According to the publisher, tragically, many of Gareth Morgan’s predictions in his bestselling 2007 book Pension Panic, have come to bear.
His new follow-up book, After the panic: Surviving bad investments and bad advice, is out soon.
After the panic sure packs a punch and is a bitter pill to swallow; but Gareth Morgan also lays down a way forward.
Here’s some info on the new book plus be sure to check out the special deal we have for ShareChat readers below.
After the Panic - new book by Gareth Morgan
A champion of ordinary Kiwis, Morgan says his new book is for all of those decent and hard-working people who have been so badly let down by regulators, policy makers and individual company directors. He’s determined to do whatever he can to make sure that this never ever happens again.
“It’s a disgrace what’s happened. Look at all of the finance companies and money that’s gone down the tubes in the last couple of years,” says Morgan.
“The property market is in tatters and lots of super schemes are in trouble.
“But, we’ve finally brought to an end this international 20 years of excess credit. It was just nuts. There were even government agencies who were lending people the money for their deposits if they didn’t have it for Pete’s sake.
“Now we’re facing a world without fast and loose credit and banks have to go back to core business. If you don’t have the 20% deposit you can’t get the money for the house. It’s that simple. End of story. This is the way it was for our parents and their parents. But, for a whole new generation this is a new thing.
“We need this book so we can figure out how to move forward. Although there’s been a lot of stuff swirling about in the media with names being mentioned here and there I suspect people were so overwhelmed with the unrelenting bad news that they ended up switching off – almost desensitised or so worn down by it all that they’ve disengaged. And this is dangerous.
“If we’re to learn anything out of this mess it is that people can’t disengage. It’s time now to take a breath and say: ‘Okay. So what can we do to stop this from ever happening again.’
“People need to be far more informed and ask a lot more questions. Investing is always going to be a risk but it needs to be a considered one, not one based on a pack of lies and half truths. People can’t just sit back and rely on others to make good choices for them.
Unfortunately, trust in the industry has long gone out the window and we can’t rely on people to do the right thing anymore. There are a lot of sharks out there and they’re already circling again.
“Hopefully I provide people with everything they need to better equip themselves if they’re going to play the money game. It needs to be a level playing field and my book provides them with a pretty good place to start.”
Morgan says one of the most important points of the book is to make sure we’re not just seeing the crisis as a financial and economic downturn; it exposes an epidemic of behaviour from members of the financial sector that’s long been contrary to the public interest.
“First up I look at how the global recession was triggered and talk about the challenges of economic growth. Then I deal with the regulators and their role in the collapse. Why did it happen – why did we have that excess and how did it come about? I sheet that home to the central banks and that it was just irresponsible central banking allowing their commercial banks to forget about credential ratios like having a 20% deposit. As soon as things started to tighten the whole thing went over and it finally got exposed. So what do the regulators do about it now?
“Then there’s what’s left of the financial sector which is looking pretty sick. We’ve seen some blimmin shonky activity going on. But it’s not just shonky. The whole sector to me has got this high level of incompetence. We need to examine that.
“Then there are the individuals. I couldn’t put this book out without mentioning names. These people have been pretty much invisible, hiding behind limited liability companies. They can simply shut up shop and open for business the next day. That’s fine if the system allows it but the public needs to keep track of these opera¬tors for when they resurface.
“We need a public record and here you have it. The names are already out there but I wanted this book to be a one-stop-shop to make it as easy as possible for the mum-and-dad investors and generations to come to never again go through what we have. It’s been a very, very, very painful lesson which will be felt for generations to come.”
If you would like to order a copy of After the Panic by Gareth Morgan for $37.95, click here.
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