Recession, Bailout and the American Economy

This is not capitalism. Todays' American government bailout of the whole recession is socialism - for the rich and powerful.

In many ways, it is worse than Marxism or communism, because at least those systems has the illusion of being for the people. Those systems at least preached the redistribution of money from the rich to the poor, even if they didn't practice it. Sort of story of Robin Hood The Prince of Thieves.

American bailouts takes the money from the poor and the middle class in the form of taxes. These people have to work harder and harder to earn the currency that is worth less and less.

Businesses in America like General Motors that grew too fat and lazy during the good times to compete in the bad times are saved from bankruptcy. Bank executives who are firing thousands of employees, both blue and white collars, are given millions of cash bonuses, being justified as retention bonuses.

These executives are entrusted with protecting and growing, instead the company's share price drops to bottom and investors both the public and general Americans lost millions of USD in the form of 501K.

Optimist will always says that no worries, the economy will bounced back again. Obama, the government, the Fed and etc will do their best to ensure that our economy to bounce back again.

Pessimist will say that the recession is not yet at the bottom. Look at the economy. Does the foreclosure and the employment shows any sign yet? Does the bank and other financial institution started to mass hiring again like what they have done during the bull run?

What do you think?

Read more from http://www.conspiracyoftherich.com/

Economic Crisis and Global Recession in 2009

The aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown has its ups and downs. Some has positive lights while majorities are affected by it. Peoples and citizens of the world are affected from different ways. For instances:


1. from chinese factory workers who lost their jobs before Spring festivals

2. factory owners closing down in Guangdong province in China

3. to the bankrupt Lehman Brothers in US

4. the management guys from Lehman Brothers who are selling their multimillion dollar vacation houses in the States (details here)

5. to the big 3 automobiles company in US, namely, Chrysler GM and Ford who are looking from federal government assistance to avoid bankruptcy

6. to the Greek bonds which is now rated as junk

7. the Italian government who has a Euro200 billion debt

8. Sandy Weill, the former chairman of Citigroup still having the benefits even Citigroup lay off 60,000 employees (sources here)

8. etc etc etc and bla bla bla (much more to be continued here)


Of course, the other end of the spectrum would be those who make billions betting (or shorting) against the sub prime mortgages before the economic meltdown. People such as John Paulsen and George Soros, who rakes in billions due to this economic bubble burst. (read more here)

What makes me more interested in reading the article, was when i read one of the comment:

Harry Papastavrou

The main problem of the euro is the lack of central debt management and a stronger political union. When the above will be realized in a reasonable degree, the dollar dominance as a world reserve currency will be History.

The fundamentals of Euro are far healthier than those of the dollar and holding dollar can be a very risky investment. USA owes the use of the dollar as leading reserve currency to its political and military global dominance, without this dominance the dollar would be nothing more than a week currency.

This global dominance allows the USA to use most of the world savings to finance its economy and the extravagant military spending, by issuing in fact papers (treasury bills) and taking the global hard earned savings, promising to repay them back, let hope this will happen (actually the Americans trust in God that will not be a global sell off of the dollar in which case we will have the first in History bankruptcy of a superpower).

The pound is in a deplorable stage and the downhill of the British economy really scares me, which has robbed the people a huge portion of their hard earned life savings, on top of that this severe devaluation does not bring any good to the UK economy.

For the time being I think is a good psychological therapy to project your woes to the euro currency/area.


Reading this makes sense to me. Now, i am wondering, what is the value of the results we do everyday? Does it make sense for us for us to do what we are doing everyday? Given the fact that life and money has something in common, fragility.

The only differences i see, is the value we set upon both life and money. What is the value you set upon yourself and your money? How do you judge the value of your character, your life and your money?

I'll let you to be the person who answer for yourself and be the judge.

Bernie Madoff: Scammer and Ponzi Schemer!

Gawd! After reading more about this Bernie Madoff creep low class ass human and his stupid little classless act Ponzi scheme. I might just wanna roll over and die. Pity those who make the decision to invest with him. GREED it seems has a huge fucking influence on everyday little people. It makes you go wild flushes with adrenaline. Makes you pathetic poor little investors felt better right?!?!?

Wrong!!!!!!!! The world are driven by people like him. Greed, fear and i might add ego. Invest in some instruments that is SO unbelievable solid with nice returns and i will tell you, its all fake. All of those are just instruments and tools to manipulate you to make you feel better and feel more confident. At least, they uses this to convince you to invest, for you to make that decisions. To lose your hard earned penny. To invest with them.

