Stealing Candy From A Grandpa
“Senior Experts” Who Claim To Help Manage Money For An Outrageous Commission
Less than a year before he died, an ailing, wheelchair-bound Arthur Moyer, 79-year-old former machinist, converted his $500,000 life savings into a complex investment he could not tap for a decade without incurring steep fees. He poured his money into a deferred annuity at the urging of a salesman who collected a hefty commission and presented himself as a retirement expert, according to Moyer’s son and a family adviser. They said Moyer spent the final weeks of his life slumped with his head between his knees, fending off depression. On the day Moyer was buried, a letter arrived, saying that the insurance company had agreed to the family’s demands to unwind the deal and return his life savings.
State and federal authorities say the Moyer case reflects the kind of misleading sales pitches that are directed at senior citizens, who control more than $14 trillion in assets, according to AARP’s Public Policy Institute. Government officials worry that unscrupulous financial advisers are preying on retirees by calling themselves senior experts, using fancy titles to lure the elderly to marketing seminars and then locking up their savings in investments that carry high commissions and withdrawal fees. Federal regulators and authorities in seven states are set to release the results of an investigation of firms that run “free lunch” investment seminars, which draw large numbers of retirees. The results have produced multiple law enforcement referrals. SEC leaders and their state counterparts will host a daylong summit Monday to discuss a nationwide approach to combating bogus yet official-sounding titles that salesmen use to curry favor with older investors. The nerve of some people…
