"It only took 3 years from debt of 60,000 to 'after sleeping'" and "I, in addition to salary, I earned 1 million in three years: what is more terrible than poor is the thinking of the poor"... Recently, this type of article is not uncommon on platforms such as WeChat public accounts and Douyin. Most of them are advertising for various financial courses. The impactful advertising slogans seem to show that no matter how much you earn, as long as you spend money to attend classes, you can get closer to financial freedom.
This inevitably makes the novice financial managers excited.
Beijing News reporters found that a few yuan or more than ten yuan courses were just the beginning of the financial course routine. During this period, the teacher kept mentioning high returns and gradually guiding students to upgrade the courses, and the price immediately soared to thousands of yuan. A student told reporters that his financial income spent 2,000 yuan did not increase and he was charged an IQ tax.
html On December 2, the reporter searched on the Black Cat Complaint Platform and saw that there were more than 900 complaints from the three leading companies in the industry - Weimiao Business School (referred to as Weimiao), Qiniu Business School (formerly known as Kuaicai Business School), and Changtou School (referred to as Changtou), which soared by about 400 items compared with mid-January. The complaints involved the mismatch between the courses and the amount, and suspected inducing publicity, etc. The complaint group ranged from students, office workers to children who were 80-year-old relatives.In fact, financial education is not a new track. In the early days, it was mostly courses set by banks, insurance or fund companies to attract customers, mainly for specific products to divert traffic. However, with the industry segmentation, financial education is more independent of product promotion. Changtou Academy, one of the leading institutions in the industry, was established in 2011.
The sudden outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 has caused this industry that can "relieve anxiety" to continue to "heat fever". However, the unique financial and investment attributes of financial education distinguish it from ordinary training industries. With the wild growth, whether such institutions should be licensed and regulated is becoming increasingly the focus. The industry believes that financial education is indeed necessary, but industry irregularities need to be rectified urgently.
join the group
"bad price" to learn financial management. The student group increased to 300 in two days
2-year-old Yang Yi (pseudonym) gradually accumulated a little spare money at work and occasionally bought some financial products, and the overall rate of return was not high. Although defined by the platform as a low-risk investor, she had the idea of boldly pursuing high returns to get rich. "Spend 12 yuan to join the financial management training camp." Seeing this low threshold, Yang Yi added the WeChat of the Weimiao Business School teacher and became one of them.
Yang Yi had only twenty or thirty people when she first joined the group. In two days, the group members increased to about 300. According to him, the training camp has a total of 12 days, and the courses involve "how to transition from the poor to the rich" and "how ordinary people become rich through the compound interest law?" "How to spend more money" and so on. The teacher will teach through WeChat voice or text according to the course settings. After the first day of the course of
, the class teacher will send private messages to the students, fill in the questionnaire to learn about career, salary, debt and other information, and post screenshots of his income in the past six months. Yang Yi told reporters that few people in the group interrupted, and most of the time they followed the courses of the teachers. Over the past few days, Yang Yi was deeply impressed by compound interest thinking. "Under the teacher's guidance, according to compound interest thinking, even if I only invest hundreds or thousands of yuan a month, I can still achieve financial freedom with at least 20% compound interest." Yang Yi told reporters.
However, Zhang Jie (pseudonym), who also entered the group with this simple fantasy, is still a novice after half a year of financial management and has not gained more profits in financial management. During the 2020 epidemic, she spent more than 2,000 yuan to study financial management courses at Changtou School.
Zhang Jie's reason for enrolling in a class is simple: "Although there is a lot of financial management knowledge online, I always feel that there is no free lunch in the world, so spending money may be better."
but the reality is very skinny. Although she thinks that financial entrepreneurship classes are useful for novices, such as the teacher can teach you how to choose fund , and set some indicators including company size, fund growth in the past three years, fund size, etc., which will also be practical, but it is still a bit difficult to invest by yourself. “I don’t have much capital, and even according to the investment he taught, I still feel very far from financial freedom.”
