Sad end to Swiss Bank Secrecy

Switzerland has been created as the result of a tax revolt against its Hapsburg (Austrian) overseers. So it is sad that a proud nation abases itself to become what can only be seen as a tax collector for the USA. Different nation states with different laws and customs were the main factor behind the fantastic cultural and economic development of Europe - in stark contrast to the unitary state of China.Nevermin d that bank secrecy helped any number of persecuted people to escape from Nazi Dictatorship with their lives and the means to start a new life elsewhere!

Credit Suisse said to freeze accounts in search for U.S. assets

Top 40 Wealth Managers in USA

Nice job Barron's Magazine, but pretty useless table, no information on performance, fee structure. So a lot of work but the crucial data is missing. Bigger is not better!

Financial Planning for the Less-than-Rich

Many Financial Advisors are only interested in customers that have a relatively large amount of investable assets. Some firms cater to the Rich or Super-Rich only and require an account balance of $ 5 million or more. But as the trend to fee-based advice gathers speed there are a number of alternatives evolving that will make it possible to get sound advice with a much smaller nest-egg. Pre-condition will be that the investor is able and willing to do a certain amount of self-education on matters financial. The old say that people spend hours choosing the next washing machine but hardly spend any time on important investment decisions should be a warning.

Investors gullible and naive - study

"Delegating responsibility for investment decisions make investors vulnerable to the choices of professionals, choices that may be opaque, shielded from market discipline or tainted by conflicts of interest." A study of investment behaviour illustrates 'terrible investment habits' of American investors and the need for impartial advice.

Superstate knows no Respect for Citizen Rights

News that the Obama 'administration' (mal-ministration would be a better word) is drawing up plans (Reuters) to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country should send shudders down the spines of all freedom-loving citizens (are there any left?) all over the world. Soon the difference between living in the 'land of the free' and living in a tinpot dictatorship will be only a question of degree.
As pretext the bureaucrats wheel out the same old excuses - fight against terrorism (self-inflicted as no one tells the US to interfere in other countries' affairs) or fight against various 'crimes' (most of them just the outcome of bad legislation, remember the Prohibition and its side-effects?).
Private Banking Advisory stays true to its name and will protect the privacy of any consulting client - wherever they happen to be.

Another Warning about the safety of your assets

Most investors are unaware of the arcane details of bankruptcy law and related aspects of investor protection. But this warning illustrates that politicians and regulators seem to be less concerned with the well-being of investors and have decided to focus on the interests of the finance lobby.

Don't rely on regulators alone for your protection!

When firms point out that they are regulated you should not blindly rely on this as your primary source of protection. Regulators are created by politicians and are often (too?) close to the industries they are supposed to police. (Bloomberg)

How safe is your (US) Futures Broker?

Atlas Ratings is worth checking if you are nervous because of the failure of US brokers during the past year. You certainly do not want to rely solely on regulators.

Bidding war for Financial Advisers - what it means for you

News that major players in the financial services industry are involved in a bidding war for financial advisers should alert investors that they may be left paying the bill for irresponsible behavior by the employers of these advisers. After all, more pay for the lucky advisers who have large amounts of money lavished on them means that they are expected to 'produce' fees and commissions that justify their increased income. This could well tempt some - or the majority - among them to put their customer's money into investments that are selected not because they are particularly suitable but because they result in higher fee income for the adviser. Investors should therefore be wary whenever their financial consultant changes employer and take independent advice before considering shifting any accounts to a new firm.

'Vaporized' MF Global Funds - Insult added to Injury

"The theft of customer funds was bad enough, but the manner in which the exchange, the regulators, the court, the Congress and the Obama Administration have dealt with the aftermath of this is truly despicable." (Jesse's Cafe Americain)

Danger of Structured Products - a Case Study

Two investors were recently awarded a multi-million arbitration award by a US court. The case illustrates the danger of putting too much trust in portfolio advisers. Investors should be particulary vigilant when presented with complicated, especially 'structured' investment products. The rule should be: what you cannot explain to your wife or grandmother in a few simple sentencies should not even be touched with the proverbial barge-pole. How many ordinary people - even those working in challenging professional jobs - do really understand municipal arbitrage strategies sold to the investors under the cryptic name ASTA/MAT? Investment Advisers offering such products are nothing else than salesman lured by the fast fees that are usually part of such 'products' and should be treated with a healthy amount of suspicion.

