Expert: Kenneth W. James, CFA - 7/27/2006

Question
Hello Ken,

I attended a stock market semnar today that had many investment stratiges all geared to make investors lots of money.... They were asking $3000 for the course and guaranteed a 3 X return on your investment within 6 months... What is your feeling on these investment seminars?

Thanks,

Dave

Answer
Dave:
Just about every seminar is geared towards product sales which will make money for the seminar salespeople, and will not make any for you.
The seminar you described sounds particularly heinous.

(1) Burn the material
(2) Run from any meeting they will pressure you to attend
(3) Report their claims to the SEC (sec.gov).  I'll bet the SEC and NASD already have their antenna up on these guys.

Before you invest, even $1, you can educate yourself to how investment returns are made so you won't be tempted in the future to engage in schemes which are certain to lose you alot of money.  The asset class approach is very profitable, followed by most institutions, not riskless, by that I mean you can own a risky portfolio.

You can learn more about this at ishares.com and do a search on the words dimensional fund advisors.

That'll work for you.

KWJ