Wang Xue (pseudonym), who is taking a novice class, was also attracted by the publicity of a financial teacher, who declared, “I will teach you specific financial management tools and methods that only make money but not lose money. "But in the view of financial professionals, under the background of the new asset management regulations "breaking the rigid guarantee", there are fewer and fewer financial management companies that make steady profits and not lose money. Even if there is one, it means that the yield is very low, which is obviously far from publicity.
An analyst in the financial industry told the Beijing News that he was once invited to be a guest by a leading financial education company, but when he saw the information sent by the other party, he found that there were many inaccurate basic concepts and problems with the logic, so he refused.
Investigation
"Painting Cake" recommended high-priced courses, and the tuition fee of more than 6,000 yuan can be paid in installments
Beijing News reporter saw from the publicity of Weimiao Business School that the current teaching class is divided into different stages such as entry and advancement. Click on the "Introduction" teaching to see the learning content of the "12-day Financial Management Introductory Course", and the limited promotion price is 12 yuan.
reporter then experienced this course. A few days after entering the WeChat group, a teacher recommended high-priced courses worth thousands of yuan in the group and suggested that students pay tuition fees through installments.
"Tuation of more than 6,000 yuan is indeed a considerable expense. Many students also choose to register in installments, with a monthly fee of 600 yuan. There is no pressure for adults. "When the tuition fee was asked by a reporter as a student, the teacher of Weimiao's "Xiaobai" financial management class responded in this way.
During this period, he claimed that the highest financial management income this year exceeded 100%, but now it has fallen a little, and there is still more than 70%. "I used to think it was unimaginable that it was higher than 5%, but after learning, you will know what kind of stocks will not lose and what kind of funds can be bought. Therefore, there is no need to envy such high returns, which are proportional to financial management capabilities. If you want to have this ability, you can continue to study with the teacher and sign up for advanced classes. "High returns have become a big reason for teachers to recommend high-priced courses.
uses low-priced financial courses as a channel for diversion, not just Weimiao. A reporter from the Beijing News entered the Qiniu Business School study class through WeChat scan code, and recommended the class teacher's WeChat in the group, claiming that he could add a number of materials such as Xiaobai financial management books. In the publicity, Xiaobai financial management training camp is 9 days, the original price is 299 yuan, and it is free for a limited time. After the class starts, unlike Weimiao Business School, the class teacher teaches in WeChat voice and text, in the Qiniu teaching group, the video link of the day is distributed every day, and click to learn. In the video, the teacher will mention in-depth courses from time to time, and said that after the class upgrade, the teacher will lead everyone to practice Fuck.
In addition, Qiniu Business School will claim to lead everyone to make a lot of money in the live class. The limited time discount for live room courses is only 2,880 yuan, and the limit is 60 people. When a reporter from the Beijing News asked as a student, the head teacher repeatedly promoted courses on WeChat voice, saying that if the money is not enough, he could pay in installments. "Many students earned the tuition back."
For the profit, the head teacher only repeatedly emphasized the expected profit opportunity, "Investing two or three hundred yuan a month, long-term persistence is also a high income, and you can earn several thousand yuan a month; the risk of issuing new debt is extremely low. Calculated as small, four signs a month, and earning 300 yuan per sign, and you can get tens of thousands of yuan a year. Especially for students in debt, they can learn the secrets of making money by opening up the source of wealthy people’s thinking. "The head teacher said.
However, according to Wind data query, 6 convertible bonds fell off the issue on the first day of listing in December 2020. Entering 2021, as of January 31, a total of 18 convertible bonds were issued in the market, of which 7 of them fell off the issue on the first day of listing, accounting for nearly 40%. Many market insiders said that convertible bonds fell off the issue and entered a new normal, and it can be said that the days of "making money on a lie-out basis" have passed.
