There is a plague that runs through the streets of Wall Street, and that is greed. If you have a stock broker, financial advisor, or financial planner, that is commission base, fire him or her now. I don’t care if he has five, ten, or fifty years of experience. It is not in your best interest to have an advisor that is compensated on a commission bases.

I’m going to share with you some information that the public does not know or ever hears about. There are two types of investments advisor in the industry. The first one is the advisor who is calling you every month pitching a new stock or investment, and moving you from one investment to another. The other type is what we call the ghost advisor, this is one who meets with you sells you an investment and never calls you again.

The reason the first advisor is calling you all the time, is because he/she knows how much money you have to invest and they will not stop until they have all your money. Another reason is because he gets paid a commission on every transaction, it does not matter if it’s a buy or a sell he still gets paid. You have to understand that every advisor in this country is commission base, there is no salary. Another reason is if he isn’t generating commissions for his manager and the company he works for, he will be fired. I want you to ask yourself this one question, if the investments your stock broker is recommending to you… are so good, does he own them him self. The truth is that your advisor is recommending an investment that the company he works for is telling him to sell.

The next type of advisor in the industry is the ghost advisor the one that disappears once they sold you an investment and never calls again. I have met with people who would tell me that they hadn’t heard from their advisor in 10 years. Now why would an advisor not call you for 10 years, it’s because he/she knows that you don’t have any more money to invest and they will not be receiving anymore commissions off of your investments.

Now you may be saying to yourself this isn’t going on at the company I’m with, because they care about me and my family. Trust me this goes on at Merriyll Lynch, Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James, etc…… it does not matter what company you’re investing with… they all have these types of advisor. From the first day a new advisor starts with a company they are trained by the industry to generate as much commission as possible, by saying what ever and doing what ever to get new clients or current clients to invest. This is how brokerage firms make money, and it is through their sales force that revenues are generated. Don’t take my word for it just go to www.mywealthpuzzle.com and look for yourself under the “Is This Your Broker” tab.

How Corporate America and Uncle Sam Have Made You Too Lazy To Have Wealth

I recently read an article about Corporate American ditching their pension plans and starting up 401(k)s in their place. While that’s not really news it’s the attitude of the employees that triggered these thoughts.
I understand that the termination of the pension plans will improve the bottom line of the corporation; which should be a good thing. But then in a recent poll taken by a prestigious New York marketing firm says employees are unhappy with this recent shift in corporate philosophy.

This begs a question, “Is the corporation there for the benefit of the shareholders or the employees”?

Many people today feel that their employer should provide them with benefits. Just look at the recent rule enacted by the government allowing for automatic enrollment of all employees into the company’s 401(k) plan. The White House and Congress have toyed with for years the notion of making it mandatory for businesses to cover their employees with health insurance. Tax breaks and incentives are the rewards for doing the right thing and being good to your people.

All of these good intentions lead to the belief that it is the government’s responsibility is to provide its citizens a certain standard of living. This couldn’t be father form the truth. The Constitution reads “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, not a carefree life, which some many people now expect as Americans.

Being a Jeffersonian (Free Market Capitalist) I believe that each individual should be given the freedom to follow his or her own path to wealth as they see fit, without expecting a handout from the government.

Which brings me to our Social Security system; know as the “Third Rail” in politics. Now with all due respect to FDR, I think social security may be evolving in to a crutch for the citizens of this great country. Think about it, people today expect their employers and the federal government to provide them with a medical and retirement benefits.

Is it their employers or the government’s job to provide these benefits?

No. We have created a segment of society that has become “Fat, dumb and lazy”. These people (registered voters) demand society provide them with a comfortable life from the cradle to the grave. Folks that is “Socialism”, the slutty sister of Communism. We can’t keep creating generation after generation of Americans looking for someone else to hand them a free ride. The next thing is we’ll all be speaking French and getting taxed up the butt to pay for all this.

Some people truly believe that as the “Social Security” system runs out of gas and “Corporate Pension Plans” go the way of the Do-Do bird life, as we know it will cease to exist. These people were obviously asleep in history class. America wasn’t built by the weak who went crying to their parents when something didn’t go their way. Wake up America! You are the only person responsible for your future, not your boss, not Uncle Sam, not your parents and definitely not me. I think our society would be better off if people relied more on themselves and less on corporate handouts and social services.

What do you think? Let me know. Leave your comment below.

Lately we’ve been hearing a lot in the news media about CEOs and their salaries, one of the areas of concern are the CEOs who are receiving a high eight figure salary package and company perks, but whose company stock is under performing.

A good example of this, is the CEO of Ford Motor Company, the CEO works in Detroit but lives in Florida, and flies home every weekend on the company private jet, all the while the company is loosing money every quarter its stock is at a all time low.

I can understand why the public is upset, and absolutely agree that there should be change in CEO pay. But some are calling for the government to step in to help make these changes; I feel that would be a big mistake. Once we give permission to the government to step in and help with this problem, you have now opened Pandora’s Box. Who will be next…. Will it be attorneys, doctors, nurses, small business owners, is this really what we want, I don’t think so.

Yes we need change, but it must come from the corporations, JP Morgan believed that a company President/CEO salary should never be more that 10 times the average company workers pay, how times have changed. There are ways that a corporation can tie CEO pay to company performance and I think they should, especially when they are a publicly traded company.

Give us some feedback. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. Are CEO salaries too high? Should the government get involved?
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