Why we started 'Walnut Report'

In a nutshell—and please excuse the pun—because you, the investing public, have been failed.

You have been failed by the financial planning and broking industries, by regulators and by the media. You have been failed not because there's insufficient advice and regulation—there's enough of that to fill a metropolitan rubbish dump. You have been failed because that is where a good chunk of it belongs.

The financial services industry operates not to enrich you, but to enrich those that work in it. It's a gravy train for advisers, brokers, banks and fund managers. And you, the ordinary investors, are the ones paying for it.

Many financial advisers confuse advising and selling. These two things are VERY different. Your adviser probably hasn't ever recommended that you 'just park your money in cash and save on fees'. That's because, while it might be in your best interests, it's not in theirs.

But an industry suffering from this huge conflict of interest isn't the only problem. There's also a shortage of expertise. Many advisers are recommending products and strategies that they simply don't understand. Either way, you lose.

Walnut Report was created to provide you with advice you can trust. First, having worked on the other side of the industry, we know what we're talking about. And second, we don't have a financial interest in the outcome of your decisions.

The only thing we sell is a subscription to Walnut Report, for less than $300 a year—less than the cost of an hour or two with an adviser or accountant. With us, there's no complicated relationship to unwind. If you don't like what we do, you simply stop paying for it.

In my working life before Walnut Report, I was an Executive Director with Macquarie Bank, heading up business groups in investment banking, financial products and equity markets. Prior to that, I worked in financial services taxation with Price Waterhouse.

I know all too well the games played to pitch products, and the risks of strategies marketed to investors. It also means I know a good opportunity when I see one. Walnut Report is my way of making this expertise available to ordinary investors.

Walnut Report won't bore you with random musings about world markets, or inundate you with tonnes of data. We don't want to replace your tax accountant. And we certainly don't want to sell to you.

Our charter is simple: provide you with useful, actionable insights to either make you money or save you losing a truckload of it. Even if you only ever act on one article, it could be the difference between retiring comfortably or spending the rest of your life working to replace your lost nest egg.