Standing Up to Financial Bullies
Bullies don’t just torment their victims at school or on Facebook. And they don’t just pick on children—adults can be subject to various forms of aggressive emotional abuse at their workplace, their community, even their home.
In the financial world, there are bullies of a different sort. There are investment companies who continuously pound consumers with baiting ads and messages designed to scare you into sending them your hard earned cash. Yes, advertising is a purposeful act to convince someone to buy. But the manipulation of our thinking by the constant focus on our fears has become a bit of financial terrorism.
The products and services they shill range from Life Insurance and Annuities to mutual funds—all touting their own features and benefits of why you simply MUST buy their products. Or follow the advice of their employees, who of course have a hard wired conflict of interest: they only get paid when they make the sale. These ads should be required to carry the same disclosures as the drug companies listing all the potential ill effects from their treatments.