The Vigilant Investor

A Former SEC Enforcer Reveals How to Fraud-Proof Your Investments
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8144-1750-8
Verlag: McGraw-Hill Education

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 162 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 528 g

Making sound investments is tough enough without having to worry about unscrupulous financial advisers and outright frauds. But recently strengthened laws aren’t enough to stop the “professionals” intent on profiting from - or just plain stealing - your money.

As an Enforcement Branch Chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pat Huddleston witnessed countless people lose their life savings to reckless stockbrokers and fraudulent schemes. Now an SEC-recommended Receiver and CEO of a securities and investment fraud investigation agency, Huddleston has intimate knowledge of how scam artists and bad brokers operate. In The Vigilant Investor, he explains WHY we fall for investment scams, HOW con artists play on our emotions, and WHAT we can do to protect ourselves from predators. With its unique look into the science of financial decision making, the book blows up the popular myths and simplistic “do’s and don’ts” of investing while sharing techniques anyone can use to perform due diligence even better than the “experts.”

With gripping stories of actual cases, Huddleston sheds light on the dark corners of the investment industry and teaches investors and professionals alike how to spot fraud and guard themselves against financial catastrophe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Huddleston, Patricia

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Finanzsektor & Finanzdienstleistungen Anlagen & Wertpapiere

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction 1 PART 1: The Wide World of Fraud: First Steps and Advanced Tactics on the Path to Vigilant Investing 9 1. Vigilant or Vigilante? Protecting Your Investments in the Age of Fraud 11 2. The Posse and the Prey: The Investment Cops and the Scam Artists They Pursue 33 3. Rich Man, Poor Man: An Investment Scam for Every Economic Bracket 59 4. The Phantom Factory and the Origami Airline: Offering Frauds, Pump and Dumps, and Why You Can’t Believe Your Eyes 81 5. Affinity Fraud and the Evil Twin: How Someone Who Looks a Lot Like You Is Plotting to Take Your Nest Egg 97 6. Only Amateurs Make It Sound Too Good to Be True: Tricks of the Trade and the Future of Financial Fraud 113 PART 2: The Securities Industry: Hunting the Wolf with the Million-Dollar Smile 137 7. Truth, Lies, and ‘‘Why Don’t They Supervise?’’ Inside Boiler Rooms and Brokerage Firms 139 8. Managing Mavericks: Knowing How Compliance Systems Work Can Help You Protect Your Nest Egg 157 9. Sales Scripts, Bullets, and the One-Two Punch: A Peek into the Stockbrokers’ Bag of Tricks 173 10. Variable Annuities: Bells, Whistles, and Porcine Cosmetics 189 11. Making Sense of Alphabet Soup: RIAs, CFAs, CFPs, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Insurance Agent 207 12. Low-Hanging Fruit: Seniors, the Sick, and the Solution 225 Notes 239 Index 243

Über Autor(innen)

Pat Huddleston (Kennesaw, Georgia) is CEO of Investor’s Watchdog LLC, an investment fraud investigation agency. He has been an SEC Enforcer, court-appointed Receiver, and investment attorney. A frequent guest on television and radio, he has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Investment News, and many other publications.