So that low-class act f____rs like him will be able to live a life that is fake and comtemporary. USD50 billion worth of funds are actually worthless. Yes! Of course, unless someone in US will be able to recover some of these funds. Which of course, will be given to corporate account 1st such as HSBC, which seems to be one of the biggest loser as according to here.

OMG OMG OMG! How can anyone be so stupid?!?!?!?!?!? (see the lists below copied from clusterstock) Don't they do checks and balances? Banks wor! I can smell it better than those add together 100 years of experience bankers. Perhaps, Madoff promise returns are too tempting. GREED.


HSBC "has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn...HSBC’s exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Mr Madoff. HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture. Under the typical terms of these deals, if the US authorities recover any funds from Mr Madoff, HSBC will be paid first, with its clients suffering the first tranche of losses."

Access International. $1.4 billion

Fortis Bank. $1.4 billion

Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested in funds which outsourced their management to Madoff securities, although this is a tiny fraction of the division’s $25bn of assets.

Tremont Capital. Fund of funds. $3.3 billion invested.

Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff.

Union Bancaire Privet: $1.1 billion

Benbasset & Cie: $935 million

BBVA: $404 million

Maxam Capital Management LLC. Combined loss of $280 million. "I'm wiped out," said Sandra Manzke, Maxam's founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said.

Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said... Fairfield Sentry has a record of more than 15 years with an annual return of 4 to 6 percentage points above benchmark interest rates, according to a marketing document dated this month that was prepared by Zurich-based NPB New Private Bank Ltd. On an absolute basis, returns exceeded 10 percent every year from 1991 through 2000. Since then, they ranged from 6.4 percent to 9.8 percent...The strategy is a “split-strike conversion,” where the investment manager buys shares of large U.S. companies and enters into options contracts to limit the risk, the document says.

Fix Asset Management. Bloomberg: Fix Asset Management, which had an account worth at least $400 million with Madoff Investments. The firm said it’s checking with lawyers about the holdings. “We are very shocked,” John Fix, the son of founder Charles Fix, said by phone from Greece. “We put in redemptions in the past few months and got our money back no problem. We are just so surprised about all this.”

Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff.

Santander. WSJ: The eurozone's largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of €2.33 billion ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mainly through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund. More than €2 billion belongs to institutional investors and international clients of its private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it said. The remaining €320 million belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where Santander is based.

Thyssen Family. Source sends the following: Thybo Investments grew out of a family office for Thyssen. They have been in fund of funds it seems since 1989. Thybo International is a "proper" fund of fund but it's newer share class G invests only in one manager - and i'm 99% sure it's Madoff as the returns are almost the same. Some more info. The fund started in Jan 2007. Ernst & Young. Luxembourg are the auditors. UBS Luxembourg is the administrator. Thybo states on their webpage: "Our track record incorporates audited financial statements at both a composite firm-wide and individual portfolios level."

Ira Roth's family. WSJ: Ira Roth, a New Jersey resident, who says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff's firm, is "in a state of panic." He said his 86-year-old mother-in-law has been living on the investments' returns, and he has been using the funds to pay college tuition.

Sterling Equities. Fund controlled by Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the NY Mets, confirms it had money with Madoff.

Stephen Abbott, a San Francisco lawyer. WSJ: [Abbott] and two siblings had several hundred thousand dollars invested with Mr. Madoff. They inherited the trust from their father, who had befriended Mr. Madoff years ago. Performance remained steady through the current bear market, he said. "People were floored," he says. "We were making money in this lousy market." He says he is concerned about recovering the money but "you have to get philosophical about this stuff. It could be worse; we still have our health."

Palm Beach Country Club. Source: CNBC's David Faber

Lawrence Velvel, "69, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, said he and a friend may have lost millions of dollars between them (AP). "This is a major disaster for a lot of people," Velvel said in a telephone interview from his Andover, Mass., office. "You work all your life, you finally manage to save up something, and somebody who's entrusted with it, it turns out suddenly he's a crook. Lots of people are getting fully or partially wiped out." Velvel said he wants to know where government regulators, as well as accountants and others at Madoff's company, were when the money was being lost."

