Hi all, this is my first ever article on 'Steem'.
I recently discovered the youtube channel, as well as some other podcasts here and there, of someone called Dean Argent, who is a self employed businessman and asset protection specialist. His website is currently down, and any email sent to him bounces back. I cannot see a phone number available. The last evidence of posting content on youtube was January 2015, and last evidence of posting any content was in April 2016 (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/dean-argent/australian-asset-protection#).
His youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ8TVBQ110_1pjv06_tvfVA
One thing that intrigues me is that his videos get barely any views or comments, for such an important topic, typically between 30 and 300 views per video.
He has also written a book: https://www.amazon.com/Australian-Asset-Protection-legally-stealing-ebook/dp/B00M8074OA
As I am not a part of Facebook or Linkedin, I was not able to look at his profile on those two sites.
His story appears to be that he started off in the RAAF, then switched to earning a living from aircraft leasing and making arbitrage profits on deals involving house foreclosures, aircraft parts, and even law firms. He was able to retire from needing to work by 33. When some business partners he had tried to sue him as part of a property development venture gone wrong around the time of the GFC, they gave up, as they realised he does practice what he preaches, and his assets were protected. The main instrument for asset protection he recommends is the Discretionary Trust, due to the fact that it has no owners (unlike a company), only a Trustee, which controls it, and Beneficiaries, who benefit from it.
Argent often makes the point that in Australia we are the 2nd most litigious country in the world behind the United States of America, and states several alarming examples to illustrate this point.
There is a link to pay a small fee to watch a video series on asset protection, income generation and tax minimisation, which I did do, but since his website is down, the first video doesn't work. An automated system then sends links to 3-4 other videos (one after each passing day), and these do work, as the links for these do not go to his 'protectassets' website but somewhere else. At the bottom of the automatically generated email shows a company of his, 'Zepher Holdings' Pty Ltd in Qld 4216, which an internet search then comes up with https://www.aus61business.com/company/Zepher-Holdings-Pty-Ltd, registered 29 July 2004, and ACN 110269399. Strangely, searching for Zepher Holdings at https://abr.business.gov.au/ does not come up with a match, and neither does the ACN.
So does anyone know what happened to him? Has anybody dealt with him before? I'd be quite interested to hear, but even if no one has, then perhaps this post will raise awareness on the risks associated with owning a business or valuable assets, and the importance of asset protection.