Everybody Wants Your Money: The Straight-Talking Guide to Protecting (and Growing) the Wealth You Worked So Hard to Earn

288 Pages·2006·10.13 MB·English

by  David W. Latko

EVERYBODY

WANTS

YOUR MONEY

The Straight-Talking Guide to Protecting
(and Growing)
the Wealth You Worked So Hard to Earn
DAVID W. LATKO
For my wife, Jan, who is the beacon of my life, and my two children:
Tiffany, who I know will always choose to dance; and David Jr.,
whose sensitivity and insights never fail to amaze me.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Preface xi
SECTION I How Brokers, Advisors, and Other
“Professionals” Get Their Hands into
Your Pockets—and How to Beat
Them at Their Own Game 1
ONE The Name of the Game . . . 3
TWO Financial Advisors:
Tales from the Dark Side 10
THREE The Greatest Stock Con of All 19
FOUR It’s All About the Benjamins
(Uh. . . I M ean, “The Commissions”) 23
FIVE Picking the Right Financial Advisor:
Ten Questions to Ask . . . and How to
Score Their Answers 33
iv Contents
SECTION II How to Invest in Real Estate Without
Getting Taken Every Time 55
SIX Real Estate: An Introduction 57
SEVEN Four Real-Estate Myths 60
EIGHT If You’re Thinking About Buying
a New Home . . . Don’t 72
NINE Second-Guessing Second Homes:
A Radical New Approach 80
TEN Destination Clubs: Five Points
to Ponder . . . Before You Sign on
the Dotted Line 105
ELEVEN Real-Estate Agents 112
TWELVE On the Auction Block 123
THIRTEEN Real-Estate Seminars and Other Scams 129
SECTION III You Always Hurt the One
You Love (To Repeat:
Everybody Wants Your Money) 135
FOURTEEN Divorce—the Real Equal
Rights Amendment? 139
FIFTEEN Men Are Dogs 157
SIXTEEN Kids: To Heir Is Human 164
SEVENTEEN Bonanza! (Or, Leaving Your Children
All Your Money . . . at One Time) 175
SECTION IV Simply, Wheels 179
EIGHTEEN It’s the Wheel Thing:
Automobiles and You 181
Contents v
SECTION V Scams, Confidence Games,
and Identity Theft—Welcome to
the New Wild West 203
NINETEEN Who Are You? Tales from the World
of Identity Theft 205
TWENTY We All Live in Today’s Wild West—
and the Black Hats Are Winning . . . 217
TWENTY-ONE Uncle Sam, the Flimflam Man 228
SECTION VI We Have Met the Enemy—
and He Is Us . . . 237
TWENTY-TWO The “Fiendish Five”:
The Biggest, Baddest Financial
Mistakes Around . . . 239
TWENTY-THREE Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish . . . 245
Note on Sources 257
Index 259
About the Author
Other Books by David W. Latko
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Not only do I enjoy a splendid private life, but I think I just may
have the most fascinating career in the world. No, not presidential
important or movie-star exciting, just plain interesting.
On a daily basis, people trust me implicitly with their hard-earned
assets earned over a lifetime to secure their financial futures. Not
only do they trust me with their personal financial world, but in
most cases the decisions I make will affect their family’s fortune for
years, sometimes for generations, to come.
To me, it sure beats trying to sway a jury with theatrical rhetoric
or being the proverbial yes-man in some corporate hierarchy. Fortu-
nately for me, I learned a couple of decades ago that I don’t take
orders very well—a fact supported by several past employers who
abruptly asked me to take my career and move on down the road.
Today, if time starts to drag, I have the luxury of throwing back
the doors to my radio studio and taping a segment of my nationally
broadcast radio show, David Latko’s Money & More.
On the show, my cohost, Earl Merkel, and I talk and share views
with some of the most fascinating and powerful people in the world.
How many people can say they spent time today with Steve Forbes,
Newt Gingrich, Neil Cavuto, Richard Kiyosaki, Lis Wiehl, Brian
Kilmeade and other household names too numerous to mention?
Better yet, many of these same people I now have the pleasure of call-
ing “friend.”
And then there are my books, of which this is the second in what
I envision to be a long list of titles to help the everyday investor bet-
viii Acknowledgments
ter understand and master the pitfalls of the financial world that sur-
rounds him or her. All seen not from some theoretical perspective,
but instead from someone who has been in the trenches and dug his
way out.
Or maybe on this day I will be the guest on someone else’s radio
show, maybe a television interview awaits, or I may have the plea-
sure of speaking in front of hundreds of people in a crowded lecture
hall. Few people will ever have this privilege to express in print, over
the airwaves, or as a guest speaker the sum total of what they have
learned in life.
But even though I love the old Frank Sinatra song “My Way” and
have built my career and fortune in similar fashion, this book would
not be in your hands today without assistance.
Help from my wife, Jan, without whose love, support, and en-
couragement I would not be the individual I am today. Also my two
children, Tiffany and David Jr., whose happiness, well-being, and
future have been my greatest enjoyment and motivation since their
births.
But I also owe a special thanks to Herb Schaffner, senior editor at
HarperCollins, an individual with whom I instantly felt a special
bond, from the moment he came down the elevator to shake my
hand and welcome me to the HarperCollins family. I trust in him
and believe his expertise will undoubtedly take my final effort to a
new plateau.
I must also thank Marion Maneker, who, with Herb Schaffner
and all the great people behind the scenes at HarperCollins, made
me feel right at home from day one and helped make this book what
it is today.
A gigantic thank-you goes to writer and author Earl Merkel,
great friend, radio-show cohost, and sometime personal psycholog-
ical guru who never lets me believe that the glass is anything but
half-full. Through his perseverance, dedication, persistence, and
humor this book is now complete.
But also, this book could not have been written without the help
of my dedicated staff, which was always there to pick up the slack so
I could spend the time writing just one more page.
Kudos to Gary Russell; even though we live hundreds of miles
Acknowledgments ix
apart, our daily telephone visits and genuine interest in each other’s
life have allowed us to chuckle at all of life’s struggles. His laughter,
encouragement, and camaraderie could not be replaced with a
mountain of gold. Well, on second thought . . . maybe it could.
I also must thank my agent, Sharlene Martin, for her tireless days,
fierce loyalty, and her constant struggle for perfection in all I do. I
no longer call her my agent; she is now my friend.
Of course I thank my clients, without whose life stories over the
last quarter century this book would have little meaning. I only
hope in their eyes, through our friendship, I have given as much as
they have shared.
And thank you to my father, John J. Latko, and my late mother,
Violet, for instilling in me the values, tools, and discipline to allow
me not to shoot just for the stars, but far beyond. Although the
years we have left together may be few, I will feel your love for eter-
nity. Thanks also to my late stepmother, Genevieve, for her concern
and daily prayers.
To my only brother, John Latko, I feel blessed that I have the ex-
ceptional privilege to see you in my office day after day to discuss,
and resolve, all the world’s problems. Although you are frequently
wrong, I love you, and you will always be my big brother.
A very special thank-you to Dr. Tim Harlow, head pastor of
Parkview Church, for helping me rekindle my relationship with
God, a flame that I am ashamed to say at times seemed in danger of
becoming extinguished.
Finally, to God, for the plan He has for me, and for holding my
hand through life.
—David W. Latko
January 2006