Wall Street Ethics Category

There are thousands of people in America who make hundreds of millions of dollars per year selling billions of dollars of bad investment products to people who believe what they are told by personable advisors. Like the political aristrocrats, the Wall Streeters are focused on perpetuating themselves. Other top priorities include big salaries, bonuses, stock options, extraordinary benefits, private planes, and lavish surroundings. Once they have it all they will do whatever it takes to keep it. Sounds kind of medieval doesn’t it.

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@InvestorWatchdog.com
Site: http://www.investorwatchdog.com
About: Jack entered the financial services industry as an institutional consultant and later as vice president at Warburg, Paribas, Becker in 1976. From 1983 to 2003 he was the President of Lexington Capital Management and related companies. In December, 2003 John Wiley published his book "Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor". In 2004, he founded PaladinRegistry.com, a website that educated investors about financial advisors. A national Registry of pre-screened, five star rated advisors was added to the website later in 2004. In 2009, he founded InvestorWatchdog.com, a website that provides tools and information to investors who use the services of financial planners and financial advisors. Since 2004, Jack has been frequently quoted in the media on topics about financial advisors, Wall Street firms, investment scams, and the financial services industry (BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger, Washington Post, etc.).See Authors Posts (59) | November 8, 2011 | Wall Street Ethics, Wall Street Scams

Several investors have asked us this question during the past few days.
Wall Street does not cheat investors. The executives who run Wall Street firms make decisions that cheat investors out of their hard earned assets. These executives cheat for two reasons.
They make a lot of money when they rip-off investors. Many of them make more [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@InvestorWatchdog.com
Site: http://www.investorwatchdog.com
About: Jack entered the financial services industry as an institutional consultant and later as vice president at Warburg, Paribas, Becker in 1976. From 1983 to 2003 he was the President of Lexington Capital Management and related companies. In December, 2003 John Wiley published his book "Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor". In 2004, he founded PaladinRegistry.com, a website that educated investors about financial advisors. A national Registry of pre-screened, five star rated advisors was added to the website later in 2004. In 2009, he founded InvestorWatchdog.com, a website that provides tools and information to investors who use the services of financial planners and financial advisors. Since 2004, Jack has been frequently quoted in the media on topics about financial advisors, Wall Street firms, investment scams, and the financial services industry (BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger, Washington Post, etc.).See Authors Posts (59) | October 27, 2011 | Conflicts of Interest, Wall Street Ethics

In a recent New York Times article, Peter Lattman reported Rajat Gupta, a former director of Goldman Sachs, is accused of leaking bank secrets to his friend Raj Rajaratnam. Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group Hedge Fund has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison for masterminding a huge insider trading conspiracy.
Why are we [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@InvestorWatchdog.com
Site: http://www.investorwatchdog.com
About: Jack entered the financial services industry as an institutional consultant and later as vice president at Warburg, Paribas, Becker in 1976. From 1983 to 2003 he was the President of Lexington Capital Management and related companies. In December, 2003 John Wiley published his book "Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor". In 2004, he founded PaladinRegistry.com, a website that educated investors about financial advisors. A national Registry of pre-screened, five star rated advisors was added to the website later in 2004. In 2009, he founded InvestorWatchdog.com, a website that provides tools and information to investors who use the services of financial planners and financial advisors. Since 2004, Jack has been frequently quoted in the media on topics about financial advisors, Wall Street firms, investment scams, and the financial services industry (BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger, Washington Post, etc.).See Authors Posts (59) | October 22, 2011 | Wall Street Ethics

Wall Street knows two things about investors. First, you need Wall Street advice, services, and products. Second, you have a short memory. Combine the two and Wall Street has a time-tested formula for taking advantage of you. And, if it is caught cheating you, you won’t remember for very long anyway.
How else can you explain [...]

By: Matthew Arndt, CFA, CPA, CFP | December 20, 2010 | The Politicians, Wall Street Ethics

As head of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag played a powerful and key role in shaping public policies such as the first stimulus package and the recent health-care reform legislation. Recently he has stepped down as OMB director to accept a senior position in the investment banking arm at Citigroup, an institution [...]

By: Matthew Arndt, CFA, CPA, CFP | December 2, 2010 | The Regulators, Wall Street Ethics

After congressional coercion, the Fed has finally revealed what it did with $3.3 trillion in emergency aid in 2008 and 2009. It’s clear why the Fed has been so reluctant to reveal what it did with our money. Banks turned to the Fed for help almost daily in the fall of 2008 as the central [...]

By: Matthew Arndt, CFA, CPA, CFP | August 25, 2010 | Deceptive Sales Practices, Wall Street Ethics

Is your advisor unexpectedly changing his business model or practices? Do you suddenly find yourself in front of your advisor with him telling you all about the virtues of his new fee-based business? Explaining to you the merits of why his managing your portfolio for a fee is beneficial to you? Do you wonder why [...]