. The reporter noticed that the WeChat of the head teacher of Qiniu Business School has also been highlighted that "the other party has been complained by others, beware of fraud. ”
revealed the secret of
harvesting routine: high-yield induction, course packing and selling
Beijing News reporter experienced financial courses and found that in order to guide students to buy high-priced courses, the financial training camp hidden a clear "money-making" routine.
First of all, these institutions will use the concepts of "making millions in 3 years" to attract a group of financial management novices to come to class. During the teacher's lecture, the company introduction was interspersed with students to understand the company while dispelling their concerns. Teachers will also instill in the “financial management ability is important” to guide students to continuously learn knowledge.
After that, the teacher himself began to speak out that most of the content was that after investing and liability, he made a lot of money in a short period of time after learning financial management. All kinds of preparations lay the groundwork for subsequent promotion and upgrading courses. In the promotion of
, "low price limit" has become a major routine. In the Weimiao Business School courses experienced by the reporter, there are only 49 discount places in a group of nearly 300 people. These discounts are that Weimiao Business School will package "System Class", "Financial Report Class" and "Enterprise Class" for promotion, and the price is 6,998 yuan. The teacher said in the group that the novice training camp is the lowest price, and once the discounted quota is used up, the original price will be restored.
In order to dispel students' thought that the course is expensive or cannot be learned, the financial teacher often sent screenshots in the group that old students mentioned that "investment has earned back the tuition fees", and said that "an aunt in her 60s can understand it." "The teacher has taught more than 10,000 classmates, but she has not said she can't learn it yet", which has enhanced students' determination to buy classes. In addition to the low-priced secrets of
sales courses, financial education platforms often use higher returns to "induce" customers, implying that after learning these courses, the rate of return is guaranteed. Among them, a teacher from Weimiao Business School introduced that if you study the financial freedom system operation course well, the annualized rate of return can reach about 15%. Regarding the question "What level can you reach after learning the class?", he promised: There is no problem in studying hard and operating independently, and it is similar to the teacher's level.
Finance Education Platform vigorously promotes advanced courses, which is far different from the high pricing of introductory courses. There are currently four advanced courses at Weimiao Business School: financial free work operation skills course, financial free financial report analysis skills course, financial free enterprise analysis skills course, and advanced training course in financial investment and enterprise management. The first three are sold at more than 3,698 yuan, and the advanced training course for financial investment and enterprise management is 998 yuan.
In comparison, Qiniu Business School has more advanced courses, with 12 advanced courses and advanced courses, including funds, stock investment training camps, stable income earning courses, rich thinking and cognitive courses, etc. The prices are mostly a few hundred yuan to more than 1,000 yuan. The advanced courses of Changtou Academy are similar to Qiniu Business School. Currently, there are more than ten major financial management courses, and the highest price is the REITs investment training camp, which is 1,480 yuan.
However, the Beijing News reporter noticed that these courses are usually packaged and sold in WeChat groups, among which the advanced courses of Weimiao Business School are packaged and sold at 6,998 yuan, while the Qiniu Business School is 2,880 yuan.
Hidden worries
Course quality has become a point, and the top three institutions were asked to refund
Beijing News reporters found that the financial education industry "grows wildly", unclear curriculum standards, teacher qualifications, etc. are a major problem that has been criticized.
A lecturer at Weimiao Business School told the Beijing News reporter that many teachers of Weimiao have grown up from outstanding students. He bought advanced courses at the end of 2017 and were promoted to Weimiao lecturer. Regarding the specific hard indicators, he said that recruiting teachers does not require much academic qualifications, so you can get from a junior college, and now there are also teachers who require undergraduate or above.
reporter saw from the talent recruitment information on Weimiao’s official website that full-time online instructors require bachelor’s degree or above, and there are no specific professional restrictions. However, the company emphasizes strong learning ability and professional knowledge will be systematically trained.
