since one never knows. It very much depends on the nature of the "friend"ship too. E.g. looking for a contractor to do something that a neighbor and friend had done would weigh probably more with me as some crap on Angi, but I'd look at both anyway, and Google searches and FINRA and BrokerCheck and all that other stuff that is out there (as far as financial things).

mutual fund company, like Vanguard, Fidelity or even JPMorgan Chase. You might pay high fees to some of them, but you wouldn’t lose your life savings.

and Smith Barney at the time. E.g. selling me gas and oil partnerships and real estate partnerships that are larded with fees and commisions. My parents similarly with other big name brokers. This was in the 1980's.

And a lousy bond investment that my broker (Smith Barney) sold me, and then 2 years later tried to talk me into selling because the firm's prospects were deteriorating (and then no doubt calling other clients about how good an investment it is at some really high yield to maturity).

Which is why I rely on my own judgement and don't give it to a brokerage or financial advisor who ends up thinking it is his or her money, when I decide to move some of it elsewhere or act against their recommendations.

Many people aren’t willing to put in a little time learning, or don’t have the self-confidence to go it alone. So they need someone to lean on. One of the major brokerages may cost you something in fees as you learn, bu they’re not going to scam you out of your life savings. Unfortunately the “friend” from the neighborhood, club or church may do just that. Affinity Group scam, it’s called.

And as I've said before, I would not rely solely only on a friend's recommendation, it's data that I value (or not) depending on my trust of the individual. And I'm well aware that many people -- and they can be neighbors or fellow club or church members -- get paid something when somebody they refer signs up.

I have to tell you, I am perplexed. We have one frequent poster here who, from what I can tell, gave pretty much ALL their money to a financial advisor more than 12 years ago (and has posted many times about it over the years), who promptly recommended half of it in the most non-liquid investment around, and nobody, no, nobody, no, not a single person here in all these years, have warned about eggs in one basket or get rich quick schemes or anything like that. But JFC, I post something about someone who did similar I get all this "don't put your eggs all in one basket", stick with Vanguard, Fidelity, major brokerages only, etc. I'm just not getting it.

Pick one of the big three and ditch that company your friend told you about. Build wealth slowly and ditch the get-rich-quick schemes.

We have some posters here who entrust all their money to a financial advisor... and we get our assed chewed out for having the effrontery of investing on our own.



Interesting, I have accounts with all three (I inherited two of them, and I'm thinking of consolidating down to two, but its not a high priority)

We have two sentences covering that aspect, then the author moves on to blaming the bank.

They got a hot tip from a friend and chased higher returns without appropriate prudence. No, the article doesn't say that, but I just sort of know.

and one way is as good as another, I guess.

There are some people who choose a financial advisor based on a trusted friends' recommendations, that aren't necessarily chasing a "get rich quick scheme".

No fan of BofA here… but nothing in the story points a finger plausibly at them

You don’t write checks to an account at BankX… you write checks to an investment company. You don’t even know who they bank with until they write you a check (or you have your bank research the deposit after the fact). So he couldn’t have been relying on BofA’s credibility when he chose to do business with someone he “researched” online - not that it would have been reasonable to do so anyway.

That said, there's not enough info in the article about the timeline. Hopefully they would have stopped any further checks.

You put a “stop payment” on a check with your own bank. The receiving bank doesn’t “clear a check”… they present it to the bank that it’s drawn on (the victim’s in this case)

… led him to this scam - doesn’t appear to understand banking either.

evidence that it's part of a scam? Couldn't they do a little pause? Oh well. Anyway, not everyone is as super-savvy as the message board experts one encounters online.

I'm thinking of removing "Savvy" from the OP title, as that was a self-description of himself, and your comment highlights the most questionable aspect of his decision-making.

see my new post.

But if one does not use its brokerage account, or does not need assistance then there are no problems. And I don't know if they have esoteric investments like bitcoin or land lease.

Ours are strictly bonds and stock. A former employer had our 401Ks with Vanguard. Mostly. When both of us were the victims of "reduction in force" and it was clear that we would have to move, our CPA suggested to leave the funds there. It is a conservative company with conservative 401Ks he said.

And 20 years ago I've read that one should not keep 401K with former employers. I think that the rule since has changed but we did rolled them to IRAs.

We have played with different funds, got some free advice when we rolled from other custodians and since retired have not played with them except for the RMDs.

Done and I added some more (the Alan Sloan thing)



On brokerage account, I am confused. Vanguard used to be a mutual fund company and a brokerage, and they were separate entities. Then about 5 years (?) ago they changed to where its all part of Vanguard brokerage: (name and account numbers changed)

Wile E. Progree — Brokerage Account — 12345601
Wile E. Progree — Traditional IRA Brokerage Account — 65432102
Wile E. Progree — Roth IRA Brokerage Account — 77227703

(it was in a thread just yesterday that we were discussing desertification, and I remarked that without deserts, the world would never have experienced the pure genius of Wile E. Coyote and ACME Company and Road Runner. So that's how that fake name came to mind )

They all have regular Vanguard mutual funds. But my first one has some Sempra stock - my only individual stock holding.
The 2nd one is gone (at last all converted to Roth in a multi-decade process. But until recently it had Vanguard mutual funds in it)
The 3rd one is all Vanguard mutual funds plus a TIPS bond that I purchased on the secondary market.

I've needed assistance on occasion. Damn Trustone screwed up the transfer of a Traditional IRA to Vanguard and Vanguard did what they could to monitor the process (long story) and straighten things out. Unfortunately it didn't get done in time to convert to Roth in 2022, which would have been a very good year for a conversion due to special tax circumstances (long story). So got screwed, but not by Vanguard. I've been happy with Vanguard customer service since 1984 or thereabouts.



Well, DAMN! How the hell can anyone afford a pot to micturate in without being able to take advantage of great growth opportunities like these?

Seriously, I never checked it out, but likely you're probably right. I have no interest in anything I don't understand. Though one exception on Vanguard and bitcoin - they probably will let you buy that new one and only bitcoin ETF. Just like one can buy other ETFs and semi-exotics like some closed end funds.



Mine are almost entirely mainstream bond and equity mutual funds and ETFs (my ETFs are at Fidelity and Schwab), and no individual holdings besides Sempra stock, and the TIPS bond, and a small Treasury Direct account that only has I-bonds in it.

I've been reading "Kiplinger Investing For Income" newsletter for a couple of years to diversify my fixed income holdings. (I'm 60% equity and 40% fixed income in my investible assets). But I haven't done a darn thing with any of that. Too many choices and I can't get enthused about any of them.



I can't keep up! I remember reading that too, and now I think it's a "it depends". Anyway, it's a non-issue for me too - I rolled my 401K into Vanguard a long time ago, and have since been 401K-less.

My PhD cousin is the COO of a publicly traded company that might have the cure for all kinds of cancer. He's highly successful and considered the smartest person in our family. He thinks the stock is going to grow a hundred-fold in five years.
I had made 50% return in six months on a small investment. I decided to invest 7.5% of my portfolio in his company. There's no way I would risk my entire portfolio on what one person says, and I'm a dumb-ass musician who knows nothing about shit.

Please see #21 last paragraph

Good for you. Only a ring-ring-ring-a-ding-dong would invest all their money with in one stock.

Unfortunately, a lot of people have a huge portion of their retirement savings tied up in their company's stock thru ESOP programs (though they may have put some limits on that finally)