Financial Advisors - What EVIL Lurks?

Who Can You Trust?

The  question  would receive a resounding reply from Bernie Madoff's clients, no doubt. But don't rely on regulators or institutions to provide effective preventative controls. That's naive.

Three ways you can work to mitigate the evils of wayward advisors is to first employ two or more well-recognized practitioners to handle your affairs. A little competition goes a long way to keeping everyone on the up and up.

Secondly, consider employing only " fee-based hourly" advisors who are not so interested in generating commissions. The downside is that they are generally not as incented or aggressive and  that may be  a handicap  in both good or bad markets.

Lastly, do you homework!

It Just Got Even Harder to Trust Financial Advisors  

If you haven't yet checked your adviser's disciplinary record, you will after reading this.

There's a phrase no one wants to read in a sweeping report about the financial advisers who handle their savings: economy-wide misconduct. 

A new working paper by business school professors at the University of Chicago and University of Minnesota found that 7 percent of financial advisers have been disciplined for misconduct that ranges from putting clients in unsuitable investments to trading on client accounts without permission. That's a troubling mark for an industry that relies on the trust of clients. And some large, well-regarded firms have misconduct records that far exceed the average. Nearly 20 percent of financial advisers at Oppenheimer & Co., with more than 2,000 advisers counted in the study, have misconduct records, according to the new paper.

"It's everywhere, not just small firms. It is pervasive," said Amit Seru, a finance professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and a co-author of "The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct."

READ  MORE 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/it-just-got-even-harder-to-trust-financial-advisers

Euro sinks as weak data piles pressure on European Central Bank

The euro hit its lowest in almost three years against the yen while European shares extended their strongest run of the year on Tuesday as data from around the region bolstered the case for more ECB stimulus next week

Japan PM Abe to form panel to debate extra stimulus budget: sources

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pull together a new advisory panel to debate the need for a supplementary budget for the coming fiscal year from April to stimulate the flagging economy, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Australia's net foreign debt tips over $1 trillion as second widest current account deficit recorded

Australia's net foreign debt has expanded beyond $1 trillion for the first time on record.

It's Official: Canada Has Sold All Of Its Gold Reserves

One month ago, when looking at the latest Canadian official international reserves, we noticed something strange: Canada had sold nearly half of its gold reserves in one month. According to the February data, total Canadian gold reserves stood at 1.7 tonnes. That was just 0.1 per cent of the country’s total reserves, which also include foreign currency deposits and bonds. 

As we noted, the decision to sell came from Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s office.

“Canada’s gold reserves belong to the Government of Canada, and are held under the name of the Minister of Finance,” explained a spokesperson for the Bank of Canada on Wednesday. “Decisions relative to gold holdings are taken by the Minister of Finance.”

READ MORE  

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-03/its-official-moment-canada-has-no-gold-reserves-left

www.firstfinancialinsights.blogspot.com

Jim Rogers Thinks Deal To Bypass US Dollar Possible? & More

Jim Rogers Russia, China, Brazil Sign Deal To Bypass US Dollar?

Russia has little debt, ample resources and its currency freely floats and he speculates at some point a challenge to the US dollar will take place, he says

Jim Rogers thinks the US is a “flawed currency” that should be replaced and he thinks the BRICs nations can do it, minus India. Jim Rogers: Brazil wants to compete with the US dollar

Discussing the recent BRICs conference, Jim Rogers noted the steady drumbeat to displace the US as the world’s reserve currency of choice. “Brazil wants to compete with the IMF, the World Bank and the US dollar,” as do all participants in the BRICs conference, Rogers said when speaking on an RT interview.

“Brazil, China and Russia could easily put something together to compete with the US dollar,” Rogers said, leaving out one component of the BRICs alliance. “The US dollar is a terribly flawed currency. I’m an American. I hate to say that. But the US has serious problems, the world has serious problems. We need something else” and potentially a competing world currency could be developed. If this were to occur, the US and its economy might be put in a straight jacket as the ability to engage in large deficit spending could be curtailed. Jim Rogers: BRICs developing an alternative banking system

To put together a competing world reserve currency and develop an alternative banking system, the BRICs might consider throwing India out of the equation, Jim Rogers said. India has been said to be the stumbling block in establishing the new world bank. “India and Brazil have big (national) debts. Russia is not a big debtor and has big international reserves,” Rogers noted, pivoting to Russian advantages in the interview. “Russia has a freely convertible currency and none of the others have a freely convertible currency.” 

Jim Rogers thinks Russia should spend its time courting suitors in its own neighborhood, however. “If I were Russia I would be more interested in selling to Asia than South America.”

As reported two days ago in ValueWalk, the leaders of Russia, India, Brazil, China and South Africa are in meetings ending July 17 to bring together plans to create a $100 billion bank to compete with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The planed bank is a piece in a larger puzzle to provide a global alternative to Western dominance of the financial system. This has been a stated goal of Russia and China, both of whom have engaged in trade deals that eschew the use of the US dollar.markets 

Jim Rogers started trading the stock market with $600 in 1968.In 1973 he formed the Quantum Fund with the legendary investor George Soros before retiring, a multi millionaire at the age of 37. Rogers and Soros helped steer the fund to a miraculous 4,200% return over the 10 year span of the fund while the S&P 500 returned just 47%. 

Doomsday clock for global market crash strikes one

 minute to midnight as central banks lose control 

8 - Overvalued US market In the US, Professor Robert Shiller’s cyclically adjusted price earnings ratio – or Shiller CAPE – for the S&P 500 stands at 27.2, some 64pc above its historic average of 16.6. On only three occasions since 1882 has it been higher – in 1929, 2000 and 2007.