In this regard, the well-known financial commentator Situ Zhengjing said in an interview with the Beijing News that financial education itself is a knowledge system training based on the discipline of economics, and should include basic financial products such as macro-microeconomics, securities, banks, insurance, funds, corporate accounting knowledge, industrial and commercial tax knowledge and corresponding laws and regulations. Regarding the content and educational process of financial courses, a senior industry insider told reporters that there are currently no clear standards in the industry, such as whether students of different levels should be distinguished to teach them courses of different levels of difficulty, just like grading risk for investors. This is worth discussing.Under the chaos of
, there are currently many "complains" on the financial education platform. As of February 2, on the Heimao Complaint Platform, the three large-scale institutions in the industry - Weimiao, Changtou and Qiniu - have complained 293, 146 and 512 respectively, and the issues involved mainly include inducing consumption and false propaganda. Compared with mid-January, the total number of complaints from the three companies was more than 500.
According to the comments from hundreds of consumers who complained to Black Cat, based on the "Xiaobai" course, the advanced course will further learn financial management knowledge and promise that "you can get a full refund if you are not satisfied with your graduation." In the eyes of students, advanced courses are mainly video courses, with relatively basic content, making it difficult to implement and make money, and some students with weak foundations are even difficult to obtain graduation certificates.
reporters investigated and found that some platforms stipulate that within 2 days of issuing a graduation certificate, students can only refund the course if the value of the course is lower than the price, which means that they can only refund the graduation certificate. This constitutes a "violent cycle", making it difficult for students who cannot learn to get the refund. An anonymous user asked Qi Niu for a refund, with the reason: "I am fifty years old, working outside, and I haven't even graduated from elementary school. I can't learn to understand. Isn't this a rush to put it on the shelves?" The lawyer from
told the Beijing News reporter that if the specific content is blurred or implicit in the electronic contract for purchasing courses through marketing methods, consumers can question the validity of the contract. Spending several thousand yuan to purchase a mismatched course is more difficult to constitute contract fraud. Dissatisfied with the refund is equivalent to a unilateral commitment. The institution actually has a lot of room for explanation, which is different from typical false propaganda. "In the future, the operation with a relatively high possibility of industry rectification is the intervention of the industry self-discipline association, which then relies on the cooperation of various departments. However, whether further supervision can be carried out depends on the scale and scope of the population coverage."
Supervision
has a platform to open an account to divert traffic for securities companies. Should we hold a license and take up a job above the hierarchy of ?
At present, Weimiao Business School, Qiniu Business School and Changtou Academy occupy a large domestic market share. Among them, Weimiao official website, established in 2017, has popularized financial management knowledge for more than 50 million people, while Qiniu Business School and Changtou Academy official websites say that the number of users or paid students has exceeded 5 million.
If the publicity and educational services carried out by these financial education platforms are examined based on the requirements for professional financial institutions to carry out investment consulting business, the two have many similarities in service content, but the latter is outside the rules. According to the "Regulations on the Management of Securities and Fund Investment Consulting Business (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as "Draft for Comments"), whether you are engaged in securities investment consulting business or fund investment consulting business, you need to operate with a license and accept strict supervision from regulatory agencies. However, although the financial education platform also involves a lot of professional knowledge in finance and financial management during the teaching process, and even has skills in selecting funds and stocks, it is not licensed.
Beijing News reporter did not find any licensed signs on the official introduction pages of Weimiao, Qiniu and Changtou. In addition, in the information disclosure of investment consulting companies on the official website of the China Securities Association, the reporter checked the company names corresponding to the three platforms - Beijing Weimiao Finance Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Dianfeng Tongdao Technology Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Changtou Network Technology Co., Ltd., and none of them were listed.
In addition, the "Draft for Comments" mentions that securities and fund investment consulting institutions should fully understand customers, classify customers, and implement risk rating and classification management of the securities and fund investment consulting services provided, follow the principle of risk matching, and fully reveal risks. During the reporter's experience, the same courses were taught for different groups of people, and there was no risk rating for customers and the teaching services were implemented.
