Thursday, March 4, 2010

Bad Investment Advice Can Turn a Free Meal Costly - NYTimes.com

By MILT FREUDENHEIM

While the advisers deny misleading the Johnsons, Mrs. Johnson said she and her husband were not in a position to make well-informed decisions.

“We were frugal but not very smart about money,” she said. “We didn’t have the right knowledge to ask the right questions.”

The Johnsons, who were living on his retirement, lost most of their money. They were hardly alone.

“Financial fraud is the No. 1 consumer protection issue for AARP,” said Andres Castillo, who heads an AARP program that monitors free lunch seminars and similar presentations. In an AARP survey last year of people 55 and older, 9 percent said they had attended a free financial seminar within the last three years. That translates into approximately 5.9 million people, the group said.

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