This week, while visiting family, I’m making my first trip to a financial planner. Grad students don’t make much, but science grad students do better than most, and I’m in that “quarter-life stage” where I should start thinking about doing something more useful with my little bit of money other than have it sitting in a savings account. The particular planner is a family friend, so I’m already going in with an implicit level of trust. However, I am very protective of my lil bit of cash, so I’ll be going in with lots of skepticism and risk aversion. That’s not being helped by the recent news of the Madoff scandal where many investors lost a lot of money in a veiled Ponzi scheme.
On this week’s eSkeptic, Stephen Greenspan, the guy who wrote the book on gullibility, explains how he was taken in by the Madoff scheme and lost some of his retirement fund. It’s well worth the read, and has me a little scared for my upcoming appointment! It’ll probably help me lean more towards conservative investing at this time. After all, I don’t plan on touching this money for many decades.
On a lighter note, learn how to avoid simple street scams with Michael Shermer in this two part video. My mother taught me that the card guys on the streets were con artists when I was very young, but I never learned how they did it!
Nicole
Tim