Economist and new financial expert Yu Fenghui told reporters that the focus of financial education should be on popularizing basic knowledge for investors, especially the popularization of risk knowledge. In the education process, there should be no guidance on the expected rate of return. After all, even professional financial licensed institutions are illegal, let alone non-licensed institutions. Xiong Bingqi , director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, also told reporters that many of this type of training are done by consulting companies, and they do not have training qualifications. There are regulatory loopholes, which leads to a mixture of things and "harvest" many people who are eager to make money.
It is worth mentioning that during the investigation by the Beijing News reporter, it also found that the Finance Education Platform has a natural link with "stock trading" and "account opening", so it has become the entrance for some securities institutions to divert traffic and open accounts.
In the publicity of Teacher Weimiao, students will receive a reward for completing the prescribed number of homework - a low commission account opening channel, that is, Huatai Securities with a commission of 1.6 per ten thousand. A customer service on Huatai Securities' official website told the Beijing News reporter, "Currently, the Shanghai branch and Horgos Caishang Education Technology Co., Ltd. have an account opening cooperation. It is a platform for Weimiao Business School and the Wealth Free Education System, which is a formal account opening."
However, the reporter contacted a business department of Huatai Securities in Beijing and learned that Huatai Securities' account opening commission is 3/1000 per thousand, and after application, it can eventually be as low as 1/1000 per thousand, of which the ETF trading commission can be as low as 1/1000 per thousand.
responds to
Weimiao: Installment payment is a normal social phenomenon Qiniu: There is no problem of difficulty in refunding
In response to the problems of teachers in the Xiaobai course group promoting advanced courses and tuition installment payments, on February 2, a relevant person in charge of Weimiao responded to the Beijing News reporter that at present, Weimiao Business School’s courses are divided into the "Xiaobai Training Camp" courses for "zero foundation" financial management groups and advanced courses that want to improve their investment system. "Xiaobaiying" can be regarded as the "starter" of advanced courses. After students finish learning "Xiaobaiying", teachers will promote advanced courses to the students, and installment payment is a normal social phenomenon. Weimiao Business School offers installment payment services to users, but the initiative and right to choose whether to choose installment payments are completely in the hands of users.
In addition, for the course effect, the person in charge said that in order to allow users to master the course knowledge in a real and detailed manner, Weimiao Business School will provide online knowledge points practice and tests after the weekly course, so that users can only learn the next chapter of the course by passing the test. Moreover, after the 24-week course is completed, Weimiao Business School will conduct unified assessment and test students and grade the students' learning effects based on the completion of homework. When the user's score does not meet the standards, Weimiao will provide users with a free learning channel until the assessment is passed.
On the same day, the relevant person in charge of Qiniu Business School responded to the refund issue to the Beijing News reporter, saying that the general rule of refund is that the part of the courses that students have not studied can be refunded for free, but the tuition fees that have been studied will not be refunded. The customer service team will communicate with the students on issues such as learning experience, and there is no problem of difficulty in refunding. This happened before because some students contacted customer service to request a full refund when they finished all courses in just 1 day left.
"For users who have poor learning experience, we are very sorry and will actively and properly handle various complaints from users." The person in charge said, "We have clear internal regulations that we do not allow lecturers to conduct non-compliance behaviors such as stock recommendations in the course. If there are any violations, there will be extremely strict punitive measures." The person in charge of
Qiniu Business School said that at present, more and more new players are entering the field of financial education, which will inevitably drive the rapid increase in the scale of market employment, but at the same time, market norms and industry supervision guidance are also required. We look forward to the relevant departments introducing industry standards as soon as possible and will fully support it.
In addition, on February 2, the reporter contacted Changtou Academy through the official website phone. A staff member said that if there is any response, the relevant person will contact the reporter. As of press time, no reply was received.
Beijing News reporter Pan Yichun Hu Meng Editor Wang Jinyu Yue Caizhou Proofreading Jia Ning
