The I Quadrant Draws Flak For Marketing Ads, Explain Themselves On YouTube
For those who have the fortune of coming across certain advertisements on YouTube – you know the ones – you’d know that they promote financial investment classes.
People like Imran and Dominic are probably well-known to people by now.
They appear enticing and promise that you’ll never have to work another day in your life by 40 — and all you have to do is listen to them and give them money, sometimes in that order.
However, the people in these videos have been called out for their marketing tactics, though at least one of these companies offered a defence on YouTube.
Responses to the videos haven’t been all too pleasant, however, with more thumbs downs than thumbs ups.
The I Quadrant teaches property investing skills
One of the companies which drew attention was The I Quadrant, a “financial investment education” company.
The company was co-founded by 4 people:
- Germaine Chow
- Shawn Lee
- Ivan Cai
- Benny Ong
They host seminars which people can, as you’d expect, pay to enter and learn from these gurus on financial investments.
However, they staunchly claim that they are not a financial or investment company but an educational one.
For a period of time in 2019, The I Quadrant was listed until the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Alert List, but that listing was removed.
This may be because they don’t provide investment services or financial consultancies.
YouTubers call out marketing ‘gurus’
A YouTuber, Rishi, recently called out these “gurus” in a video.
Among The I Quadrant’s claims in their ads – some of which drew over 1.5 million views – is that you can invest in property “with little to no money down”, meaning you won’t need a large down payment.
Property agents give Rishi their thoughts on methods
But the viral videos, Rishi said, don’t answer the most important part — how?
Curious people would’ve clicked in to find out, but they’d have to attend a seminar to really get the information they seek.
Although there are free seminars, The I Quadrant also has 3 paid courses, such as the Property Income Mastery (PIM) course that covers a variety of property investment topics as seen below.
Then, once students complete the course, they will then be invited to take part in a diverse range of masterclasses, which covers financial topics like:
- Business
- Insurance
- Tax
- Residential property
The costs of the 3 paid courses aren’t revealed on their website.
So Rishi decided to ask 2 property agents about their thoughts of The I Quadrant’s claims.
In short, their answer was — yes, you can make investments with little down payment, but the costs will be borne by others.
Other YouTubers like Justaway Garnett have also made videos debunking The I Quadrant’s methods.
The I Quadrant defend themselves
Following the call-outs, The I Quadrant decided to make a YouTube video defending themselves.
But it’s fair to say that reception to the video hasn’t been fantastic.
However, that video was just a preview for what was to come. On 11 Nov, they released the first of perhaps a series of videos talking about their claims, and presumably, their legitimacy.
They went into a case study explaining the methodology.
To put it simply, in the video, they explain that others – such as the tenants you rent out to – can cover the repayments you’ll have to make to the bank, and they call this ‘good debt’.
However, what we’re also told from the video was that one needs to select the ‘right’ property’ to get the ‘good debt’ going, which in term can yield the returns they supposedly made.
And how do we do that? Well, we’re told that we must ‘acquire the knowledge’, which they can conveniently provide — for a fee, of course.
Netizens aren’t convinced
Regardless of their defence, however, not many have taken to their explanations — including from people who’ve allegedly gone for their seminars.
Among the accusations are that The I Quadrant do not reveal the risks of their methods, and that they allegedly deleted negative comments left on their Facebook page.
They also claim that people with little to no income can start investing in property as well — but many say this is highly risky and can incur bankruptcy.
Selling a dream
Whether their tips are true or not, how you spend your money is up to you. But do be wary of people who promise easy or quick riches, because that doesn’t exist.
It can sound very enticing to not work a day for the rest of your life while income rolls in. But if that were so effective, people wouldn’t be teaching you how to do it.
That, or these things you can find watching YouTube videos, which are free.
Paying a lot of money for some secret you supposedly can’t get elsewhere sounds more like a marketing tactic than anything.
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Featured image adapted from YouTube and YouTube.
