I hate to give any credit to the New York Times for anything. For years I have been using them to support my criticism of the terrible advice that passes as Wall Street's “Conventional Wisdom”; they have recently altered their presentation of daily stock trades to make it even less useful to investors than before; and they rarely find anything good or positive to report about Business and the Economy. So instead I’ll applaud Gretchen Morgenson for her bold expose of the terrors that lurk within the “Variable Annuity” product. Tell the truth now Gretchen, you've been to my website and read my criticisms of this fraud and thievery!

If you do nothing else people, alert your older friends and relatives to this scam. If it’s “variable” anything, it isn’t really an Annuity…and the same goes for Variable Life Insurance. These products are simply a ruse that allows the Insurance/Annuity Industry to sell it’s Mutual Funds within the respected clothing of what once were the only legitimate Guaranteed Safety Nets in existence! These are not suitable contracts for retirees for the many reasons Ms. Morgenson documents in her May 15^th Article in Sunday Business: “Who's Preying On Your Grandparents”. Get this article and send it to them. Spread the word. Contact your State Insurance Department and complain long and loud. This is your inheritance that these guys are stealing!

In addition to this article, find your way to The Investment Management Forum at: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/InvestmentForum and read the much earlier exposés that were published there in September of 2002, “The Real Scoop on Annuities: Part ONE”, “Annuities: Part TWO”, and “Annuities: Part THREE”. And yes, “Brainwashing of the American Investor” readers, yet another of the scams and frauds mentioned in the book have now been officially disclosed to the general public by others.

It’s nice to be appreciated…if only by you!

Steve Selengut
sanserve@...
steve@...
800-245-0494
*********************Always...Buy One, Send One Free! *******************
"The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read"