The author of this book has been through the ringer. As one who advised people to be careful in their investing, she found that her husband had been stealing from his investment clients. Shades of Madoff and his sons.
She uses her ex-husband as an example of what to avoid in investment advisors, and adds in data from the Madoff scandal. She then moves on to be more generic in what investors have to look for in order to avoid being cheated.
The book moves on to explain financial planning, and understand:
- Certifications
- Compensation and Fee Structures
- Formal Communications
- All the parties that affect pooled investments
- How to choose an advisor
- Red flags
- How to employ an advisor
- How to maintain the relationship
- How to deal with minor and major failure in the advisor relationship.
She covers all of it. It is very basic, and not flashy. The juiciest part of the book is the troubles she had with her ex-husband. The rest is all business, which isn’t bad, but it could have benefited from counterexamples to explain why this is the right way to do things.
Quibbles
The book has an exciting start, and it is all business after that. That is not horrible, but could have been more done to motivate the important aspects of protecting investments through citing more case examples.
If you want to buy the book, you can buy it here: Who Can You Trust With Your Money?: Get the Help You Need Now and Avoid Dishonest Advisors
Who would benefit from this book
Most average investors could benefit from the book.
Full disclosure: This book arrived in my mailbox; to the best of my knowledge, I never requested a copy.
If you enter Amazon through my site, and you buy anything, I get a small commission. This is my main source of blog revenue. I prefer this to a “tip jar” because I want you to get something you want, rather than merely giving me a tip. Book reviews take time, particularly with the reading, which most book reviewers don’t do in full, and I typically do. (When I don’t, I mention that I scanned the book. Also, I never use the data that the PR flacks send out.)
Most people buying at Amazon do not enter via a referring website. Thus Amazon builds an extra 1-3% into the prices to all buyers to compensate for the commissions given to the minority that come through referring sites. Whether you buy at Amazon directly or enter via my site, your prices don’t change.
Question about buying on Amazon from this site.
I often buy five or more books at a time. So, if I enter Amazon from this site and buy a book you have reviewed and then proceed to buy five more unrelated titles, do you get a cut of the order total or just the title I clicked on here that sent me to Amazon?
sg — total order. I get more revenue from things I haven’t recommended than thing that I have.
Thanks to my loyal readers.
glad to help!
Because of David’s repeated disclosures I’ve googled a while ago on this topic. Amazon gives kickbacks in the order of 4 to 8 percent of the total checkout. Anything somebody orders within the next 24 hours of clicking through, if I remember correctly. The system is IMHO slightly sleazy the way it is set up by Amazon. It encourages the creation of honey pots. But, as Amazon is not a monopolist yet, I am a bit torn, but still ok with how the system works. (But soon it may start looking like the credit card usage tax.) Now, I think David is fairly honest here and walking on the right side of the line. I mostly don’t remember when I order, but in the rare occasion that I do I click on his links when buying something (usually completely different) from Amazon. Trying to give back, but it is an odd system.
After the 1929 crash, most ordinary folks were scared away from the stock market for 50 years. From what I read, it appeared that the system was simply rigged in favor of the smart money.
As I read about the high speed trading that may have caused last week’s crash, I wonder whether the markets are not again just too rigged in favor of someone.
Is there really money left for the simple minded long and long-term investor?
Or are we stuck with a system where the “noise” created by the “smart” money overwhelms the signals that would connect investments to the real economy?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book. Seems like a very interesting story. Although the gossip in me wants to hear more about the marriage situation and how she found out her husband was stealing. Oh well! Interesting point on the disclosure and following comments. How did you set up your Amazon account that you get a “tip”?
Regarding Amazon, look here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/flex/associates/apply-login.html
“Is there really money left for the simple minded long and long-term investor?”
I like David’s Society of Actuaries presentation to answer that question. It is on the right sidebar under the Pages heading.
How many of the “common folk” were actually owners of stocks in the 1929 crash? I admit I don’t know but it seems to me ownership would be much more widespread now due to 401(k) plans (simplistic view). While many of us are comfortable with the view of owning stocks (the last 2 years not withstanding) my grandparents (93) may be a good example; their first stock purchases were in 1976. Prior to that their investments were CDs, savings bonds, and rental real estate along with my grandfather’s machine shop. I’m not sure how representative this would be; you read Buffet’s biography by Lowenstein and there appears to be an individual investor class back in the 1950s; It is hard to find people alive that were investors in the 1920s and 1930s. No matter what high levels of volatility make stock ownership plenty uncomfortable for all of us. david’s presentation a must read; especially wtih hindsight!!