A word about investment seminars with free meals

Once people get close to retirement age, they start receiving invitations to FREE investment seminars with a meal thrown in.

Some of these invitations specify that husband and wife must attend, and some claim that because the materials distributed at the seminar are copyrighted the invitation is not valid for certain people such as accountants and attorneys.

Some people must be responding to these invitations and attending the seminars, because the invitations keep coming.

What happens at these seminars?

A brochure I recently received from a lawyer who has made a career out of helping people who made costly investment moves after attending these kinds of seminars describes what all too often happens.

Confident (after the seminar) that their investments will support them, some people quit their jobs and retire too soon. Some bail out of their employer’s retirement plan or 401k and take a lump sum, which they then invest with the broker who gave the seminar. The investments are often in variable annuities and mutual funds shares that carry a hefty back-end load.

The lawyer’s brochure goes on to say that many retirees do not even realize they were misled and that they may have legal rights to recover what they lost. Many so-called “senior advisors,” the lawyer says, are just interested in selling seniors a product that carries a high commission even if it puts the senior’s nest egg at risk.

The flip side of all this is that few people enjoy working for free, so the “senior advisors” like to get paid, and you don’t attract business unless you market your services. The lawyer with the brochure is trying to drum up business just as much as the senior advisors.

We have so many laws that it’s easy to break them. I think it’s the attorneys, accountants and finance experts who should attend these seminars so they can filter out the hype and the bad information. When a seminar invitation states they aren’t welcome, it’s a good sign the sponsor wants genuinely naïve people in the audience.

Seminars that claim you can make your assets judgment-proof and avoid virtually all taxes are especially suspicious.

It would be useful to hear from Fayette County people who have attended some of these seminars. I suspect those who attend are pressured to disclose a lot of personal information and, in the end, to enter into financial transactions designed to benefit the seminar sponsor up front, while the customer takes all the risk.

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Submitted by skyspy on Mon, 01/15/2007 - 5:43pm.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I have recieved several of these brochures even though I have 8 yrs to go before I can retire.

Some of the so called "seminars" are being held in PTC. Just because they are being held here in our city doesn't mean they are legit. Trust a licensed broker of a major firm only, or if you feel you can handle it on your own use Ameritrade.com(lower fees).

People are always trying to make a fast buck, and it galls me when they take advantage of our senior citizens.

Submitted by helpful lawyer on Tue, 01/16/2007 - 12:44pm.

The training and exams for licensing people who sell stocks and mutual funds are designed to make sure these people know enough law about securities to stay out of trouble and, above all, make sure their employers stay out of trouble. Licensing does not mean a person knows too much of anything about investing. The license often conveys a false sense of competence and security. People who give seminars are generally licensed, or else they could not sell the products they are pushing.

For true wisdom about investing, simply Google "Berkshire Hathaway" and go to the website for the chairman's letters to stockholders. Warren Buffett tells it like it is. In his latest letter to his stockholders (reviewing 2005 results), he depicts what it is that brokers bring to the table. Be sure to read that part.

As an aside, I might explain that securities salesmen are required by law by take steps to make sure the investments they recommend are well-suited for their clients. That requires them to ask questions about the overall financial condition of their clients. Clients who
are unaware that it is the broker's duty to do that either resent or resist disclosing personal information about themselves. If a broker asks probing questions, you may have run into a very conscientious one. As most people get turned off when asked about their finances, brokers have a tendency to ask just for the minimum they think the law might let them get away with.

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Submitted by tortugaocho on Mon, 01/15/2007 - 7:25am.

Sorry, Helpful Lawyer but you just ain't of much help. Yes, I have heard of a local lawyer who reportedly has victimized through the free lunch program. He sold legal stuff that wasn't needed at an inflated price. Specifically, someone we know from church. After all, you know the expression that "there is no such thing as a free lunch" ??? It applies here. When you consider that each month has 21.5 working days and the free lunch seminars consume at least 4 days a month, the presenter has to make up the cash somewhere.

So, "Helpful Lawyer" are you going to be of "help" or not? Who is the lawyer you warned and who should people avoid? Why haven't you reported him/her? Easier for you yet---- tell us the names of lawyers that won't take advantage of me and my wife. We are both almost big 6-0 and would benefit.

Or, I suspect you will be just like most lawyers--- not much help but act like know-it-alls. It reminds of the joke of the guy in the hot air balloon asking for directions on the ground and concluding that the guy on the ground was a lawyer because he told him nothing he didn't already know, he was no better off and he got charged for it.

Can we have something a little more "helpful" ?


Submitted by helpful lawyer on Mon, 01/15/2007 - 4:12pm.

The website of Emory University (www.emory.edu) puts the current annual cost of getting an Emory legal education at $56,014. Over three years, that's $168,000. Being "helpful" is not equivalent to running a charitable enterprise, or even a referral service. You're welcome to tell us what happened at the free seminars you went to, but this is not the time or place to vent about lawyers or ask for help.

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