Easy Equities good or bad?

[xumwun]

Agreed. Nominee accounts are not always evil, but it has its risks. This whole way of operations is to offer clients cheap or cost-effective trading opportunities and provide the company with additional methods in dealing with shares to increase profitability. For these operations to work effectively, you need a company with sound trading decisions as there are a lot of buying and selling shares in the background on an ongoing basis.

I don't think it would be as big a deal if EE/GT247 hadn't shown themselves to be a little dodgy.

 

[The Trader]

I don't think it would be as big a deal if EE/GT247 hadn't shown themselves to be a little dodgy.

Again, my opinion is that you just need to understand the risks associated with these platforms. Just remember one word: liquidity. Choose the company you trade with carefully.

While conducting your own investments or trades, always remember to keep an eye on this company as well. Monitor, read and understand their financials. If there are danger signs, withdraw, as fast as you can. Stay abreast of company news. If any potential negative news starts breaking, withdraw immediately.

Nominee account are unfortunately of this nature, whether regulated, audited, whatever.

 

[JustinPearse]

We certainly will answer that. Our Head of Compliance was putting together a document in late-December to explain it.

Unfortunately he is away at the moment, but as soon as he returns, I will ensure that we post for you.

Please bear with us.

 

[JustinPearse]

Hi Xumwun,

In what way, may I please ask, has EE / GT247 ever shown itself to be a little dodgy? It's important that I understand what you are referring to so we can deal with it.

Purple Group, the 100% shareholder of Global Trader, is listed on the JSE and our income streams are audited and are available for everyone to review http://www.purplegroup.co.za/results.html, and they are not different from our competitors that operate in this space. Furthermore, neither our licenses nor operating business model have ever been drawn into question by our regulator/s or any credible source.

Our clients, staff and shareholders are highly respected in their fields, the ethos of the group is to provide easy, affordable access to all financial services for all South Africans, the cornerstone of this is built out of innovation and developing trust. Further to this recent awards and recognition received in the media and elsewhere speak to a group that holds itself to a set of standards that would never compromise their values.

 

[Solitude]

JustinPearse, you can quote the post that you are replying to by clicking on the "Reply With Quote" button. You'll see that's how other people reply to posts. It makes it easier to follow conversations.

 

[JustinPearse]

JustinPearse, you can quote the post that you are replying to by clicking on the "Reply With Quote" button. You'll see that's how other people reply to posts. It makes it easier to follow conversations.

Thanks for letting me know. Will do so in future.

 

[Solitude]

Thanks for letting me know. Will do so in future.

Excellent. That's much better.

 

[Piafka]

Maybe it is all just sour-grapes from Xumwun, The Trader and/or Toothless because they have wasted so much money by choosing to use a different platform.

We are all aware in the past few days of the repercussions for people who make unwise statements on social media, and I think that for somebody to refer to EE/GT247 as dodgy, without backing up their accusation with facts, does seem to smack of defamation.

It is a fact that banking and other financial institutional costs are very high here, so for me it is wonderful that a company has finally been established to cut costs in order that my money goes towards the shares that I buy without giving a big chunk of it to the company that facilitates my buying of shares.

I had always wished that we had Vanguard in SA, but now we have Easy Equities.

 

[xumwun]

Hi Xumwun,

In what way, may I please ask, has EE / GT247 ever shown itself to be a little dodgy? It's important that I understand what you are referring to so we can deal with it.

Purple Group, the 100% shareholder of Global Trader, is listed on the JSE and our income streams are audited and are available for everyone to review http://www.purplegroup.co.za/results.html, and they are not different from our competitors that operate in this space. Furthermore, neither our licenses nor operating business model have ever been drawn into question by our regulator/s or any credible source.

Our clients, staff and shareholders are highly respected in their fields, the ethos of the group is to provide easy, affordable access to all financial services for all South Africans, the cornerstone of this is built out of innovation and developing trust. Further to this recent awards and recognition received in the media and elsewhere speak to a group that holds itself to a set of standards that would never compromise their values.

The Lonmin issue for one.
And this is also one of the first results for GT247 on Google http://www.noseweek.co.za/article/3041/Global-Trader-more-lies-and-deception

 

[AdrianH]

Maybe it is all just sour-grapes from Xumwun, The Trader and/or Toothless because they have wasted so much money by choosing to use a different platform.

We are all aware in the past few days of the repercussions for people who make unwise statements on social media, and I think that for somebody to refer to EE/GT247 as dodgy, without backing up their accusation with facts, does seem to smack of defamation.

