Wheel, Deal, and Steal: Deceptive Accounting, Deceitful CEOs, and Ineffective Reforms

Part VI. The Market’s Role in a Solution

“My husband went bankrupt and left me with four children to raise. It was very difficult. Then my parents died and I got a small inheritance. I hadn’t worked regularly before, just for my husband’s company, so I had no Social Security. I went to a major mutual fund company, one I’d heard good things about, and asked them how to invest the money. I explained my situation and how this money was going to be all I had for retirement. From what the representative responded, I was sure he understood what my situation was. He put me into a variable annuity that was to pay me in 20 years to support me then. He advised me what mutual fund to invest the annuity in. He said it was good because it had been going up ...