Ethics and Property Investment

Recently, I got to know that an acquaintance of mine is now a hot shot property investor - well, he has been doing so for the past number of years so I'm not surprised.

And he's still quite young too, in his mid 30's and said to have accumulated more than RM10 million worth of property.

Kudos to him and he's also now giving talks on how to do so...

Now this is where the ethics part comes in - he's still working for a financial institution.

The rules are that you can still have a second job or a direct interest in a business outside of banking provided you declare it and it doesn't affect your work nor should there be a conflict of interest.

E.g. you can be a TV ad model / actor - not an issue

However, seems that he's giving talks on how to get bank loans easily to buy lots of property in a short time. Now, I can guess how it can be done but I can't bring myself to do it - simply because it is not particularly ethical.

So anyway, dear reader, you may well argue that it is a risk that both the buyer and the financier takes together, and I do agree with that to a certain degree.... ah.. but somehow, something gives me the impression that this is not right.

Buyer beware if you are going to attend such talks and participate in what they ask you to do. Please go in with both eyes open and without negative emotion such as "since banks always cheat me then I can cheat them back" - something which is sadly very prevalent and just Not True. Banks won't intentionally cheat you, BNM is very strict on that.

There are certainly cheating cases such as wrong investment sales pushing that causes customers to lose money or embezzlement of funds - these do happen but it is caused by individuals, not the Bank's policy to do so.

Ah well, as I said, something doesn't sit well with me - think I will invest the old fashioned way - slowly but surely...

UPDATE: Heard he's been suspended from work

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