Down goes the Dow

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

comfortably retired from another device wrote:

He said the client’s portfolio was very risky, and the way he framed the situation was as a worst-case example, or at least that’s how I read it. Of course not everyone lost almost 90% of their investments at that time, but if this investor were heavily leveraged or heavily weighted in a few of the bigger disappointments, this is easily credible. I lost well over 90% of a couple of holdings - Nortel and JDS Uniphase - but thankfully did not gave all my eggs in that basket. If such worst-case scenarios seem impossible to you, then you haven’t paid attention. Whether such warnings are reasonable or realistic for anyone in this thread depends on the risk they are carrying. If you don’t have a high concentration of volatile holdings, perhaps you can safely ignore the advice.

While I also think Igy is probably more bearish than is merited for most of us (but perhaps not for his own circumstances), some in the thread strike me as way too risk tolerant for their own good. But perhaps I’m wrong… only the fullness of time will tell.

The client was heavily invested in technology, IPOs, and on margin. The financial advisor was in charge of IPO allocations for the Boise office. The client said to me, and I fortunately for firm recorded at the time his comment of “Milt lost me a lot of money, but made me a lot of money.” My recorded response was “I do things differently than Milt.” The allegations included the advisor taking discretion by putting IPOs in client accounts. That was one reason the manager was relieved of his duties. Since I was not the advisor at the time of the loss, and the client left the firm before the lawsuit, I was not privy to the settlement. I do know it went thru arbitration.

I have a strong valuation slant to my style of investing, which makes me appear Bearish. I am certainly not risk adverse. I do believe my views are colored as one who managed money thru both the Tech Bubble and the Great Financial Crisis. Saw some careers end, and financial plans crushed. I see my role on this thread as one of the few voices willing to take the other side.

Today at the YMCA two gentlemen were discussing the marvels of AI. One giving glowing reviews of the promise of AI. While the other remarked that Jensen Huang was a man of the people, not like the CEOs of Apple and Google. Then the one popped out that his daughter worked at Nvidia, and she has received $500,000 in stock based compensation.

The entire dialog was reminiscent of Barton Biggs’ plumber.

Sally Vix wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

The client was heavily invested in technology, IPOs, and on margin. The financial advisor was in charge of IPO allocations for the Boise office. The client said to me, and I fortunately for firm recorded at the time his comment of “Milt lost me a lot of money, but made me a lot of money.” My recorded response was “I do things differently than Milt.” The allegations included the advisor taking discretion by putting IPOs in client accounts. That was one reason the manager was relieved of his duties. Since I was not the advisor at the time of the loss, and the client left the firm before the lawsuit, I was not privy to the settlement. I do know it went thru arbitration.

I have a strong valuation slant to my style of investing, which makes me appear Bearish. I am certainly not risk adverse. I do believe my views are colored as one who managed money thru both the Tech Bubble and the Great Financial Crisis. Saw some careers end, and financial plans crushed. I see my role on this thread as one of the few voices willing to take the other side.

Today at the YMCA two gentlemen were discussing the marvels of AI. One giving glowing reviews of the promise of AI. While the other remarked that Jensen Huang was a man of the people, not like the CEOs of Apple and Google. Then the one popped out that his daughter worked at Nvidia, and she has received $500,000 in stock based compensation.

The entire dialog was reminiscent of Barton Biggs’ plumber.

This "advisor" should never have been advising. How can an "advisor" allow his client's portfolio drop from $1.5 million to $200,000. It would be very hard for me to intentionally drop a portfolio for that much. That advisor maybe did something criminal. And why would that client allow another advisor to continue advising him?

Sally Vix wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

The client was heavily invested in technology, IPOs, and on margin. The financial advisor was in charge of IPO allocations for the Boise office. The client said to me, and I fortunately for firm recorded at the time his comment of “Milt lost me a lot of money, but made me a lot of money.” My recorded response was “I do things differently than Milt.” The allegations included the advisor taking discretion by putting IPOs in client accounts. That was one reason the manager was relieved of his duties. Since I was not the advisor at the time of the loss, and the client left the firm before the lawsuit, I was not privy to the settlement. I do know it went thru arbitration.

