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

Fisher, Ken; Hoffmans, Lara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470631961 ISBN 13: 9780470631966

Publisher: Wiley, 2010

Synopsis

A timely guide to uncovering financial fraud

2008 and 2009 will be remembered for bear markets, a global credit crunch, and some of the largest investment scams ever. But these scams are nothing new, they've been repeated throughout history, and there will certainly be more to come. But the good news is fraudsters often follow the same basic playbook. Learn the playbook, and know how to ask the right questions, and financial fraud can be easy to detect and simple to avoid.

In How to Smell a Rat, trusted financial expert Ken Fisher provides you with an inside's view on how to spot financial disasters before you become a part of them. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, this reliable resource takes an engaging look at recent and historic examples of fraudsters, how they operated, and how they can be easily avoided. Fisher also shows you the quick, identifiable features of financial frauds and arms you with the questions to ask when assessing a money manager.

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

With How to Smell a Rat as your guide, you'll learn how to protect your interests and assets from unnecessary losses.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

In December 2008, a well-regarded member of the finance community, former NASDAQ chairman, huge charitable contributor, and pillar of New York society admitted to his sons the $65 billion he managed for hedge funds, charities, foundations, Hollywood stars, and myriad smaller investors was a fraud¿a Ponzi scheme.

2008 and 2009 will be remembered for bear markets, a global credit crunch, and some of the largest investment scams ever. But these scams are nothing new—from Charles Ponzi to Robert Vesco to Bernard Madoff—they ve been repeated throughout history, and there will certainly be more to come in the future. But the good news is fraudsters often follow the same basic playbook. Learn the playbook—and know how to ask the right questions—and financial fraud can be easy to detect and simple to avoid.

Some advisers start intending to embezzle. Others evolve to it—as Madoff claims. Either way, it's structurally the same, and you can learn ways to identify both intended and possible future fraud. Throughout your investing life, you may be presented with opportunities that seem too good to be true. In How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud, trusted financial expert Ken Fisher provides you with an insider's view on how to spot potential financial disasters before you commit your money to a scam.

Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, this reliable resource takes an engaging look at recent and historic examples of fraudsters, how they operated, and how they could have been easily avoided. Fisher then shows you quick, identifiable features of potential financial frauds and arms you with questions to ask when assessing money managers.

With this newfound knowledge, you can learn to spot red flags, such as:

• Advisers with direct access to investors¿ funds
• Firms with numbers that seem "too good to be true"
• Managers with fees that are too low—Madoff didn't charge any fees, he just charged for trading!

There should be a premium for integrity. Asking the right questions and performing the proper due dilligence go a long way toward finding a firm that insulates you from financial fraud. With the help of trusted financial expert and bestselling author Ken Fisher, you'll be better prepared to identify and avoid financial scams that could instantly destroy the wealth you've worked so hard to build.

From the Back Cover

Praise for How to Smell a Rat

"[The book] gives readers a secure plan for fraud-proof investing, worthwhile for novices and sophisticated financiers alike . . . highly illuminating and confidence-building for anyone with a bank account."
―Publishers Weekly

Did you know that nearly every financial scam, including Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme, could have easily been avoided? Ken Fisher does, and now, in How to Smell a Rat, he arms you with five simple signs that can alert you to possible scams and help insulate you against financial fraud.

How to Smell a Rat is an informative look at recent and historic examples of fraudsters, how they operated, and how their scams could have been avoided. Page by page, this reliable resource highlights various features of potential fraud and provides you with an insider's view of how to spot financial disasters before you become a part of them.

Most investment scams can be easily detected and more easily avoided. While Bernard Madoff may be a criminal, the greater crime is that investors continue to be swindled for no reason. Pick up How to Smell a Rat, and learn how to protect yourself as best you can from financial fraud.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0470631961
• ISBN 13: 9780470631966
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224