I’m not a big fan of ASIC while its bureaucrats’ policies and legislative interpretations mollycoddle investors from taking responsability for their investment education and decisions. The Financial Services Reform Act created an nearly insurmountable obstacle for small business. Every business must hold a licence. Licencing and compliance is a nightmare.

But this not a rant. Instead I want to give props for once.

In 04-300 No credit for misleading loan calculators ASIC finally caught up with those shave years of your home loan calculators. You know the ones where banks or financial institutions compare a normal P&I home loan with a more expensive LOC and miraculously show the LOC saves time and money? Well they haven’t stopped the ads yet but they have shut down over 100 calculators on websites. How can a product with a higher interest rate beat a simple P&I loan? Well done for closing that down and issuing a press release about it.

Smoke and mirrors exist in the finance industry. Encouraging any government to attempt to legislate risk away is dangerous to your wealth. By the time politicians and bureaucrats catch up, the flock is fleeced. Wouldn’t it be better to spend time educating people to think critically and independantly?

If something costs more, consumers should automatically ask what’s the catch?. My ten-year-old daughter does.