In 1974 the US Congress passed ERISA.   The aim was to convince Americans that saving money was a bad idea and that investing [aka gambling] in an IRA or 401(k) was better than putting our money into guaranteed return savings vehicles.  Americans listened.  Wall Street and the IRS rejoiced.

In 1977 a pretty good high school coach and motivater was able to convince thousands of naive amateurs that they were "financial advisors."  He taught them how to strip every penny possible from secure whole life insurance policies and - you guessed it  - buy term insurance and invest [aka gamble] everything else in mutual funds.  Americans listened.  Wall Street and the IRS rejoiced.

A few years later EF Hutton invented universal life insurance.  These policies took the money that whole life insurance saved in guaranteed accounts and moved it into accounts that were not guaranteed but that the Wall Streeter could profit from without concern for whether the policy owner did or not.  These kinds of policies destroyed successful insurance companies and sucked billions from the savings of American families.  Americans listened.  Wall Street and the IRS rejoiced.

In the ensuing decades Americans listened to advice to invest [aka gamble] in dotcoms and even to invest [aka gamble] our home equity in risky schemes.  Americans became convinced that carrying debt equal to their investments [aka gambles] made some sort of sense.  Americans listened.  Wall Street, the IRS, and money lenders rejoiced.

BUNK - A THOUSAND TIMES OVER - BUNK!

"THE FACT THAT AN OPINION HAS BEEN WIDELY HELD DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT'S NOT UTTERLY ABSURD." Bertrand Russell.

We have been paying attention to the wrong people for almost 4 decades.  The results are that American families and the American economy are bankrupt.

You and I can't stop the folks in DC from telling us that they can handle our money better than we can, or the not-so-smart gurus on Wall Street from trying to sell us investments that make them wealthy and us poor.

We can stop listening.  Please, stop listening to the wrong people.  Find old ways of creating wealth, preserving assets, and taking care of your families.

By Jeffrey Reeves MA - youBEthebank.com