months. Dup gave .........................

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Asset Management

Coert — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:33:07 +0000

What to do with the money we make!

Between 2001 and 2009 the value of my stock portfolio grew by 175%! Don’t forget that these years included the worst recession since 1933.

What is my secret?

1. No activity
2. Hand-picked shares

This sounds easy, but there are many years of experience and “school fees” contained in the above “secrets”. It started with my investor training in 1989 at the Stock Market Investors’ College.

Early in my investment career I learnt that activity in shares leads to huge costs and losses. It was this same knowledge that I began, in later years, to apply in my property portfolios, with great success. But the fact is that the company or property in which you invest must be very carefully selected to make inactivity work. But if you can get it right, you can travel the world, smell the roses and present seminars. This, as you already know, is the story of my life.

Because of the popular property investment seminars that I’ve been presenting since 2003, thousands of people already know what my property principles are, but few people know my share principles. We now have members in the club who are highly successful with the Treoc Way of investing in property, and I get lots of enquiries about how they should invest this .........................

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Teaching SARS the Treoc Way!

Coert — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:24:26 +0000

Our usufruct method cuts transfer duty with about 80%!

The fact that our methods are ground breaking came out in a letter of appreciation from one of our members. She wrote the following letter to Treoc’s CEO:

Dear Mr. Deyzel

RE: Recognition for excellent service rendered by Theo Naude from TREOC Accounting, Pretoria and Hanlie de Boer from TREOC Accounting Randburg

We joined Treoc as Platinum Members in 2007. At that stage we already owned 5 properties which we were then advised to transfer to the newly created Investment Trust using the usufruct method.

In September 2009 we received notification that SARS was conducting an audit on my husband’s personal tax returns and the investigating officer specifically requested information relating to the transfer of the properties. It was explained to her that the transfers were done using the usufruct method, but she insisted that either capital gains tax, transfer duties or donations tax was payable. Needless to say this caused a great deal of stress and angst in our home.

I contacted Theo Naude at the Pretoria office regarding this matter, and he referred me to Hanlie de Boer in Randburg. Hanlie was very knowledgeable and even offered to speak to the SARS investigating officer personally so that she could explain to her how usufruct transfers works. This was a great boost to our morale, as the SARS investigating officer was becoming rather insistent that we owed a great deal of money.

After providing SARS with all the documents that they requested (proof of registration date, property values, transfer duties paid, title deeds, etc.), the investigating officer still felt that there were duties payable.

Theo and Hanlie communicated directly with SARS, providing .........................

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Practical programming with a cell phone

Coert — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:56:27 +0000

Read here about how to create an idea factory.

For many years I’ve been using a simple mind programming function on my cell phone. I never thought it was anything special until one of our members recently approached me in Durban about a business opportunity that he wanted my opinion on.

He showed me a prototype of an apparatus that you connect to your finger, and it then sends you impulses at certain times, like gentle vibrations, to remind you of something you have to do. I then showed him how I use my cell phone for this and that it’s unnecessary to build special devices for it.

I didn’t think this function on the cell phone was anything special, because everyone surely knows how to use a cell phone’s reminder function. Or so I thought!

Every night at 20h00 my phone vibrates. It’s a reminder that I don’t even read, because I know exactly what it says. It reminds me of my main personal goal. I’m not going to blurt out my personal goals here, but I will give you an example.

Firstly, you know my philosophy about how important it is to have goals. And not vague, general ones; but exact, properly defined, written goals. You might have a goal of making one million rand profit in 2009. Then you have subgoals, actions and plans for reaching your target. The one million profit is what I would consider to be your main personal goal in this example, though. It could be something completely different, of course, like “before Christmas 2009 I will meet my life partner” or “in April 2010 I’ll be able to afford to quit my job and travel around the world”. You’ll .........................

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Most empowering DVD in the world

Coert — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:23:49 +0000

Treoc is releasing a revolutionary new DVD as a unique Christmas Special!

It’s common knowledge that compound interest is the most powerful wealth-builder in the world. Well, let me rather say that that’s what most people think. Informed people like the Treocians know that there is a far more powerful wealth-builder: compound capital growth on a particular type of property that is managed according to the Treoc Way.

I specifically mention the “Treoc Way”, because not all capital growth is as spectacular as this particular type. Let me give you an example: shares, for instance, also increase in capital value, but the only way to unlock that value is to sell the shares and pay tax on the capital gains. This also applies to property that is managed according to any method other than the Treoc Way. With the Treoc Way it is possible to withdraw the capital growth without selling the property, which makes the capital growth 100% tax-free. This method is the only way in the world to legally keep it tax-free, while still being able to keep the property. This enables you, for the rest of your life, to repeatedly generate tax-free capital from a sustainable source, which is more powerful than compound interest. .........................

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Coert’s Business Background

Coert — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:06:12 +0000

Coert Coetzee is not only a successful property investor and author; he is also a successful businessman. He views property investment as a business, and this is the reason that he is so successful at it. Coert’s property successes can be directly ascribed to his solid business principles, which he has developed over the years across a number of successful businesses. These are principles that work in any business, regardless of whether it’s a hairdresser or doctor’s practice. And these principles don’t just work, they make the difference between enormous success and dismal failure. As you will see below Coert has had many businesses, most of which have had one thing in common: they were successful. Some were more successful than others, and this caused Coert to continually revise and adjust his methods where necessary, until he could make any business successful. His friends say he has the Midas touch; everything he touches turns to gold.

Coert’s unique business principles have always allowed him to manage his businesses successfully on a part-time basis, because he always makes use of working partners. Coert is a master of macro-management, while his partners are masters of micro-management. This principle is one of the pillars of his methods and one of the main reasons that he has been able to achieve so much in just thirty years.

Coert’s business background:

1. In 1976, at the age of twenty, he and a friend started a taxi business. On weekends they transported construction workers from the Sishen/Saldanha project to their houses in the homelands and back. It was one of the first of its kind, and this was long before minibus taxis existed!

2. In those days Coert was a construction foreman and lived in the single quarters at Sishen. He saw an opportunity here, and true to his nature he took advantage of it immediately. The residents of the single quarters were extremely bored at night, with nothing to do. Coert hired a projector and some movies, and offered film shows at night. It was easy money in a captive market.

3. In the late seventies he took the entertainment business further, expanding his extremely profitable business, Star Entertainment Promotions, to the rest of the country. As part of this business he held dances as well, hiring bands and halls.

4. In the early eighties Coert had an active construction business doing diesel installations in the then Eastern Transvaal. The profits from this business put Coert in a position to buy his first few houses in Springs and to get his property portfolio underway.

5. In 1989 he started a part-time video hire business and soon had five branches.

6. Up until this point all the businesses had been part-time undertakings, while he pursued a successful career in the risk management business. At thirty years of age Coert was the regional marketing manager for a national risk management company. He was responsible for the areas then known as Transvaal, Natal and Eastern Free State. That’s where he got his .........................

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