October 13, 2015
Surrendering to federal prison brings enough complexities. To the extent that you can prepare and mitigate the fallout, you succeed. That includes managing your finances. Now, I know some of you might be thinking:
"Hey, Justin, you are not a stockbroker anymore. Why are you offering financial advice?"
I am not offering advice on how to manage your money, but rather some good old prison advice. The truth is that your brokerage firm will fire you once they learn of your conviction. If you have money left in an IRA or brokerage account, take action. In my book, Lessons From Prison (page 152 to be exact), I describe getting fired from Merrill Lynch, and the fallout from them freezing my assets. I never presumed they would fire me, especially because I had a LONG relationship with the broker and bank.
But the compliance manager did not care. They got a run from the FBI about my conviction, and they fired me.
The result? I spent nearly all of my 300 phone minutes in May 2008 (before I ran out), trying to find a new broker. I could not. The market imploded. My assets were frozen, crushed. I did not prepare. I lost a lot of money.
I filmed a short video on how to better prepare than I did. For those of you who are in need of a referral, I would be happy to send one. I know of some good ethical brokers who have approval to work with people who have a white collar crime conviction.
Click Here to Watch Video: How To Manage Money
If you have questions for me please call 818-424-2220, email jp@etikallc.com or CLICK HERE to schedule a call.
Best,
Justin
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