How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud

by Ken Fisher, Lara Hoffmans

Overview

The money manager and New York Times–bestselling author explainshow to protect yourself from fraud: “Fisher details the red flags that should alert investors.”—Associated Press 
 
Whether it’s small-scale or large, a pump-and-dump or a Ponzi scheme, financial fraud is nothing new. Where there’s money, there are scammers—and it’s up to you to understand their playbook and ask the right questions to avoid getting taken. With a decades-long career in the industry, the founder of the multibillion-dollar money management fund Fisher Investments offers a clear guide to detecting the warning signs. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, this reliable resource:
 

• Prepares you to identify and avoid financial scams that could instantly destroy your wealth
• Contains both recent and historic examples that highlight how financial frauds are committed
• Provides questions everyone should ask before entering any investment endeavor

 
“With five straightforward rules that would have saved any investor from Bernie Madoff, investment firm CEO and Forbes columnist Fisher gives readers a secure plan for fraud-proof investing, worthwhile for novices and sophisticated financiers alike…Much more than what to avoid, Fisher’s concise guide should be highly illuminating and confidence-building for anyone with a bank account.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470552728
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	08/31/2022
Series:	Fisher Investments Press
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	624 KB

About the Author

KEN FISHER is best known for his prestigious "Portfolio Strategy" column in Forbes magazine, where his twenty-five-year tenure of high-profile calls makes him the fourth longest-running columnist in Forbes's ninety-plus-year history. Ken is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Fisher Investments, an independent global money management firm. He is on Investment Advisor magazine's prestigious IA-25 list of the industry's most influential people; is the award-winning author of numerous scholarly articles; and has published five previous books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Only Three Questions That Count and The Ten Roads to Riches, also published by Wiley. LARA HOFFMANS is a content manager at Fisher Investments, a contributing editor to Fisher Investments MarketMinder, and coauthor of the bestsellers The Only Three Questions That Count and The Ten Roads to Riches.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Good Fences Make Good Neighbors 11

Chapter 2 Too Good to Be True Usually Is 39

Chapter 3 Don't Be Blinded by Flashy Tactics 63

Chapter 4 Exclusivity, Marble, and Other Things That Don't Matter 87

Chapter 5 Due Diligence Is Your Job, No One Else's 111

Chapter 6 A Financial Fraud-Free Future 137

Appendix A Asset Allocation-Risk & Reward 153

Appendix B Same But Different-Accounting Fraud 157

Appendix C Minds That Made the Market 161

Notes 195

Index 203

About the Authors 209

Editorial Reviews

In the wake of Bernie Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme comes this book that helps listeners invest safely and identify financial scams big and small. As straightforward as it sounds, the book is surprisingly entertaining, featuring an allegory of a cautious investor, stories about fraudsters throughout history and the five rules to evade scams. Scott Thomsen delivers a vivid reading and bypasses the pitfalls of dryness and one-dimensionality that plague so many narrators of financial and business audio books. The material allows Thomsen to loosen his collar and convey the information (and help the medicine go down) with personality and panache. A Wiley hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 7) (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

With five straightforward rules that would have saved any investor from Bernie Madoff, investment firm CEO and Forbes columnist Fisher (100 Minds That Made the Market) gives readers a secure plan for fraud-proof investing, worthwhile for novices and sophisticated financiers alike. Using the example of everyman “Jim,” a precarious investor navigating shark-filled waters, Fisher presents a clear, fast-paced, tightly organized guide to principles like “Too good to be true usually is,” and “Due diligence is your job, no one else's.” Fully-referenced data, insider details, laser-focused statistical digressions, and the finer points of practical investing keep pages turning. Readers will value the practical, easy-to-follow models of solid, transparent investment strategies and examples from Fisher's experiences as CEO of his own investment firm. Fisher also includes suggestions for further reading and appendices that reproduce previously-published comparisons of different asset allocations, information for small business owners and short biographies of market-movers. Much more than what to avoid, Fisher’s concise guide should be highly illuminating and confidence-building for anyone with a bank account. (Aug.) Starred review (Publishers Weekly, September 2009)

Using well-known examples from recent headlines like Bernard Madoff and R. Allen Stanford along with a bevy of historical scam artists, Fisher details the red flags that should alert investors. They are: advisers who have access to your money; promises of returns that are too good to be true; mumbo-jumbo that takes the place of explaining investing strategy; fake benefits like exclusivity, and relying on someone else for due diligence. (Associated Press)

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