DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’RE BEING HUSTLED BY BANKERS,
MORTGAGE BROKERS, AND INVESTMEN T PEDDLERS?
CHECK OUT OUR TIP SHEET ON FINANCIAL PROS’ EVERYDAY DECEPTIONS—
AND HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST THEM
By RON BURLEY
Illustrations by Christina Ung
THE RULES OF MONEY ARE GETTING A MAKEOVER, and it’s about
time. With the implosion of the housing market, the collapse of credit, the upheaval on Wall Street, and our brush
with a second Great Depression, we’ve all paid a high price
for the abuses at the center of our economic mess.
The fallout has been painful: trillions of dollars in lost
savings, 7. 6 million people newly unemployed, and record-high home foreclosures and bankruptcies—a tidal wave that
has yet to crest. Among those hurt most are Americans over
50, who had more to lose and have less time to recover.
How do we protect what we have left? Tougher disclo-
sure rules for financial services are coming into effect, and
a series of bills in Congress aim to curb further outrages—
from exorbitant bank fees to loopholes that encourage
investment rip-offs. But no matter what laws are passed, as
Vanguard Group founder John Bogle likes to point out, the
middlemen who handle your money will by definition sub-
tract from your wealth. Bankers, brokers, and investment
dealers understand what their role is, and as consumers we
should understand ours: to stay skeptical, assert our rights,
and keep as much of our own money as we can.
