As a winter chill blew down Collins Street on a Monday night earlier this month, it was nothing compared to the bitter atmosphere within the walls of the historic Melbourne Town Hall, where Henry Kaye was promising to turn "one lucky person" in the audience into a Millionaire. More than a thousand punters had turned up hoping to find an unexpected fortune just like, the young would-be millionaire stockbroker in the classic movie “Wall Street”. Kaye bursts on stage in a buttoned up silk suit, clean cut, polished hair and announces he is not a ‘spruiker’. He says in broken English he didn’t know the meaning of the term until two weeks ago, but Kaye guarantees he’s not driving around Frankston and Parramatta in a small panel van, with two speakers, “ripping” people off. Kaye gives himself a lot of credit. For if it were a crime for being creative, Kaye is guilty, especially as it was his creative strategies that took him from a near broke “negative zero” man a few years ago to so-called “guru” status with “more than $700 million worth of property investment”. Kaye sympathises with “ordinary” Australians, he says; he too has been ripped off in the past. Therefore, Kaye understands why people are “scared” to invest in property. Would you agree with that… Are you following me? He exhorts. However, the pot of gold comes to those who have packed the Town Hall. Now that Kaye is a self-made millionaire, he is willing to share his knowledge and teach the punters, the normal bloke on the street, how to acquire property at wholesale rather than retail prices. “Are you following me?” Kaye asks the crowd. Obviously not, the noise of leather scouring the polished floors echoes through the historic hall as people hurried their way to the exits, putting on a brave smile at Kaye’s attentive staff.
At last the moment we all had been awaiting finally arrived, the “Millionaire Challenge Strategies” slide flashed onto the screen. Kaye reveals to punters he has close ties with property developers and he is very selective what properties he chooses to invest in. So the properties he recommends to his clients are only the best! Usually, they are properties he owns or they are owned by a myriad of companies he has part ownership in. These must be “baby steps”, with Kaye’s other courses costing as much as $50,000. Kaye, the consumate spruiker then talks about baking cakes. ”You’ve got to have the right ingredients and do it step-by-step, “Would you agree with that… are you following me?” Kaye crows. If punters sign up with Kaye, whether to learn his Mastery Millionaire course or mastery baking cake course, Kaye will pocket a minimum of $15 million. For those without the cash, good old Henry just happens to have close ties with several financial institutions able to lend the dosh. “The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed — for lack of a better word — is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind,” says Wall Street’s evil stockbroker Gordon Gekko. Most surprisingly, Kaye didn’t use Gekko’s words in his millionaire challenge seminar in Melbourne. Are your following me?
