The season makes me wonder: What does it take to become a Halloween mask?
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 10.28.2009 | Business
Presumably, there was a glory to betting big and being right. The highs from winning more than trumped considerations of fair play. Of course, there was one problem. They got caught.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 10.07.2009 | Business
UBS, your struggles with the IRS are beginning to get in the way of business. If you're not lucky, vultures from other financial companies will soon be plucking at your market share like roadkill.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 09.19.2009 | Business
I invest my clients' portfolios by focusing on their cash needs first: renovations to a house, capital calls from other investments, and tuition for example. These discussions are tangible.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 09.12.2009 | Business
Financial advisers: we serve clients best when everybody is on the same page. I would resist the temptation "to reinvent yourself" just to make the quick sale and bag a few extra bucks.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 09.05.2009 | Business
If I introduce myself as a "stockbroker" at a cocktail party, people look at their watches and say, "I'm late for a drive-through root canal."
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 07.30.2009 | Business
If the system is broken, can Madoff victims expect just solutions? And since when do umpires share in the spoils of victory?
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 07.24.2009 | Home
Ira Sorkin, defense attorney for Bernard Madoff, requested his client's sentence be limited to twelve years. He cited Madoff's age and thirteen-year l...
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 07.18.2009 | Business
What do Bernie Madoff, Ahmed Ghailani, and a captured Somali pirate have in common? They're all locked in the same New York prison.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 07.18.2009 | Business
The Securities and Exchange Commission barred Bernard Madoff from the securities business. We all feel safer now? Yeah, right.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 07.12.2009 | Business
Grove manages about $2 billion in total assets for wealthy families. He's seen it all inside his investment bank. He'll be joining Acrimoney for a new guest series: What Would Grove Do?
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 07.11.2009 | Business
Madoff victims don't need a cook. They need Solomon to sort through these complicated issues of law and fairness.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.28.2009 | Business
Get-rich-quick schemes are the new WMD.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.25.2009 | Business
Supposedly "managed futures" herald the dawn of an enlightened age for investments but what the heck are they and why are corn and interest rates being uttered in the same breath?
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.23.2009 | Business
If this were Hollywood, the courtroom would be jammed. Reporters everywhere. Rowdy audience. Distinguished lawyers snarling and prepping to rip each o...
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.18.2009 | Business
The trustee is on a mission to recover funds. He has his agenda, and we're watching a game of hardball between the courts and some extremely wealthy investors.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.14.2009 | Business
FINRA and the SEC are compounding a problem -- they're regulating unevenly. The result is that bad guys have a place to hide -- or to reinvent themselves.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.06.2009 | Business
Madoff's sense of order was legendary. He probably arrived at the office early just to run the vacuum cleaner. Other cons are similarly fastidious.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.05.2009 | Business
Madoff's preferential treatment of some investors, however, is a big deal. It's a likely blueprint, I think, of the trustee's legal tactics.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 06.03.2009 | Business
Hedge funds are often unstable. One bad year, and investors pull their capital. A few bad "marks," and lenders make margin calls.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 05.28.2009 | Business
Most of the Ponzi schemes originate in the United States. It's embarrassing.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 05.24.2009 | Business
The home of the the $23 million, alleged fraudster is less than one minute's walk from the Florida estate of Bernie Madoff.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 05.22.2009 | Business
Twenty million dollars is enough to cover the cost of 10 lawyers for more than 18 months.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 05.04.2009 | Business
Incremental solutions, the nuts and bolts of everyday financial planning, help. Diversify your investments. Tweak your estate plans by funding trusts or opening accounts for your kids.
Norb Vonnegut | Posted 10.29.2009 | Business