Page 106 - Midas Touch

people you want to mess with. Personally speaking, I am glad I do not
need to count on mutual funds for my financial survival. Given the choice
between buying mutual funds or a fake Rolex, I would take the fake Rolex.

In 2006, Donald and I came out with our first book together, Why We Want
You To Be Rich. We wrote the book because we are concerned with the

collapse of the middle class in America. We stated that bad investments
and mismanagement of our government were destroying the lives of many
people. We wrote about the coming economic crisis and what people could
do to not be victims of the crisis. We wrote about inflation making the
lives of millions of people more difficult. And we endorsed the idea of
financial education as one way to get out of the crisis.

Again, the financial services industry came after us. This time, it was the
Wall Street Journal. Their direct quote was: “Make no mistake. This is
provocative stuff. But don’t rush to dump your [mutual] funds quite yet.”
That was in response to Donald’s and my commentary about how mutual
funds will be inadequate to fund the majority of Americans’ retirement.
They made that statement on October 11, 2006, and they didn’t seem to

believe there was anything to worry about. A year later the market began
its free fall. I still predict it will not be the last time this happens.

On March 18, 2008, I appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer. He wanted to
know if the financial crisis had passed. Rather than say what he may have
wanted me to say, that “things will be fine and the worst is over,” I instead
predicted that Lehman Brothers was in big trouble. On September 15,
2008, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, the biggest bankruptcy in

history.

Be True to Yourself
My point for telling you about my personal challenges with the financial
services industry is to encourage you to be true to yourself. For me, it was
not easy turning down a $4 million endorsement deal. It was not easy
saying, “Your house is not an asset.” It was not easy predicting the biggest

stock market crash in history. It was not easy saying with Donald that the
middle class was being wiped out due to government and financial
incompetence. It was not easy predicting on worldwide television that the
financial crisis was not over and that Lehman Brothers was collapsing.