Fund managers are like plays. You basically have the ones that play on Broadway, then the ones that play a little bit off Broadway and then finally the ones that are a 100 miles from Broadway. Sometimes the ones off Broadway are good, but most of the time you walk out in disgust.
I write this post to you tonight to make you think before giving your money to the Off-WallStreet fund managers and so sit back for a bit. Read this twice as it may just save you some coin.
There are quite a few people out there that hold no licenses or registrations who somehow find a way to manage other people's money. They talk others out of their money somehow usually speaking about large returns. These guys remind me of the magicians at the Casinos who seem to saw people in half and make them disappear right in front of you. You and I know that its all illusion, but usually there are a few people out in the audience who believe it is real just as there are people out there who believe these guys when they say they can return 400% in a year.
I used to work with a guy that would give his money away to some woman who would then trade or invest the money away. He believed that she gave him a decent return. Then recently there was a woman I know who gave $250,000, her life savings, to a young man who seemed to know his stuff. He then lost every dollar of it somehow. She had to move out of her residence and into a shared-room type situation. She had to go back to work as a nurse which is an occupation that she didnt really care for.
Most recently, I came upon a few articles that I thought I would share here. Read through all three of the articles:
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...-book-club-author-jacquelyn-mitchard/19533666
http://www.thevileplutocrat.com/bile/profile/trevor_cook/
http://www.startribune.com/business/90751939.html
http://www.parade.com/news/2009/12/6-the-richest-woman-in-town.html
This guy Trevor basically made some outlandish claims about how much he returned and had under management. He basically lied about everything. I dont think he lost all the money, but has it hidden away somewhere for when he gets out of prison...if he ever gets out.
Keep your eye on the first article. Why don't most people step up to say they lost money as a result of these guys?
"Mitchard said that at first, she was both angry and embarrassed that she had fallen victim to a ponzi scam. She and her husband were not foolish with their money, did not expect extraordinary returns on their investment, and live in a house her husband built himself. But that's when she realized it could happen to anyone. Mitchard wondered why no one had chronicled the ordeal before."
"I thought there would be a welter of these stories of people being wiped out. But there isn't," she said. "There's so much shame attached to it."
"Ponzi schemes have devastated thousands of investors across the country, but very few have written about the experience of being victimized by one of them. Late last year, Parade Magazine published Mitchard's first-hand account of what it felt like to lose everything in a scam."
The reason why people dont come forward is shame pure and simple.
I see these guys who want to manage money all over the place in different forms. I see them on blogs...I see them here on ET...I see them out there like that little kid sees dead people. There is no shortage of con-artists and confidence men that will pull a trick to get your money. These guys double-talk and always make it look like they are right. Whichever way the market goes well then thats the way they will say they traded in. They will say they have billions under management created from a hundred grand....it never ends.
Im not saying that all guys out there or on ET are ones that will do wrong with your cash. However, I believe a good many of them will probably do wrong and you wont ever see it again. The story above is just one of many out there. So now you have been warned about whats out there. You have learned from Madoff and now you have learned from Trevor Cook. Dont give your cash away...
I write this post to you tonight to make you think before giving your money to the Off-WallStreet fund managers and so sit back for a bit. Read this twice as it may just save you some coin.
There are quite a few people out there that hold no licenses or registrations who somehow find a way to manage other people's money. They talk others out of their money somehow usually speaking about large returns. These guys remind me of the magicians at the Casinos who seem to saw people in half and make them disappear right in front of you. You and I know that its all illusion, but usually there are a few people out in the audience who believe it is real just as there are people out there who believe these guys when they say they can return 400% in a year.
I used to work with a guy that would give his money away to some woman who would then trade or invest the money away. He believed that she gave him a decent return. Then recently there was a woman I know who gave $250,000, her life savings, to a young man who seemed to know his stuff. He then lost every dollar of it somehow. She had to move out of her residence and into a shared-room type situation. She had to go back to work as a nurse which is an occupation that she didnt really care for.
Most recently, I came upon a few articles that I thought I would share here. Read through all three of the articles:
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...-book-club-author-jacquelyn-mitchard/19533666
http://www.thevileplutocrat.com/bile/profile/trevor_cook/
http://www.startribune.com/business/90751939.html
http://www.parade.com/news/2009/12/6-the-richest-woman-in-town.html
This guy Trevor basically made some outlandish claims about how much he returned and had under management. He basically lied about everything. I dont think he lost all the money, but has it hidden away somewhere for when he gets out of prison...if he ever gets out.
Keep your eye on the first article. Why don't most people step up to say they lost money as a result of these guys?
"Mitchard said that at first, she was both angry and embarrassed that she had fallen victim to a ponzi scam. She and her husband were not foolish with their money, did not expect extraordinary returns on their investment, and live in a house her husband built himself. But that's when she realized it could happen to anyone. Mitchard wondered why no one had chronicled the ordeal before."
"I thought there would be a welter of these stories of people being wiped out. But there isn't," she said. "There's so much shame attached to it."
"Ponzi schemes have devastated thousands of investors across the country, but very few have written about the experience of being victimized by one of them. Late last year, Parade Magazine published Mitchard's first-hand account of what it felt like to lose everything in a scam."
The reason why people dont come forward is shame pure and simple.
I see these guys who want to manage money all over the place in different forms. I see them on blogs...I see them here on ET...I see them out there like that little kid sees dead people. There is no shortage of con-artists and confidence men that will pull a trick to get your money. These guys double-talk and always make it look like they are right. Whichever way the market goes well then thats the way they will say they traded in. They will say they have billions under management created from a hundred grand....it never ends.
Im not saying that all guys out there or on ET are ones that will do wrong with your cash. However, I believe a good many of them will probably do wrong and you wont ever see it again. The story above is just one of many out there. So now you have been warned about whats out there. You have learned from Madoff and now you have learned from Trevor Cook. Dont give your cash away...