Brokers target Early Retirees

Seems like lots of folks are just sitting ducks. Articles like this get posted here at least once a year. I don't know why folks are so gullible. I guess money management is such a mystery, that they are easily led astray.

Folks just have to work at a place for a decade or two and amass a good 401K, and suddenly they are an easy target.

Audrey
 
A friend of mine was just left 3M+ in cash and a house after the death of his MIL. I gave him a list of a few books to read and told him to call Vanguard. A month later he told me he just went to an advisor and he's only charging him 1%. I asked him what the advisor did with the money and he said he had no idea.

You can lead a horse to water..........
 
If he is a good friend hope you persuade him to let you
have a discussion with the 1% advisor.
 
An old saying. You can't teach someone nothin that don't know nothin.
 
Well I would look at it more like it is letting the advisor
know that someone else is also concerned, so don't screw up.
Kind of like a curve ahead sign. Nice to know such friends exsist
 
Amazing. An ex-gf is from Houma and probably knows them. The 9% SWR scares me.
 
"In the first few years after Ray handed over his nest egg to Morgan Stanley, his portfolio soared as the market boomed."

Geee..... I did this all by myself without an advisor. Rode it up, rode it down and finally recovered.

I think most on this board are plenty smart enough to know how to ride risky equity investments up and down the cycle without paying someone to do it for them! Why, I bet most of us could even figure out how to get scared and sell at the bottom! :rolleyes:
 
I have quite a few ex co-workers that have lost most of their retirement. I fought and argued until I was blue in the face with a couple of them, but they would not listen. An investment broker was promising them 36%, and they lined up like sheep to slaughter. One or two lucky ones died, the rest are now out working or looking for work.
 
Articles like that keep reminding me that the time I spend educating myself about finances is time well spent... Two weeks ago, my MIL was invited by a friend to attend a personal finance seminar targeting divorced retirees (mostly women)... They got a free lunch and a hard sale by some hot shot "financial advisor" in his 20's. He tried to scare them into insurance products, annuities, and expensive investment options provided through a second class insurance company. My MIL in particular is uneasy wih her current financial situation as a new divorcee in her 60's and the annuity part of sale pitch got her attention... Luckily she left the "seminar" without signing anything... Right now her money is invested in one of VG target retirement fund and if she really wants to go the annuity route, I would want her to first take a look at VG annuity options.
 
WOW ... this really shows that the general public does need education on investments ala gov'ment new pension laws. ... I kept on envisioning sheep to the slaughter as I read the article. ... very disturbing.
... PT Barnum seems to have been correct.
 
megacorp-firee said:
WOW ... this really shows that the general public does need education on investments.
Click to expand...

And it shows that the general public has greed as a primary driver........ Greed is the enabler that allows scam artists, financial advisors and other low lifes to do their evil work........ :(
 
Wow .... get caught in a ponzi scheme and [-]kick the cat[/-] sue mega corp? What ever happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?!?!

On the bright side, the dude with the 8.5% withdrawal rate probably SPENT more than he LOST. :rolleyes: What are these people smoking?
 
In my youth (a coupla years ago, as I was gathering info), I had a 'free dinner' and a follow up meeting with the FA. This is after I had already set things up ... and was curious as to what others were advising. So my DW and I go to the meeting with the FA and he starts to tell me about getting guarenteed 25% ... I asked a few questions on how this was possible and got a bunch of mumbo jumbo ... needless to say I tuned out for the rest of the meeting, thanked him, and got outta there. In the car, my DW asked me if we looked THAT dumb. My reply was '... that we learned something today ... , stay away from that guy, watch your wallet, and look both ways before crossing'.

The sad thing about this is that there were quite a few nice folks at that 'free dinner' and I am sure that there were some casualties.

I think the gov'ment should put a warning label on these guys... or a BIG RED F on their foreheads.
 
Seems intriguing that this story surfaces after how many years? Any advisor promising 25-30% returns is an idiot and a liar, wouldn't you think?

Seems to me there's bad eggs in all professions, but personal investing sells more columns..........
 
FinanceDude said:
Seems intriguing that this story surfaces after how many years? Any advisor promising 25-30% returns is an idiot and a liar, wouldn't you think?

Seems to me there's bad eggs in all professions, but personal investing sells more columns..........
Click to expand...
... liars yes... idiot? ... thinking it's the greedy ones who actually buy into this return rate.
 
megacorp-firee said:
... liars yes... idiot? ... thinking it's the greedy ones who actually buy into this return rate.
Click to expand...

The stuff I saw and heard from 1998-2000 was truly astonishing..........:eek::eek:

At least I'll know when the next bear market is about to hit, when my 65+ year old clients want to know about how to make 30% a year because "everyone's doing it"..........:p
 
FinanceDude said:
The stuff I saw and heard from 1998-2000 was truly astonishing..........:eek::eek:

At least I'll know when the next bear market is about to hit, when my 65+ year old clients want to know about how to make 30% a year because "everyone's doing it"..........:p
Click to expand...
Or when you're sitting in a taxi and the driver tells you about how he made a ton of money in his stocks last week... and then your sweet ole retired aunt tells you about the 'can't lose' investment club she just joined with all of her girlfriends :D
 
megacorp-firee said:
Or when you're sitting in a taxi and the driver tells you about how he made a ton of money in his stocks last week... and then your sweet ole retired aunt tells you about the 'can't lose' investment club she just joined with all of her girlfriends :D
Click to expand...

My cab driver yesterday told me that if he had a million, he would invest it and make 2 million, and then 4 million, without buying a new car, new house, or anything like that first. This did not appear to be an educated or under-employed person. He said he was working on building up to that first million. So if you're right, then I would conclude that that doesn't bode well for the market! :p
 
youbet said:
And it shows that the general public has greed as a primary driver........ Greed is the enabler that allows scam artists, financial advisors and other low lifes to do their evil work........ :(
Click to expand...
Quite true.

I think that a person, man or woman, who does well self managing a portfolio has to have something of a FU! personality.

"Nice people" just don't like to question everything or everyone.

Ha
 
Last edited:
Want2retire said:
My cab driver yesterday told me that if he had a million, he would invest it and make 2 million, and then 4 million, without buying a new car, new house, or anything like that first. This did not appear to be an educated or under-employed person. He said he was working on building up to that first million. So if you're right, then I would conclude that that doesn't bode well for the market! :p
Click to expand...
ok now I'm officially worried! :-\
 
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