'WE'VE LOST EVERYTHING' - RUINED RETIREE'S TALE

NY POST ^ | 12/16/2008 | By BETTE GREENFIELD

[Red Badger]

A lifelong New Jersey resident, Bette Greenfield (left) retired in March and moved to Florida in July.

I'm not from a wealthy family living on a big estate in Palm Beach or in an Upper East Side apartment. I'm 71. I've worked hard and lived a quiet life - and have just lost my retire ment savings in the blink of an eye, thanks to Bernie Madoff.

When my brother told me the news, I said, "I guess I'm going to have to live in a refrigerator box now."

I made jokes because it was the only thing I could do to not burst into tears.

How did this happen?

My father, a CPA, was smart and an extremely knowledgeable financial ad viser. As he aged, he wanted to have something where he could put his savings and live off the interest.

He was told by one of his wealthy Palm Beach friends that Bernie Madoff was a miracle worker with invest ments, and that he could pull strings to get Dad into a trust fund with Madoff Securities.

It was less than $400,000 - not a large amount by Madoff standards - but his friend helped him get into a fund. Dad was sure that he had made a wise investment and that he and his wife could be comfortable for the rest of their lives.

For 10 years, he did live off the interest and totally believed in the way the money was increasing.

Dad told me, "Bernie Madoff is brilliant. When I pass away, keep the money with him, and you and your brothers will always have something to fall back on."

[BobS]

How about adding stupidy into the equation?

Never put all your money in one place. Own some gold and platinum coins. I own some Spanish Lladro figurines that they broke the molds for in the original blue boxes with the straw packing (I got those shipped here without paying customs duties too:):) Along with some coins and currency I found around there also!

Then choose a few mutual funds of different kinds. Get an IRA going and a 401-K going. $30K in a CD at one bank. A checking and savings account at another bank to move money around.

Go to the mall and check the prices on Lladro figurines at one of those jewelry-boutique stores. Make sure they have the real flower on the base.

[SFR]

For 10 years, he did live off the interest and totally believed in the way the money was increasing

In other words you Dad lived quite well off of this ponzi scheme.

[Lynn]

Call me skeptical...

We have lost everything to help us through our golden years. How am I going to get a job when young people can't even find work right now? I have my IRA from my years at Merrill Lynch, but it's worth only half what it used to be. So I guess now Social Security is the only thing I have left to look at.

I bet she also voted for Obama.

So...speaking of jobs, does anyone have the FR article posted by someone over the laast couple days that had links to job sites? I didn't have time to say thanks then and now I can't find it to do so. TIA.

[Axenolith]

But her father had put it in the account and earned on it for ~10 years. The worst mistake made there was assuming that the crazy good return would keep coming from something she knew nothing about but depended upon to the extent of not making other backup plans...

[BGHater]

Are you looking for a job? (#4) [A Better List]

[Lynn]

TYVM!

[4rcane]

if the father was living off 10 years of interest of 12%+, then the father already got all his money back already. So the father didn’t lose, but gained extra. So we’re to feel sad for the daughter for not able to claim money that actually belong to someone else?

Not a victim if you already got your money back.

[Lorianne]

Well said.
Boycott them all.

[Ann Archy]

I apologize for being so un-Christian in what I posted.

[Red Badger]

I’m not aware that you did anything un-Christian..............

[Ann Archy]

I said some snarky things about this group of people.

[Eternal_Bear]

and I should bail this person with my tax dollars because?

[Red Badger]

Don’t sweat it. They are snarky, too......;^)

[marktwain]

“Victims of a crime do not whine. They seek justice and they do it with their mouth.”

---

You are correct of course. This woman is a victim of fraud. However, in a Ponzi scheme, the early participants make out very well because they are given a good portion of what comes in from later victims.

Are we to believe that justice requires that they receive the fraudulently promised rates of return? It appears from the article that this woman's father, and then his heirs, received much more from the scheme than they put in.

By my simple calculations, if they got 16% for 10 years, and 12% for 5 years, taking all of the interest out each year, they received $796,000 over the last 15 years on their $400,000 “investment”.

So, I have a hard time seeing them as being seriously hurt by the scheme.

I think we should be much more concerned with the later victims who put in a great deal and lost all of it.

[Alberta's Child]

You never risk your retirement.

I agree -- which is why I suggested avoiding the temptation to get out of "risky" investments in retirement.

As we've learned in the last 6-12 months, there's no such thing as avoiding risk altogether. The key is to MANAGE risk well, and this does not mean putting all your eggs in a different basket.

[AppyPappy]

I put all my eggs in one basket and someone stole the basket

[Red Badger]

LOL!!!!............true..........

[Alberta's Child]

Some experts are saying that it will take 20 years for the DOW to go back to it high. Anyone think the NASDAQ will ever see 5,000 again?

And it was only a few years ago that "some experts" were writing books called DOW 36,000 and crap like that.

Maybe those who predict a 20-year wait for the DOW to get back to its highs may be right. That's sort of what happened in the 1970s. But there were still opportunities to make money in the stock market back then . . . even in the DOW! (I think dividend yields among the DOW stocks were pretty good back then.)

[zeugma]

There must be a lot of “goldbugs” on FR, because it seems like no one can empathize.

You don't have to be a goldbug to have little sympathy for folks who don't realize there are reasons why a return on an investment is "to good to be true".

I lost more money than I care to think about when Worldcom went bust thanks to Bernie Ebbers (may he rot in hell). I took it as a lesson learned, and I'm much more spread out than I was when I was a 13-year employee of MCI. I don't even look at my 401k stuff except at scheduled intervals to level things out. When the market is down, that means my monthly buys are cheaper. I'm not selling for some time to come. When people start getting closer to retirement, it is prudent to change your investment strategies to match your circumstances. You have a lot of lead time to think about how to secure things.

Depending upon a highflyer for your monthly bills isn't smart.

It's also a good idea to keep in mind that the reason this particular scam is getting the kind of press that it is, is because a lot of powerful people got scammed, and want to be bailed out, courtesy of you and I.

[KeyLargo]

Taxpayers to bail out Palm Beach investors.

Judge signs order to protect Madoff investors

20 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday threw a lifesaver to investors who may have been duped in one of Wall Street’s biggest alleged frauds, saying they need the protection of a special government reserve fund set up to help investors at failed brokerage firms.

U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton ordered that clients of Bernard Madoff’s private investment business seek relief under a federal statute created to rescue cheated investors. Stanton also ordered that business be liquidated under the jurisdiction of a bankruptcy court and named attorney Irvin H. Picard as trustee to oversee that process....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jF_4G4a4XAV7qDQOp8KfWCykIrYQD953FCL82