Don't be hoodwinked by 'Celebrity Ambassadors'

News that former Grand Prix racing driver Niki Lauda has signed on as 'ambassador' for the Money Service Group is another example that investors are given the 'hard sell' by providers of money management services. Money Service Group has given itself an English name but is primarily active in Germany and Switzerland. One wonders what added value a racing driver brings to the party except that maybe some gullible potential or existing investors think that their fee money is well spent and that their investment performance (after deduction of fees of course) will benefit from his investment skills. After all, Lauda received 1.2 million Euro per year from Oerlikon, a previous sponsor who paid for him to wear its name on his head on all public appearances. Potential investors may have a look at the performance of 'Superfund' as Niki Lauda was previously lending his persona to this Hedge Fund provider. That even well-established large Investment Fund groups are not shy when using the popularity of sports personalities has been demonstrated by the use of other sports celebrities such as German football players that lend their image to Banks and Mutual Fund groups.

Ski Jumping, Soccer and Private Banking Advice

Do you know what the connection between these three items is? If your first reaction is: not much! then you are on the way to understand that you have to treat all kind of advertising by the financial advice industry with caution. The fees that are spent on 'image advertising' may be a welcome windfall for the 'personalities' involved in the publicity campaigns but - apart from indirectly being a charge on your investment performance - they will do little to make sure that the return on your investments is as good as it should be.