Watch Your Wallet

Watch Your Wallet

Joe Kesler  |  March 13, 2021  Humble Wallet

AS A BANKER, I got a ringside seat from which to watch the many ways that people are separated from their hard-earned money. Some are illegal. Some are legal, but unethical. And many, while legal and ethical, would be unnecessary with a little more knowledge about managing money.  For me, the most disturbing experiences were when scammers extracted money from the naïve and innocent. I’ve seen the pain of customers who found out that their elderly mother had given her life savings to a manipulative TV preacher. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that can be done in such situations.

Even sadder are the lonely people who develop an online romance with someone overseas. To come to the U.S., somebody convinced one of my customers to wire funds, so he could get a passport and airline ticket. But that wasn’t enough. Just send a little more, he told her numerous times. Finally, the lightbulb came on that this might be a scam.

Have you heard of the Nigerian prince scam? I didn’t believe any sophisticated person would fall for such a crazy scheme. But a customer of mine got a fax from a “prince” trapped in Nigeria. The fax promised that if my customer, an accountant no less, would wire $20,000, it would allow the prince to wire my customer millions. Unfortunately, my customer bought it and lost not only his money, but also his reputation.

Rather than absorb the loss and move on, my customer decided to fly to Nigeria to “get his money back.” He didn’t get his money back, but at least he came back alive.

Today, many scams are high tech. It’s become common for computer hackers to demand ransom in return for unlocking vital computer systems. I’ve talked to businesses that have had to pay the ransom in bitcoin—or risk seeing their business fail.

Selling fear. One of the earliest books I read on investing was How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, published in 1979.  It scared me that we were on the brink of destruction. I didn’t have much money, but I bought goldmining stocks in countries I couldn’t even find on a map. I later learned that fear sells books and newsletters. But it doesn’t lead to clear thinking or prosperity.

Today’s marketers still seek to get your money through fear tactics. I recently saw an economist’s newsletter that included an impressive array of charts, all showing how the stock market is in a bubble. His pitch? The future doesn’t belong to passive low-cost index investors like me. Rather, I should turn my money over to him, because he’s going to be an expert stock picker as the markets crash.

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