Beware the Guarantees

We all know them, the late night TV ads that spur us on to buy the golf chipper that is “guaranteed” to get you out of the sand or the “guaranteed” weight loss pill that will change your life with three easy payments. What was interesting about the recent school admissions scandal was the way Rick Singer, college placement specialist to the elite, sold the idea of “guaranteed” admission to your school of choice as opposed to putting the child in the best position to be admitted. Guaranteed, on top of a tax write-off for the bribes, pushed these elites to make gross moral choices and now the wrath of the nation and the legal system. When investing, beware of the guarantees, think Madoff and never a losing month, or other Ponzi type schemes, because as they are finding out in Hollywood, the fact is more powerful than the fiction.