Loeb Family. Source: CNBC's David Faber

J. Ezra Merkin. GMAC LLC Chairman. WSJ: Mr. Merkin, the chairman of former General Motors Corp. financing arm GMAC, is also a money manager at Ascot Partners LLC in New York. Ascot, which had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter to Mr. Merkin sent to clients Thursday night. Mr. Merkin said as one of the largest investors in Ascot, he believed he had personally "suffered major losses from this catastrophe."

Norman Braman. Former Philadelphia Eagles owner

Leonard Feinstein, co-founder of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.

Mort Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman, the chairman of real-estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff

Richard Spring. WSJ: A Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about $11 million -- or 95% of his net worth -- invested with Mr. Madoff. "That's how much I believed in him," Mr. Spring said.

Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity. Lost $37 million.

Members of half-a-dozen country clubs: WSJ: "Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, investors say. One of them estimated that investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined. One of the largest clusters of Madoff investors was in Florida, where losses could be substantial. Mr. Madoff relied on a network of friends, family and business colleagues to attract investors. According to investors and agents, some of these agents were paid commissions for harvesting investors. Others had separate, lucrative business relationships with Mr. Madoff. "If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money," one investor says. "Everyone wanted to sign up." Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff's clients. "Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff," he says. Two of his investors said that among his clients, Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he'd take down half the world with him."

Bramdean Alternatives in the U.K. 9% of portfolio.

Banque Benedict Hentsch, Geneva-based private bank, $47.5 million.

Nomura and Neue Privat Bank. "Marketed access to Fairfield Sentry Ltd., a fund overseen by Mr. Madoff and sold through Fairfield Greenwich. The shares offered by Neue Privat and Nomura were leveraged three times -- meaning $3 of borrowed money was added to every $1 of capital invested in order to magnify returns, greatly increasing the potential losses for those investors."

Unicredit. The Italian firm had unspecified amount with Madoff via its Dublin-based Pioneer alt-asset group.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Unspecified

Robert Lappin Foundation in Massachusetts closed its doors today and is citing relationship to Maddoff fund. $8MM foundation plus personal holdings. Foundation supported Jewish organizations throughout North Shore of Massachusetts. (source: Jewish Journal)

Wunderkinder Foundation, a Steven Spielberg charity. In the past the foundation "appears to have invested a significant portion of its assets with Mr. Madoff, based on regulatory filings. In 2006, the Madoff firm accounted for roughly 70% of the foundation's interest and dividend income, according to regulatory filings. A representative of Mr. Spielberg confirmed that the foundation has suffered losses on its investments with the Madoff firm. He said he didn't know the size of the losses and couldn't comment further, including on whether Mr. Spielberg had any of his own money invested with the Madoff firm."

BNP Paribas. "BNP Paribas's exposure, the extent of which is not clear, may stem from BNP's lending relationship with a fund of funds that was a big Madoff client, said people familiar with the matter. A BNP spokeswoman declined to comment." WSJ: BNP, France's largest bank by market value, said it could lose as much as 350 million euros as a result of the alleged fraud. The bank said it has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services. BNP Paribas, however, said it is exposed to these funds through its trading business and lending to hedge funds that had invested in Madoff's funds.

Ira Rennert. Vicky Ward of Vanity Fair, said on CNBC."Heavily, heavily invested."

Englebardt family of Los Angeles. (Reader)

Swiss private bank Reichmuth & Co. "said its clients had an exposure of some 385 million Swiss francs to Madoff funds. The bank said Reichmuth Matterhorn, a fund that invests in other hedge funds, faced a potential loss of about 8.6% on its exposure to Madoff. That amount represented about 3.5% of the 11 billion Swiss Francs Reichmuth & Co. has under management, the bank said."

Union Bancaire Privee. UBP spokesman said the bank's clients have "limited" losses related to Madoff, but wouldn't be more specific or comment further.

EIM Group, the European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets, had a number of non-U.S. investors into funds overseen by Mr. Madoff, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, EIM assets at risk are less than 2% of what it manages, which means losses could top $200 million.

UBS: ""Very limited" direct exposure to the Madoff funds...But the Zurich-based bank's wealth-management arm helped clients in Europe and possibly elsewhere invest with Mr. Madoff, according to investment professionals in Europe who spoke with some of these clients. UBS is currently reviewing its clients' exposure to Mr. Madoff's funds, according to the person familiar with the matter. The person said the funds weren't on UBS's list of "recommended" investments for its U.S. clients, but that they may have been among the firm's suggested investments for overseas clients."

Stephen A. Fine, president of Biltrite Corp.

