Wall Street Potholes

Chapter 1Non-traded REITs: A Security That Shouldn't Exist

Poor Advice

“I'm afraid you've been poorly advised,” I told the new client as she sat in my office. That was certainly an understatement—in fact, she'd been ripped off by the advisor at the brokerage firm that invested her money.

We had just finished reviewing the investments in her portfolio, which she had brought to me out of dissatisfaction with her existing advisor. It was a familiar discussion for me. I have worked in finance my entire life, mostly in New York, but early in my career I was in London. Since 2009 I've run my own investment business helping clients from individuals to institutions invest their money. The 23 years I spent at JPMorgan and the banks that preceded its many mergers was great preparation. During that time, I managed derivatives trading through enormous growth and at times high volatility; oversaw traders handling risks across multiple products and currencies; and more recently, led a business that helped new hedge funds get off the ground. I had seen Wall Street and “The City” (London's financial district) from the inside. It had been a great career, but by 2009, I was ready for a new challenge. The daily commute was increasingly a mind-numbing grind, and big financial companies were likely to face ever-greater constraints on their activities. The politics of financial reform understandably reflected public abhorrence at the required level of support from the US government following the ...