I have a strong valuation slant to my style of investing, which makes me appear Bearish. I am certainly not risk adverse. I do believe my views are colored as one who managed money thru both the Tech Bubble and the Great Financial Crisis. Saw some careers end, and financial plans crushed. I see my role on this thread as one of the few voices willing to take the other side.

Today at the YMCA two gentlemen were discussing the marvels of AI. One giving glowing reviews of the promise of AI. While the other remarked that Jensen Huang was a man of the people, not like the CEOs of Apple and Google. Then the one popped out that his daughter worked at Nvidia, and she has received $500,000 in stock based compensation.

The entire dialog was reminiscent of Barton Biggs’ plumber.

This "advisor" should never have been advising. How can an "advisor" allow his client's portfolio drop from $1.5 million to $200,000. It would be very hard for me to intentionally drop a portfolio for that much. That advisor maybe did something criminal. And why would that client allow another advisor to continue advising him?

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Sally Vix wrote:

This "advisor" should never have been advising. How can an "advisor" allow his client's portfolio drop from $1.5 million to $200,000. It would be very hard for me to intentionally drop a portfolio for that much. That advisor maybe did something criminal. And why would that client allow another advisor to continue advising him?

What is the dialogue from the Great Gatsby? To paraphrase: “So, how did you go bankrupt? At first gradually, then suddenly.”

To answer more directly, this guy was a cocky obnoxious jerk. At lunch one day I was headed out for a run. Ol’ Milt says, “What was the name of the guy that wrote the Complete Book of Running.” He was referring to Jim Fixx who had famously died of a heart attack. I complained to the manager that I wasn’t going to participate in IPOs anymore since Milt kept the plums and gave others the sewage.

As long as you are a Morgan Stanley client you are assigned an advisor. The client in question did not give the advisor discretion. So, by regulation the client had to approve all trades. I question if that did indeed happen. I had the client for only months at most.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Sally Vix wrote:

This "advisor" should never have been advising. How can an "advisor" allow his client's portfolio drop from $1.5 million to $200,000. It would be very hard for me to intentionally drop a portfolio for that much. That advisor maybe did something criminal. And why would that client allow another advisor to continue advising him?

What is the dialogue from the Great Gatsby? To paraphrase: “So, how did you go bankrupt? At first gradually, then suddenly.”

To answer more directly, this guy was a cocky obnoxious jerk. At lunch one day I was headed out for a run. Ol’ Milt says, “What was the name of the guy that wrote the Complete Book of Running.” He was referring to Jim Fixx who had famously died of a heart attack. I complained to the manager that I wasn’t going to participate in IPOs anymore since Milt kept the plums and gave others the sewage.

As long as you are a Morgan Stanley client you are assigned an advisor. The client in question did not give the advisor discretion. So, by regulation the client had to approve all trades. I question if that did indeed happen. I had the client for only months at most.

Sally Vix wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

What is the dialogue from the Great Gatsby? To paraphrase: “So, how did you go bankrupt? At first gradually, then suddenly.”

To answer more directly, this guy was a cocky obnoxious jerk. At lunch one day I was headed out for a run. Ol’ Milt says, “What was the name of the guy that wrote the Complete Book of Running.” He was referring to Jim Fixx who had famously died of a heart attack. I complained to the manager that I wasn’t going to participate in IPOs anymore since Milt kept the plums and gave others the sewage.

As long as you are a Morgan Stanley client you are assigned an advisor. The client in question did not give the advisor discretion. So, by regulation the client had to approve all trades. I question if that did indeed happen. I had the client for only months at most.

Again - I am a client whose advisor with your firm loses more than a million dollars. Who in the world would stay with your firm? I sure as heck would not. I would fire your firm in a heartbeat.