Sense on Cents

Is there any worse feeling than knowing you have been betrayed by somebody whom you believed represented your interests? Throughout history, stories of betrayal do not fade but truly leave indelible imprints on our minds and our souls. From Biblical stories to tales spun by William Shakespeare to the traitor Benedict Arnold, betrayal evokes the strongest of emotions in the American spirit.

While all too often we hear positive spin from those in Washington and on Wall Street as to the current state of our economy and our markets, they are missing the pulse of the American public. Who has his finger on that pulse? My guest last evening Ed Morrow, the Chairman and CEO of the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants, an 8000 member non-profit association serving financial consultants and their clients.

I hold Ed in extremely high regard. He pulled no punches during our interview on No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle Welcomes the IARFC’s Ed Morrow. For those who have a full hour, I strongly recommend your listening to Ed’s pearls of wisdom. Included in Ed’s pearls are his thoughts on regulatory failures, Goldman Sachs shorting America, absolute immunity for financial regulators, ethics within the financial industry, the travesties surrounding Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford, questions of competence, corruption, and class, and so much more.

Amidst these topics, I had a tremendous 3 minute exchange with Ed at the 47:00 minute mark of our conversation. I wanted to get Ed’s take on his views as to the tone amongst American investors and financial advisors. Here’s a brief summary of the exchange:

LD: What are you hearing back from the practitioners, the financial consultants out there, to their feelings as to what investors are feeling? What are they thinking? What are they doing? Are they still shellshocked? We’re seeing volumes declining in the equity markets. Are there any general themes that you’ve seen develop?

EM: Well, I think one of the key words that I think they feel is betrayed. I think this applies to financial advisers, it also applies to insurance agents who are trying to help people protect against the various types of risk. It applies to brokerage representatives who are dealing only with securities. It even involves individual members who work for banking institutions. They feel betrayed.

They feel betrayed by their Congress for allowing these things to happen, for creating these regulatory agencies and not overseeing them effectively. They feel betrayed by regulatory organizations that are not doing their job that are allowing insiders to take huge sums of money. How can you pay one person heading up a bureau an amount of money approaching $8-9 million? (LD’s edit: that individual is Mary Schapiro) What’s the logic in that? That’s not the way the government is supposed to work…..

LD: There are massive conflicts of interest.

Betrayal generates a tremendous sense of dismay, but can also serve as a great means of motivation. I sense this driving force in America today. Do not give up. Do not rely on those charged with protecting our interests to uphold that charge.

Financial independence requires increased financial literacy and acumen. I thank Ed Morrow for providing us a healthy does of that last evening.

LD

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 9:11 AM and is filed under General, No Quarter Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.