“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.”
Let’s not overlook GREED in that equation ...
It’s GREED to want to make money in investments?
Nothing like the combination of greed and ignorance to make someone a pauper.
I see these stories and I know exactly what happened - the people weren’t informed enough to pull their savings out of securities as retirement approached.
If you need the money within 10 years, 5 at the least, you should be OUT of stocks.
So are you blaming her? Who's GREED do you mean?
Greed on the part of Madoff or the investors ?.........
I don’t see this as greed, it seems she was just looking for the best return. She should have diversified where her money is instead of trusting it to a single investor.
Well you should just quit working...because that's greedy too.
/s
Also, throw in a healthy amount of irresponsibility. "It's everybody elses fault".
If your retirement funds are in the mkt when you retire it's just dumb. You should be moving those monies into secure (insured) vehicles 7 years before you retire. The only reason not to is you figure you're so smart you will beat the safe bet and get a 7-10% return rather than a 3-4% return.
Also, throw in a healthy amount of irresponsibility. "It's everybody elses fault".
If your retirement funds are in the mkt when you retire it's just dumb. You should be moving those monies into secure (insured) vehicles 7 years before you retire. The only reason not to is you figure you're so smart you will beat the safe bet and get a 7-10% return rather than a 3-4% return.
Yes. Remember the movie “The Flim Flam Man”?
No kidding. The mark in any sort of scam is not always a saint. It is his/her greed that drives plays right into the hands of any con artist.
I find it very hard to feel sorry for these people. The first rule of investing is to never invest money that you need for day to day living. The second rule is to always diversify. DUH.
How did all these stupid people get rich anyway? I must be doing something wrong.
Believing you are investing money so that you can retire comfortably and not depend on SS is greed?
What am I missing here?
The returns were very good, but still modest. The unbelievable part was how steady they were. I would hardly call it greed.
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Exactly what have you done with your money to make it grow, bury it in the backyard?
Greed maybe, but I remember being told about eggs and a basket or something like that. /s
I always find it hard to feel sorry for people who put all their eggs in one basket and a risky basket at that!
Where did the money go? Aren’t there material possessions or something? Capital? Bueller?
This is not a story of greed. This was not an investment that promised super-high returns. It was believed to have been produced very steady returns, at somewhat higher rates than other very steady investment products. Most of the ordinary people who invested in it thought it was very safe investment, for reasons like this woman’s. The Madoff investment hadn’t made her father fabulously wealthy (or she would have inherited a heck of lot more than $400,000), and she wasn’t expecting it to make her fabulously wealthy either. This woman is one of the actual victims.
I have no sympathy for the people who lost 8 or 9 figure wads in this thing. They could easily afford to hire good investment advisers and follow their advice, but chose not to do so, probably for stupid reasons like wanting to imagine they had special connections and privileges that guaranteed them financial security. And many of them were certainly assuming that he was managing these ultra-study and still moderately high returns by cheating.
Maybe I’m the one that’s crazy but I sure don’t see this woman as being “greedy”.
I’ve always looked at greed as the act of taking more than your fair share of something which is a) scarce and b) of equal or greater benefit to someone who doesn’t have it.
For instance, taking 3 of 4 pork chops from the serving plate when 4 people are seated at the table is “greedy” but stacking up 3 yards of sand at the beach to build a sand castle when others are just using a small pail might be excessive but it isn’t greedy in the least. Money is, for all intents and purposes, a limitless resource. Just because one person has billions of dollars does not mean that nobody else can have the same or more.
Furthermore, and most importantly, these people were acting on the advice of someone who was considered a professional. It’s not like they were carting their cash to the casino and throwing it all on the “Wheel of Fortune”. These people paid a premium to have someone who was considered one of the best in the business look out for their financial interests and that person took them to the cleaners. It would be like taking your car to the mechanic and having it returned sans motor!
The investors were NOT greedy (at least as pertains to this particular scenario) but were duped by a guy that turned out to be a con man. Perhaps they were unwise to “put all of their eggs in one basket” but that is a far cry from being selfish or greedy.