I was recently offered the opportunity to read the book, “The Club No One Wanted to Join Madoff Victims in Their Own Words,” compiled by Alexandra Roth. This blog focuses on financial decisions, and ways to save money. I definitely think investing is a smart idea and is something I personally do so I can secure a good future. However, even the savviest of investors can come across a hard time in life. The victims of the Madoff scam experienced more than a ‘hard time in life’. They experienced an extreme financial loss and had to entirely changed the way they lived, many very late in their lives.
This book is a compilation of the very personal stories and losses that the thousands of investors experienced at the hand of Bernie Madoff. It contains stories of families, both young and old as they work to recover from the aftermath of Madoff’s HUGE Ponzi scheme.
Many news outlets and people you may have talked to about the Madoff scam blamed the investors calling them greedy millionaires. This book is one that I suggest all people should read, as it gives a totally different outlook on that. Not all of these investors were millionaires, but instead people who invested their entire life savings in hopes of a comfortable retirement, but then lost everything. Even if they were millionaires, or at least extremely comfortable, they now have nothing left to show for all of the hard work they put in during their lives. Every hard earned dollar they invested is lost, with little to no support from anyone.
People in this story went from living lives of wealth, or at least typical middle class lives to having nothing in one swoop of a hand. Some where young, and many were in retirement. They had spent their entire lives working to save up money so they wouldn’t have to worry during their retirement. Many of these people were thrust back into the working world after working hard their entire lives.
One of the many very personal stories that stuck with me in this back was of a man named Steve Norton. Steve had just attended a family funeral, when they found out that Bernie Madoff was arrested. After returning home and hearing this news, they had to call back to the family, and let the grieving widow and all of the family that their money was gone. Only two days after losing her husband, she lost all sense of security by losing her money as well. They had trusted that the SIPC insurance policies in place would protect them, like most affected by this scandals, there were small loop holes. Now, Steve is dealing with the loss of his home, the place he has worked for his entire life along with many other financial issues. His story is not unique in this particular situation as people affected by this scandal are losing everything they had lived for. They all have similar stories, and it honestly isn’t fair.
This book is fantastic because it teaches you so many lessons, both about finance and about perseverance. It teaches you that even though someone recommended a financial adviser to you, and even with countless research on where you put your money, things can go wrong. You shouldn’t put your eggs all in one basket and you should definitely have a back up plan. Even though most all of the people who tell their story in this book did just that, they still lost everything. However, they recovered and are living on with life. This book gave very personally and often heart wrenching stories, that really made me understand this and other financial scams in an entirely different light.
Through this book, I learned to really value life, no matter what is thrown at you. Money isn’t the important thing… and you can truly get through anything that is thrown at you. I highly recommend reading this book, for the lessons… and for the many stories it contains.
Interested? Find it on Amazon in paperback
