SEC Charges Portfolio Manager and Advisory Firm with Misrepresenting Risk in Mutual Fund

Washington D.C., Jan. 27, 2020 The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a New York-based investment adviser for misleading investors about the management of risk in a mutual fund. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC (CCA) and its President and Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Szilagyi, agreed to pay a combined $10.5 million to settle the charges.  The SEC also…

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SEC Revokes Registration of Adviser Engaged in $60 Million Fraud

Washington D.C., Nov. 26, 2019 The Securities and Exchange Commission today revoked the registration of New York-based investment adviser International Investment Group LLC (IIG), which the Commission recently charged with securities fraud for hiding losses in its flagship hedge fund and selling at least $60 million in fake loan assets to clients. The SEC’s complaint,…

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SEC Halts Ponzi scheme Targeting Seniors and Small Business Owners

Washington D.C., Nov. 19, 2019 The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against two individuals and two companies they control in connection with an alleged $6 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 55 investors, many of whom are senior citizens…

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Share and Share Alike

Hands reaching for pie to illustrate shares

Share and Share Alike Idiomatic expression: For members of a group, equal portions of or equal access to tangible or   intangible goods, entitlements, or obligations—i.e., each person’s share like each of the other shares.  Charles Dickens David Copperfield, ch. 31: [O]n his decease, the principal to be equally divided between Peggotty, little Emily, and…

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Find Those Fees

Maze

Changes are afoot in the fee world. Transaction fees for buying and selling stock are, for the most part, gone. Schwab , Fidelity , Vanguard and others have eliminated transaction fees to buy or sell stocks and some exchange traded funds. I tested out the new “ no transaction fee” policy by placing a few…

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Watch and Wait

Watching and waiting on the stock market

Every day on my way to work I would walk down West 55th street . And every day I would see the same homeless man sitting on narrow steps wedged between a diner and a dry-cleaning store. He was there when I walked home in the evening. Watching the world and the people go by.…

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Emerging Markets

Emerging marketplace

As you become more familiar with  different sectors of the market to invest in, you will come across the Emerging Market sector. When I studied Economics in college emerging markets were known as “underdeveloped countries” then “developing countries” and now “emerging” and “frontier.” I wonder if any of the emerging countries I studied emerged into…

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The Currency Exchange

world currencies

If I asked you what a nickel is worth you would say “five cents”. A quarter, you would say, is worth twenty-five cents. If I asked what you could buy with a nickel or a quarter today, the answer is not as easy. A quarter buys me 15 minutes in a parking meter, but I…

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Municipal Bonds

There is a very famous movie about municipal bonds. The movie is Chinatown. Set in 1938 and starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston it is a psychological thriller and murder mystery about the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. How did Los Angeles get its water? In the municipal bond world, the…

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Investing Made Easy

Let’s start with the good news. The good news is that investing has become easier. Much easier. It is easier because Exchange Traded Funds are now the primary investment choice for brokers, advisers, and online investment platforms. Without realizing it, the financial adviser industry is teaching you how to invest on your own at the…

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