Posted on 12/16/2008 7:17:43 AM PST by 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
When it comes to money...never trust, always verify, always diversify!
This is a bit like the Mexican complaints after they nationalized the d'Anconia copper mines and the Taggert San Sabastian railroad line.
ML/NJ
I dont know. It’s stunning.
The returns were very good, but still modest. The unbelievable part was how steady they were. I would hardly call it greed.
Don’t forget, they also paid income taxes on the phoney profits..
If these investors hadn’t been Democrats - and therefore my tormentors who force all sorts of limitations on my freedoms and raise my taxes - I would muster up some compassion. Instead,...
Ho ho ho ho ho ho, suckers.
Agreed - shoot the b@stards from BofA, Wachovia, WaMu, AIG, and others too. These corrupt fat cats are but domestic terrorists.
The cause of all of our economic problems can be summed up in one word, “Fraud.”
If you don’t have trust in markets, you don’t have an economy.
Money isn’t free, even investment monies. Work is required of money. One must work to ensure it is not stolen and is invested wisely or kept safe. Having money means having responsibilities for that money. People who give their money to someone else “to take care of me” are just asking to lose their money. It takes responsibility to earn money, but it takes even more responsibility to keep it.
It seems from the CEOs on down the food chain people think their job is always someone else’s job. No one seems to want to exercise their authority and take responsibility for their actions...even of their very own money.
Greed is a part of it, but I think stupid is a better word. You can’t read a decent financial publication for more than 10 minutes without stumbling into a discussion of diversification. Why people put their entire nest egg into a hedge fund is beyond me.
Why didn’t these idiots just put at least part of their money in Treasuries? Because they wanted a better return on their money.
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Exactly what have you done with your money to make it grow, bury it in the backyard?
For weeks after WaMu was bankrupt they continued to spend tons of money on ads 24/7 on national radio and TV declaring W00H00!
To me it was just like watching money burning! L0L
Part of it is the government’s fault for not creating an environment where there are better returns.
I don't think so. If "mommy govt" had insured the performance of the underlying mortgages (insured them) and then declared a force majere for all the CDS requiring the monies to be returned and an open regulated mkt created for them we would be in better shape. The problem from their perspective was most of their friends and financial institutions they came from would have suffered.
It's much easier to place the burden on that unknown person, the tax payer.
Our problem now is going to be chronic.
I think Billy Joel would agree with you.............
I feel for these people. He was a dim, doing it to his fellow dims to be the big guy on the block. I guess this will be the next bail out. The Madoff Bailout Bill coming shortly.
Greed maybe, but I remember being told about eggs and a basket or something like that. /s
Granted that there are those I may not feel sorry for.
Having said that though the small investors that got wiped out I do feel sorry for.
[For 10 years, he did live off the interest and totally believed in the way the money was increasing. ]
Ten years at better than 10% means he basically ripped someone else off and is now crying about it.
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