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Some Latin Words of Wisdom
We occasionally discuss a quote from someone well known, regarding some aspect of money or investing. We find that these “words of wisdom” can provide some great advice for investors to follow. Today’s quote is a Latin proverb: “Believe nothing and be on your guard against everything.” It’s sad that this advice is so often true, that we have to be suspicious of most everyone who tries to sell us something.
A recent example illustrates this point. Just last week we received an email from a friend with a link to an Internet audio presentation. Our friend wanted to know our opinion of the presenter’s opinions. The presentation was very long (an hour or so?) and once you started it you had to essentially listen to the whole thing. There was no way to restart it where you left off, if you closed your Internet connection.
The gist of the presentation was that our economy will soon to collapse when the dollar is no longer recognized as the world’s reserve currency. We must admit, the presenter pointed out many economic issues that we are concerned about. Yet the long-windedness of his message reminded us of Shakespeare’s quote: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”. We began to suspect the motive behind the presentation.
When we finally figured out how to view the written text without having to listen to the whole thing, we scanned forward to the end. The presenter offered five recommendations to prepare for our future demise. Each recommendation included an offer for a free document detailing what one should do. In each case, the presenter said he would shortly tell the reader how they could receive the various documents free of charge. How was this to be accomplished? By signing up and paying for a newsletter!
We suspected a sales pitch fairly early on and weren’t surprised by what we found. We decided to go one step further and check on the presenter’s background. It didn’t take long to discover that he had been fined $1.5 million by the SEC back in 2007 for securities fraud.
As we often say: “If it sounds too good, it probably is”. Be suspicious of promised returns. Be careful of who you trust with your hard-earned money. Do your own due diligence. It may take some time and effort but it will be well worth it.
A recent example illustrates this point. Just last week we received an email from a friend with a link to an Internet audio presentation. Our friend wanted to know our opinion of the presenter’s opinions. The presentation was very long (an hour or so?) and once you started it you had to essentially listen to the whole thing. There was no way to restart it where you left off, if you closed your Internet connection.
The gist of the presentation was that our economy will soon to collapse when the dollar is no longer recognized as the world’s reserve currency. We must admit, the presenter pointed out many economic issues that we are concerned about. Yet the long-windedness of his message reminded us of Shakespeare’s quote: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”. We began to suspect the motive behind the presentation.
When we finally figured out how to view the written text without having to listen to the whole thing, we scanned forward to the end. The presenter offered five recommendations to prepare for our future demise. Each recommendation included an offer for a free document detailing what one should do. In each case, the presenter said he would shortly tell the reader how they could receive the various documents free of charge. How was this to be accomplished? By signing up and paying for a newsletter!
We suspected a sales pitch fairly early on and weren’t surprised by what we found. We decided to go one step further and check on the presenter’s background. It didn’t take long to discover that he had been fined $1.5 million by the SEC back in 2007 for securities fraud.
As we often say: “If it sounds too good, it probably is”. Be suspicious of promised returns. Be careful of who you trust with your hard-earned money. Do your own due diligence. It may take some time and effort but it will be well worth it.
posted by David C. Patterson and Erin Preston at
9:55 PM
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