It is a fact that banking and other financial institutional costs are very high here, so for me it is wonderful that a company has finally been established to cut costs in order that my money goes towards the shares that I buy without giving a big chunk of it to the company that facilitates my buying of shares.

I had always wished that we had Vanguard in SA, but now we have Easy Equities.

Is EE designed for the people like me who have ZERO experiences or savy when it comes to the stock market? Does the site give insight or help in choosing shares to invest into?

 

[Swa]

@ House: Hi

@ JustinPearse: I'm currently not interested in how your shares work but more in the issues with using your site.

 

[The Trader]

Is EE designed for the people like me who have ZERO experiences or savy when it comes to the stock market? Does the site give insight or help in choosing shares to invest into?

No. Absolutely no investment platform is intended for people who have ZERO experiences. In this case you should rather go to a registered financial services provider and invest through a broker. The problem with either trading or investing is that you should conduct continuous research on each and every company you want to invest in. You need to stay 100% up to date with these companies, as anything can cause share prices to fall and never recover again.

In addition, you cannot invest in a single company. You need to broaden your portfolio. You need to chose your companies carefully and decide which markets you want to invest in and how much you want to invest in each companies. You need to change your investment strategies and amounts continuously as these change continuously.

Best would be so seek help and have a registered broker or company work with your money.

 

[The Trader]

Maybe it is all just sour-grapes from Xumwun, The Trader and/or Toothless because they have wasted so much money by choosing to use a different platform.

We are all aware in the past few days of the repercussions for people who make unwise statements on social media, and I think that for somebody to refer to EE/GT247 as dodgy, without backing up their accusation with facts, does seem to smack of defamation.

It is a fact that banking and other financial institutional costs are very high here, so for me it is wonderful that a company has finally been established to cut costs in order that my money goes towards the shares that I buy without giving a big chunk of it to the company that facilitates my buying of shares.

I had always wished that we had Vanguard in SA, but now we have Easy Equities.

You are wrong. There are no grounds for legal defamation. If a suite is brought by the company against anyone on this forum for asking legitimate questions, this will be the end of their business. No professional investor will ever use a platform where they are charged either criminally or civilly for asking questions about valid problems.

 

[xumwun]

Maybe it is all just sour-grapes from Xumwun, The Trader and/or Toothless because they have wasted so much money by choosing to use a different platform.

We are all aware in the past few days of the repercussions for people who make unwise statements on social media, and I think that for somebody to refer to EE/GT247 as dodgy, without backing up their accusation with facts, does seem to smack of defamation.

It is a fact that banking and other financial institutional costs are very high here, so for me it is wonderful that a company has finally been established to cut costs in order that my money goes towards the shares that I buy without giving a big chunk of it to the company that facilitates my buying of shares.

I had always wished that we had Vanguard in SA, but now we have Easy Equities.

You think think it's OK for them to arbitrarily block trading of a share.

 

[Hamster]

You think think it's OK for them to arbitrarily block trading of a share.

It was blocked only on the site due to technical constraints and you could still trade via the helpdesk free of charge. The confusion came with the thread I created asking them about this. It was a learning exercise and technically EE wasn't in the wrong. The only real problem was their generic error messages.

 

[Piafka]

You are wrong. There are no grounds for legal defamation. If a suite is brought by the company against anyone on this forum for asking legitimate questions, this will be the end of their business. No professional investor will ever use a platform where they are charged either criminally or civilly for asking questions about valid problems.

I agree totally with you about questions being asked! Asking a question should always be welcomed, but making a statement such as the following really is not about about asking a question - it is about making a statement:

"I don't think it would be as big a deal if EE/GT247 hadn't shown themselves to be a little dodgy."

I do not see any question here.

And please note that I do not speak for EE/GT247 & am not affiliated with them in any way, and I simply voiced my own concerns about what could be regarded as legally defamatory postings.

I doubt that a company of the solid status that GT247 has would even bother to waste their time responding - but social media posters should be aware of possible legal repercussions, as we have seen on a few occasions in the last few days, where people spoke/wrote their minds without first thinking about the possible legal repercussions of their statements, and are now paying a big price for not being circumspect.

 

[Swa]

Maybe it is all just sour-grapes from Xumwun, The Trader and/or Toothless because they have wasted so much money by choosing to use a different platform.

We are all aware in the past few days of the repercussions for people who make unwise statements on social media, and I think that for somebody to refer to EE/GT247 as dodgy, without backing up their accusation with facts, does seem to smack of defamation.