Avram and Carol Goldberg, former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain

Helfman family of Miami.

Saul Katz, co-owner of the New York Mets.

Irwin Kellner, of Port Washington.

Carl and Ruth Shapiro, donors to Brandeis University, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The Boston Globe reported on Saturday that the Shapiro family foundation lost almost half its money, or about $145 million.

Fairfield County, Connecticut. Bloomberg: First Selectman Ken Flatto and other elected officials in Fairfield, Connecticut, thought the 58,000- person town’s pension fund was holding up well amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The 18 percent decline in total assets since the end of June looked smart compared with the 31 percent plunge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and total assets of $286 million left a cushion over the $270 million of estimated liabilities. Flatto’s mood darkened yesterday when he heard Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street executive who oversaw $42 million of the assets, had been arrested and charged with fraud. “We classified this on our portfolio as one of the more conservative investments,” Flatto said in an interview. “You rely on your experts and your managers to be honest.”

Royal Bank of Scotland: $330 million

Nomura: $302 million

Aozora Bank: $137 million

Various Boston families: The Boston Globe.

Jeff Katzenberg. Dreamworks CEO has "millions" in Madoff losses.

Gerald Breslauer. Jeff Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg's financial advisor. WSJ: According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Breslauer himself has likely sustained heavy losses in the Madoff affair. He customarily invests alongside his clients, say these people, and has sometimes been a larger investor than the people he represented. People familiar with the matter said Mr. Breslauer was known to be a Madoff investor.

Yeshiva University lost $100 million to $110 million.

Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said it had $10 million invested with Mr. Madoff, about 8 percent of its endowment as of Nov. 30. The organization said it would work to recover the money.

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System: $5.7 million exposure to Madoff Securities in the form of a gift from a donor who insisted that it be invested that way. “The donor who contributed the funds has graciously agreed to reimburse the health system for any financial loss,” the organization said in a statement.

Ramaz School lost some $6 million invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter sent to board members and two parents whose children attend the school.

SAR Academy, a Jewish school in the Bronx, had roughly a third of its $3.7 million in assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to an e-mail message it sent to donors and parents.

Chais Family Foundation in Encino, Calif., announced over the weekend that its losses had forced it to stop operating, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The foundation had $178 million in assets in May 2007, according to its tax form.

JEHT Foundation. May have lost hundreds of millions. Will cease operations.

Arpad Busson. Uma Thurman's billionaire fiance runs hedge fund, EIM, which was reportedly exposed to roughly $270 million of products sold by Madoff

Accountants Scott Sosnik & Larry Bell. Accountants who worked for many of Madoff victims claim that they too lost money.

Swiss insurer Baloise. $13 million. (Reuters)

Swiss Re: Less than $3 million (Reuters)

Burt Ross. Former Ft. Lee, NJ mayor lost $5 million.

Maimonides School. Boston school lost $3 million. (Boston.com)

Charles & Cindi Nadler Foundation. $10 million.

Tufts University $20 million (Boston.com)

Alexandra Penney. Artist and author lost bulk of her life savings. (Daily Beast)

Robert Chew. Colorado-based investor. (TIME)

Fair Food Foundation. Detroit-based urban farming group. (NYMag)

Pasha S. Anwar and Julia Anwar. Investors first to sue Fairfield Greenwich. (DealBook)

Pedro Almodovar. Famed Spanish film director has $240,000 "at risk" (Bloomberg)

More as we get them...


Can you imagine these lists of people are going to get longer?!?!?!?!?! WTF WTF?!?!?!? Banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, foundations, charitable funds, trusts funds and etc etc did not due their due diligence. In rechecking and rechecking all your money.

OoooOOOoopssss! I forgot. Its not their MONEY! Worst case scenario, they still fight for their year end bonus. FUCK! Maggots.

Read this too. He too lost a fortune and lost hopes in these international investments.

At the end, i believe this. Simplicity has its virtue. Forget the numbers and all those fancy fancy paperworks and numbers. It boils down to the bottomline and the most simplest things of all. The most important thing, "If it is too good to be true, most probably it is!"

Last but not least, i heed this advice from which i hold on to (which is in my heart guiding me all along, in regardless of the world turmoil, the world's multi-religion and beliefs) CHARACTER OVER CONTEMPORARY STUFFS.

