Bogue Asset Management’s Quarterly Investment Letter is available for review, My commentary examines the economic "tug of war" being reflected in the stock market, with improving economic and company fundamentals on the one side, and concerns about debt-related stress points and the longer-term strength of the economic recovery on the other. [See More]
Bernie Madoff’s clients didn't see his Ponzi scheme coming. Could they have? Let's look at four safety tips that would have prevented this from happening and the safeguards that Bogue Asset Management LLC provides in its client relationships: [See More]
How your advisor is compensated does matter. Lately there has been a blurring of the lines with the use of the term “Fee-Based” to describe how one is compensated. I’ll tell you why Fee-Based is not Fee-Only and the difference can be substantial: [See More]
Shopping around for a financial planner? When you are in the process of looking for a financial planner, you should have a consistent interview process to determine which planner is the best for your needs. These are the seven questions that I suggest that you should ask: [See More]
Avoiding Being Madoff'd
Bernie Madoff’s clients didn’t see his fraud scheme coming. But could they have? Let’s look at three key safety tips that would have prevented this from happening.
1.) Know what you own. Stick to stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds that are publicly traded and listed on major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange. They are valued independently at least daily, if not minute-by-minute, while the exchange is open. You can check their reported returns against your own portfolio. If you can’t look up the prices and performance in the newspaper or on the Internet – that’s a red flag – ask a lot more questions.
2.) Use a custodian that is independent from your advisor. Madoff held his client assets, managed them, and priced them, too. See the conflicts of interest? Investment performance can look better if the prices reported to clients are manipulated, which is allegedly how Madoff showed winning year after winning year despite market turmoil.
3.) One final thought – if an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Reportedly Madoff claimed consistent annual returns of 10-12% with little volatility and no annual losses. Can you name any legitimate investor who can make that claim in recent years?
What Mr. Madoff did to his investors was unconscionable. It is a public tragedy for all investors and personal tragedy for many and my heart goes out to everyone affected. The only possible positive result will be if investors learn to avoid future disasters by remembering common sense and the above.