It depends on the context. Toothless/House was making some pretty defamatory statements about EE being able to just move or sell your shares. The rest of the dodgy comments were about the problems experienced with the platform itself which are verifiable facts. Xumwun didn't expand on what's dodgy but was most likely referring to that as well.

I want some answers as well. What's up with only being able to buy 5 shares at a time? I bought 30 through 7 transactions so there isn't a limit on what can be bought. I should be able to buy them in one go and more to the point should be able to buy as much as I can afford to up to what's available. When selling them it's the same thing again, 5 shares at a time. Utterly ridiculous.

 

[JustinPearse]

If EE goes bankrupt you will be okay.

However, if GT247 goes bankrupt or something happens here, this is where a world of pain will start for anyone who purchased shares through EE.

All shares are registered in the company name. They do have a register noting the name of the 'owner' who purchased the share. But, in any legal application, such as bankruptcy, etc., the law sees the shares as the property of the company and not yours as the investor.

An executor appointed will probably have all shares sold off. You as investor will need to file a claim to recoup your money. All shares sold will be distributed amongst investors and debtors. Debtors will naturally get preference. So, what is left will be distributed.

You will not get all your money back. Probably only a small portion.

I wish they would change this as I am using them for very short term and small investments. I will never invest large sums of money, as I am not the owner of the shares and see their operation as a 'scheme'. All schemes eventually collapses, with consequences.

Edit: Your money in the nominee account will be okay from creditors, but it is not safe from fraud. The shares are the property of the company and they can move or sell your shares legally. So, if your shares were raided by some owners who disappears with investors money then you will lose your investment.

HI Toothless,

This discussion and your post has just been brought to my attention by an unconcerned EasyEquities client who thankfully alerted me to the post so that I could respond.

Your post is factually incorrect. EasyEquities is not in any way, shape or form a scheme. It's very much a legitimate business that is regulated by the FSB, that provides investors with a low-cost and easy-to-use platform giving them the ability to invest on the stock exchange. Ownership of whole shares are in the name of the Investor. If you go and look at the share registers of the respective companies in which the investors hold shares, it is their names that sit on those share registers as the owner of the shares.

If you have a look at the "What Protections do you have" section at the bottom of Page 3 of our Terms and Conditions available here https://www.easyequities.co.za/Content/Documents/EASYEQUITIES_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf, you will see it clearly explained that whole securities belong to the investor and are kept separate from our estate and our assets. The fact that they are held in safe custody by a nominee company is common practice in the Financial Services industry.

The fractional shares (an innovative concept we have devised to give Investors with lower sums of money the ability to get invested on the stock exchange) work on a more complex basis where the Investor does not own the underlying reference instrument, but the Investor has a contractual claim against us under the transaction. I will get further clarity on how the Investor protection works on fractional shares, but I need the assistance of our CFO in order to simplify the explanation before I am happy to communicate it but I can state categorically that they operate in a manner that offers INvestors protection in an insolvency event. This is also explained in our T's and Cs'.

If you have any particular questions/queries/concerns, please feel free to raise them with me and I'll be delighted to answer / explain them further. If you'd like to come into our offices and chat with someone to allay any fears you have, we would welcome that too.

 

[JustinPearse]

I agree totally with you about questions being asked! Asking a question should always be welcomed, but making a statement such as the following really is not about about asking a question - it is about making a statement:

"I don't think it would be as big a deal if EE/GT247 hadn't shown themselves to be a little dodgy."

I do not see any question here.

And please note that I do not speak for EE/GT247 & am not affiliated with them in any way, and I simply voiced my own concerns about what could be regarded as legally defamatory postings.

I doubt that a company of the solid status that GT247 has would even bother to waste their time responding - but social media posters should be aware of possible legal repercussions, as we have seen on a few occasions in the last few days, where people spoke/wrote their minds without first thinking about the possible legal repercussions of their statements, and are now paying a big price for not being circumspect.

Agree with you wholeheartedly Piafka. We welcome any and all questions about our business model. We are completely legitimate and have nothing to hide.

Making unsubstantiated statements / claims doesn't do any good. Please table your questions here and we're more than happy to answer them.

 

[martin]

Hi Justin,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions regarding EE. I have a question as someone fairly new to managing some of my own investments. How does EE handle dividend payouts on whole and partially owned shares? Are they automatically reinvested or would they reflect as an additional amount in one's available balance?

If anyone else can answer this, please feel free to do so.