The world need more charismatic individuals like Muhammad Yunus or Steve Jobs, to change the world to a better place. Fuck the rest. People like Madoff, in spite of his fame, fortune, ego and reputation, which IMHO, all contemporary stuffs, fucking around the world and with peoples sweat and money.

Gawd! I hate people like them. What about you?

Worst Prediction Quotes in 2008

LMAO!

I really did when i read the following quotes.

1. "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" -- Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008

At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December it was at 8,500.

2. AIG "could have huge gains in the second quarter." -- Bijan Moazami, analyst, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008

AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over in September by the US government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.

3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound. They're not in danger of going under I think they are in good shape going forward." -- Barney Frank House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008

Two months later, the government forced the mortgage giants into conservatorships and pledged to invest up to $100 billion in each.

4. "The market is in the process of correcting itself." - President George W. Bush, in a Mar. 14, 2008 speech

For the rest of the year, the market kept correcting and correcting and correcting.

5. "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble." - Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008

Five days later, JPMorgan Chase took over Bear Stearns with government help, nearly wiping out shareholders.

6. "Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008" - Headline of a National Association of Realtors press release, Dec. 9, 2007

On Dec. 23, 2008, the group said November sales were running at an annual rate of 4.5 million -- down 11% from a year earlier - in the worst housing slump since the Depression.

7. "I think you'll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year" -- T. Boone Pickens, June 20, 2008

Oil was then around $135 a barrel. By late December it was below $40.

8. "I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system." -- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008

In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in US history to fail. Citigroup needed an even bigger rescue in November.

9. "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules." -- Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007

About a year later, Madoff -- who once headed the Nasdaq Stock Market -- told investigators he had cost his investors $50 billion in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

10. A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, the title of a book by conservative commentator Shelby Steele, published on Dec. 4, 2007.

Mr. Steele, meet President-elect Barack Obama.

What do you think?!?!?!?!? Funny but true, right?

I made myself a point last time several years to not to listen to any of these bullshit told by these so-called consultant and analyst. They are mediocre at best. If what they say is true, why aren't they invest or put their life in it?

Ooooh, of course, its not their money. Not their risk. What worst could happen?

All these prediction. Nonsense and crap.

I believe the basics. Trust yourself with some information and knowledge or how things works. Go back to the fundamental. The world works that way. It is always about greed and joneses. Its how this things work.

I remembered this story to remind myself. My mom likes to save money in FD for that 4% p.a. and you know what happen the other day? I withdraw cash from ICBC account in China (same bank, different branch at different district) and i got charge 1% for just money withdrawal at ATM at the same bank. FUCK!

Just 1% for withdrawing $$$ at same bank? And my mom keep the $$$ to earn that 4% p.a. for a whole year?

Dun even mention about putting your funds and moneys into trust funds, mutual funds and unit trusts (of course, not all banks and financial institutions have these mess) but, do your broker or financial representative that invest your $$$ invest themselves too? Can they explain to you if they lost your precious money that you work so hard for???????

Just look at the Madoff mess in Wall Street. USD50 billion losts in a ponzi scheme. In Wall Street. Can you imagine the mess?

This really makes my last day of 2008 a hell lot better. How about you?

Personal Financial Consultants

Anyone heard of the term, "Personal Financial Consultant" before? Well, it means differently for different country across the globe. Some work in the bank, some are representative of financial institutions advising clients on their net worth and financial portfolios, some are simple, enough, selling insurance and mutual funds to their clients.

Do you know whats the paylike for those who are interested to become one? Personall, i have been into one of the so-called personal financial consultant shoes before. I was a representative for financial institutions advising clients and prospective customers of their needs and financial plannings.

Do you know?

In Malaysia, an average consultants working in banks makes around RM48,000 a year to RM96,000 a year that include commissions and bonuses during the good times.

In US, New York in particularly, they are making an average of USD131,660/year.

What The Heck?!?!?!?!? OMFG! So huge in the difference! Somemore, we refer ourselves so professionally as consultant. Hahaha! Talk about differences between the nations, economics of scales and difference of pay.

Copied from The Star

New York is the top-paying state for personal financial advisers, with an average salary of $131,660, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. Colorado followed, paying an average of $119,590, then Massachusetts, with an average pay of $116,170, according to the 2007 occupational employment survey.

Idaho was the lowest-paying state for financial advisers, paying an average of $50,980. West Virginia, North Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska and Kentucky all follow, paying an average below $60,000 a year for the same job.

So, what do you think? Still thinking about it?

:)