Too Slick

Last week I met a "wealth manager" after a conference over in Birmingham, Michigan (cool place).  Out in the lobby after the conference, he sat down next to me and another guy and started chatting about the conference, what we all do for a living, if we had any kids, etc.  I mentioned I have three precious kiddos at home, at which point he said "hey, let me show you a picture of my kids."

Ok, I'm thinking.. he's a proud dad.  That's great.  I should probably carry around pictures of my kids in my wallet, or in something less nerdy than on my cell phone (does that make me a bad dad?).

He begins to flip through a three ringer binder, pointing to pictures of celebrities and "important looking" people (presumably some of his clients) and finally gets to a picture of his teenage children.  Then he tells us that he put $32,000 into a fund that he manages and that it's appreciated to some astronomical figure over the last three months, 500% growth or something like that.  I'm being pitched.

Anyone who can start with "let me show you a picture of my kids" and ends with "results like this, of course, are not guaranteed, but I mange [name drop] and [name drop] and blah blah blah options, and blah blah blah futures, and here's my card if you're interested in blah blah" is too slick for me.

Comments

[Carrie]

So, the real question.....did you fall for it?

[JE Parris]

So just another bum try to live a "Scott Free Life".

[Haywood Jablowme]

and this is what Amway can do you too.

[Scott]

Nope, I didn't fall for it. I spent $5,000 for a hands-on learning experience about investing money in things without understanding the fundamentals of how it works when I was fresh out of high school. I had read a book on trading options on futures contracts and thought I knew enough to do some investing, but I was wrong! Lesson learned: invest in stuff you thoroughly understand or put it in a mutual fund and spread out your risk.

[julie]

yeah, I remember that! That's why I never ask you for advice on stocks :>