| Eddie Hobbs | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 October 1962 Cork, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Celebrity Financial Advisor |
Eddie Hobbs (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish celebrity Financial Advisor.
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Hobbs worked for Zurich Life 1979 to 1991 and left his position as Marketing Manager to set up a fee-based financial planning company TIPS. In March 1993 Hobbs published a landmark report "Endowment Mortgages The Hometruth" which collapsed sales of endowment homeloans in Ireland by June 1993 after the banking and life insurance industry failed to deal with his critique. In 1995 Hobbs was made a non-executive director in the financial services firm Taylor Asset Management but resigned from it and TIPS in Jan 1996. In May 1996 after a two month investigation, Hobbs lodged a complaint with the Irish regulator about the handling of two client files by Tony Taylor CEO of the Taylor Group. Tony Taylor fled Ireland and was located living under an alias in Eastbourne UK in 1999 by an investigator reporting to Hobbs. Taylor was extradicted and pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, forgery and destruction of documents for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. Hobbs himself was never implicated in any issues relating to company affairs and in 2007 he was exonerated by the Irish High Court and praised by the presiding judge for showing "efficiency and determination and for not standing idly" when he pursued Taylor's activities from 1995 to 1996.
In 1996 he submitted a complaint to The Competition Authority alleging that the Government supported Irish Insurance Federation Remuneration Agreement was offensive to competition law since 1991,had engendered a culture of consensus decision making, restricted competition and prevented costs and commission disclosure to consumers. The complaint was upheld in 1998 forcing the Government to introduce statutory commission and charges disclosure. The Life industry was forced to reissue its product range to comply with the Insurance Act 2000. Hobbs acted in a voluntary capacity as a director and Finance spokesperson for The Consumers association of Ireland from 1993 to 2006
He presented the RTÉ show Rip-Off Republic in 2005, a show preoccupied with artificially high development land prices, the perceived high personal taxes, corporate margins and cartels/monopolies in Ireland. Prior to this, Hobbs presented the television show Show Me the Money, where he helped various people, from farmers to hairdressers, to improve their finances and which won two IFTA TV awards. He has also presented a three-part programme, 30 Things to do with your SSIA, in which he gives a humorous list of ideas for spending the money held in a Special Savings Incentive Account. Notably he advised people against investing their SSIAs, along with borrowed bank money, in Irish Investment Property (RIPS and explained investment in property PLC's as a better choice. He outlined Minsky's bubble theory and suggested the Irish market was at the latter steps of it. [1]. In Show Me the Money he repeatedly advised since 2004 that property prices in Ireland are only going one way - down - and strongly advised against residential investment property purchase in Ireland. In 2007 property prices started to reverse. An outspoken populist critic of the vested interests in Ireland, especially the producer groups who "control the country", Hobbs has often repeated that "There's one game in town: development." He speaks out against Jumbo mortgages and picks apart the arguments presented by the vested interests who wish to maintain the status quo, including public sector unions whom he describes as Ireland's strongest cartel.
During the run up to the 2007 Irish general election, Eddie and his colleague Matt Cooper presented a political programme called Polls Apart on Irish TV station TV3, in which they interview the main Irish Political Parties' leaders about what they intend to do after the election, if they were to be deemed elected into government.
He co-presents RTE's The Consumer Show the state broadcasters weekly consumer watchdog programme and regularly appears in media debates on the nature of the Irish economic austerity policy heavily critical of the cross subsidising of the public sector and inaction in dealing with Irish consumer insolvency.
In 2004 he released Short Hands Long Pockets his first book as a fund raiser for The Jack & Jill Children's Foundation for whom he acts as patron. His second book LOOT! was published in 2006. Each book was a best seller. In March 2009, Eddie Hobbs released his third book, Debt Busters by Currach Press. In the book he explains clearly and practically how to manage your spending and the money you owe - even if you feel overwhelmed by your level of indebtedness - and come out the other side in leaner and fitter financial shape. From 2007 to 2010 he acted an editorial director of monthly magazine You & Your Money owned and published by Ashville Publications.He writes two weekly columns for The Daily Star Ireland's largest selling red top. In October 2009 he launched Energise - How to Survive and Prosper in the Coming Age of Scarcity, High Inflation and Peak Oil as an E-Book from his website, all profits from which go to the Irish children's charity, The Jack & Jill Foundation. He is a frequent commentator and writer on social, economic and financial affairs on Irish TV, radio and newspapers and co-presents The Consumer Show on RTE TV.
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In 2005 Eddie Hobbs was awarded Honorary Patronage of TCD's University Philosophical Society. He has acted as Patron to The Jack & Jill Children's Foundation Charity since 2005 and was appointed by the Irish Government as a Director of the National Consumer Agency in 2007 having served on its interim board since 2005. He resigned in 2009. In 2011 Eddie Hobbs was made a honorary life member of the University College Dublin Law Society for his contributions as a consumer advocate. He continues to co-host RTE's The Consumer Show