In 1964 The Bank of England discovered that someone was stockpiling vast quantities of gold and suspected international bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger of being the man involved. The bank requested that our good friend, British agent James Bond 007, to be sent to investigate. Bond soon uncovered an audacious plan to commit “the crime of […]
I am starting to confuse that famous Senator from Massachusetts and now Presidential candidate with the Lord of the Rings character Gollum. In my opinion, Gollum was one of the most interesting fictional characters in film history. Gollum was a schizophrenic poor soul that was consumed by the power of his “precious” ring of power. […]
These rules of thumb represent my judgment about when it generally makes sense to choose the Roth IRA. Roth IRA vs. Taxable Account One of the alternatives to a Roth IRA is a regular taxable account with a bank, mutual fund or stockbroker. Either way you get no deduction when money goes in. The Roth […]
More damaging information has come to light regarding that three ring circus called MCI, formerly known as WorldCom and their partners in crime KPMG and Citigroup. What makes these new details particularly irritating is the timing. Just two weeks ago the government gave MCI their “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.” On January 26, 2004, Almar […]
The NASD has sanctioned Metropolitan Investment Securities of Spokane, Washington, charging the firm with abusive sales practices and inadequate supervisory procedures. Metropolitan has been censured, fined $500,000, directed to make restitution to investors totaling more than $2.8 million, and ordered to maintain a special escrow account of $1 million for the next five years to […]
I received a tremendous response this past month from readers and listeners far and wide regarding our coverage of Citigroup and their deceptive and contradictory marketing schemes. This month we are going to take it a bit further. Back in September the New York Post reported that the daughter of Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill magically […]
Putnam Investments was trying to make amends on Tuesday with the investing public by cutting fees, boosting disclosure and promising to be good boys and girls from now on. Ironically, at the same time, a former employee of the company was testifying to Congress at the extent of Putnam’s malfeasance and the lengths to which […]
We have been working diligently over the past two years doing everything and anything to expose the many unscrupulous sales practices regarding annuities. The areas that we have articulated deal primarily with suitability concerns, exorbitant fees and misuse. Unfortunately, we now can add churning and burning to our list. Lynn Cowan from the Wall Street […]
It is quite entertaining and enlightening to observe the conduct of unscrupulous corporate bigwigs, moronic courts, and shady investment firms. It is eerily reminiscent of watching a Discovery Channel episode on hyenas, vultures or some other scavenger. For example, this past month we have been exposed to another nausea-inducing situation between Morgan Stanley and French […]
A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An investment banker tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. “Not very long,” answered the fisherman. “But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the banker. The fisherman explained […]