Trading Derivatives? - READ THIS FIRST!

For the moment we advise all readers to stop trading in US futures markets. The regulatory regime has become so uncertain, is riddled with perverse side-effects and is rigged to the disadvantage of honest participants that the only logical conclusion can be to avoid any active involvement. Bankruptcies are administered by extremely expensive agents that are under little or no supervision and appointed by a bureaucracy that is dominated by insiders or political appointees that are incompetent. Anyone who is surprised by our strong recommendation should read this.

MF Global: How to get rich from bankruptcy

The trustee that oversees the liquidation of MF Global is charging $891 against the assets of the failed broker while customers have to wait for news about when and how much of their money will be returned to them. Confidence in paper assets will be damaged by this regulatory failure and demand for real assets such as precious metals and property can only be increased.

Regulators are no guarantee

Most Financial Markets these days suffer from a severe dose of over-regulation. But it is in many cases the wrong sort of regulation. Agencies and financial firms are stuffed full with box-ticking bureaucrats but they are quite useless in spotting accidents before they happen. The recent case of the MF Global bankruptcy illustrates that too many regulators can leave serious gaps in the safety belt that is supposed to protect investors from fraud and malpractice. A mature financial market such as the USA still has not been able to construct a fail-safe system of investor protection and the preoccuption of the presidential hopefuls - war and tax cuts - gives little hope that there will be an improvement soon.

Slippery Slope to expropriation?

Reports that authorities in certain countries have begun to limit or control the purchase and sale of gold indicate that the political kleptocracies ruling in most countries will stop at nothing to keep their wasteful spending policies going. As always, the lame excuse of combatting money laundering provides a convenient fig leaf - when the whole world knows that ill-advised government policies are the real cause of most - if not all - major crimes.

FATCA - The road to serfdom is well travelled

The absurd legislation making its way through the US government machine is a sad indictment for the inability of the European 'elites' to make a clear and determined stand in defending the interests of their citizens and the financial industry in the Continent. A simple threat to retaliate tit for tat and subject the US institutions to the same treatment would have stopped the whole nonsense right in its tracks. After all, if the US is so keen to catch potential tax cheats it could impose stringent controls on its own citizens, control all movements of money in and out of the country and in the process make a laughing stock of the expression 'land of the free'.

Don't rely on arbitration when you feel cheated

US Regulators may not allow evidence from other arbitration cases (NY Times)

Fund investors given short shrift by US Supreme Court

A recent judgement by the US Supreme Court relies on hair-splitting as it declares that the management company of a mutual fund cannot be sued by investors that are misled by a prospectus that is issued by a managed by the company. As a consequence investors cannot get any compensation from the people that are actually behind the misleading information. While this case is a purely US case it is representative for the cavalier attitude that investors are treated by regulators, courts and governments in most jurisdictions.

And you thought you owned that Silver?

A new court case in the USA highlights the risks of leaving your holdings of physical precious metals such as Silver or Gold with a bank. That the belief that one owns 'hard' assets is naive to say the least is proven by the fact that often all that you really own is a claim on a bank. Should that institution get into trouble you are only the owner of a claim on that bank and have to joins the queue of creditors. In all likelihood you would at best receive a fraction of the worth of your holdings in the eventual settlement of the bankruptcy.

High fees hamper traget-date funds

The importance of keeping a close watch on fees that are paid for investment advice is illustrated by the latest controversy about the idea of so-called 'target date' funds. These funds invest in a mix of stocks and bonds that grows steadily more conservative as investors' retirement—or "target"—date approaches. But while this structure is supposed to help investors saving for their retirement it creates additional pitfalls on the already stony road to build a retirement pot that is sufficiently large to cover the needs of a rapidly-aging population.