A September To Remember?

In terms of overnight action, China’s equity market eked out a positive gain amid a stabilizing yuan, further aided by the Chinese market regulator essentially inferring it would prop up the equity market for years to come. I wonder what we’ll think in 30 years’ time when we look back at the market intervention we have seen across the globe in the last half a decade or so. Hum dee dum.

This Week In Energy: The Growing Threat From China 

In the U.S., low oil prices could be exacerbated by an outage at a major U.S. refinery. The Whiting refinery, based in Indiana right outside of Chicago, was taken offline by its owner BP (NYSE: BP) for unplanned repairs. The refinery’s total output is 410,000 barrels per day, and one of the units (with a 240,000 barrel-per-day throughput capacity) could be offline for a month or two.

The Secrets Of Extraordinary Survivors 

Their successes challenge many of our common notions about the resilience of the human mind. While some people understandably crumble after extraordinarily harrowing events, others, like Eugenie have an extraordinary capacity to rebound and survive. Understanding why could lead us to help many more recover and grow after their experiences.

Europe In Crisis:

Everyone from Putin to ordinary savers is stockpiling gold

European investors snapped up gold bars and coins at a rapid pace in the second quarter as turmoil in Greece threatened to push the country out of the eurozone.

The World Gold Council (WGC) said demand in Europe for the precious metal rose sharply in the three months to June compared with the same quarter last year amid rapid buying of bullion, even as global demand fell by 12pc to a six-year low of 915 tonnes.

The increase in Europe was led by Germany, where sales of bars and coins rose 24pc to 24.1 tonnes in the second quarter. Demand in Austria and Switzerland also rose sharply, according to the WGC's quarterly trends report.

Learning Success: 

APPLY Tips From The Best

Larry Page,  Google – 


Larry Page is another example of a businessperson who can persevere any challenge. Larry and his company have faced much criticism and received ample praise over the years for his company’s actions. But in the midst of the storm, he has never let what others think sway him from pursuing the course for his company that he considers the best.

Top Weekly Ideas and Insights

An Inconvenient Truth

"Battle For Oil" 

What Happens When Political Interests Get Desperate?

EXISTENTIAL REALITY 

"Coming To The End Of Oil Age"

 - Looking Beyond The Brink -

Regulators Are Destroying Free Markets, Marc Faber Still Goes For Gold, & More

When Authorities "Own" the Market, The System Breaks Down: Here's Why

Panicked by the possibility of declines that undermine the official narrative that all is well, authorities the world over are purchasing assets like stocks, bonds and mortgages directly. Central banks are explicitly taking on the role of buyers of last resort on the theory that if they place a bid under the market to arrest any decline, private buyers will re-enter the market once they detect that the risk of a drop has dissipated.

The idea is that once private buyers flood back into the market, central banks can unload the assets they bought to stem the panic. In this view, the market is not based on fundamentals such as revenues, profits and price-earnings ratios--it's all about confidence. If central banks restore confidence by reversing any drop with massive buying, this central-planning manipulation will restore the confidence of private investors.

This Time Is Different: Chesapeake Energy Scraps Dividend Amid Oil And Gas Plunge

“We believe this decision is prudent as we continue to invest and redirect as much capital as possible into our world-class assets,” Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler said in a statement. The company paid out 35-cents on an annualized basis, or approximately $240 million, funds that now can be plowed into revenue producing oilfields.

Marc Faber recommends Gold & Real Estate for an Investments outside The Banking System

“Gold is insurance if the banking system fails,” he said. “As an investor I’d like to own something outside the banking system, and that includes real estate, art and gold.”
 
Mr. Faber, publisher of the “Gloom, Doom and Boom” newsletter, made his comments Thursday July 16, 2015 at the CFA Analyst Seminar in Chicago in a presentation titled, “Inflating Asset Markets and Deflating Real Economic Activity? Strategies for Global Investors.” 

The Breakdown Of 2015 Is Now A Fact 

Part of the problem resides in China. As the next chart shows, the correlation between the price of copper and the Chinese Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) has been very high. In particular, the copper price has a track record of anticipating the direction of the PMI index. The latest PMI reading earlier this week came in at 48.2 this week, still below the critical 50 level. It indicates that purchasing managers believe economic contraction is prevailing at this point.

Aging Infrastructure Plagues Nation’s Busiest Rail Corridor )

These troubles have become all too common on the Northeast Corridor, the nation’s busiest rail sector, which stretches from Washington to Boston and carries about 750,000 riders each day on Amtrak and several commuter rail lines. The corridor’s ridership has doubled in the last 30 years even as its old and overloaded infrastructure of tracks, power lines, bridges and tunnels has begun to wear out. And with Amtrak and local transit agencies struggling to secure funding, many fear the disruptions will continue to worsen in the years ahead.

Meaning Is Healthier Than Happiness 

"Happiness without meaning characterizes a relatively shallow, self-absorbed or even selfish life, in which things go well, needs and desire are easily satisfied, and difficult or taxing entanglements are avoided," the authors of the study wrote. "If anything, pure happiness is linked to not helping others in need.” While being happy is about feeling good, meaning is derived from contributing to others or to society in a bigger way. As Roy Baumeister, one of the researchers, told me, "Partly what we do as human beings is to take care of others and contribute to others. This makes life meaningful but it does not necessarily make us happy.”

Top Weekly Ideas and Insights

An

 Inconvenient 

Truth:

What Happens When Science Confronts Unsubstantiated Fiction?

 EXISTENTIAL REALITY 

"Humanity's Coming of Secular Age"

 - The Last Days of Theism -