Last week, when the Madoff Trustee released 13,000 names on a client list, Talk of the Sound reported on the names listed with New Rochelle addresses. One of the names on the list was Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet who took his own life after being financially ruined by Madoff. Another name on the list was CPA Frank Sisco who writes in the New Rochelle Review of his good fortune in having steered his client away from Madoff.
When I heard the news of Madoff’s arrest, I blurted out “I Told You” and smiled. I immediately thought of my California client whom I had just convinced three months earlier to liquidate her $1.1 million of life savings she had invested at the Madoff firm. Thank goodness my client and her son listened to my reasoning: that Madoff’s returns were too high and consistent, that he and his firm were too secretive about their investment strategies, and that the markets were getting too risky to take any chances with the Madoff firm. Once the money was withdrawn, we reinvested in a portfolio of FDIC-insured certificates of deposits, and since then she has slept very well.
Sisco offers readers some useful tips on how to protect yourself in the new financial environment.