Physician Scientist - American Association of Physicians of Indian ...

SPECIAL ARTICLE
AAPI Journal • June 2009
How Not To Invest
by Monita Soni, M.D.
Monita Soni, M.D.
Decatur, AL
I am a typical physician like many
of you. I love my work, and am
extremely busy taking care of
patients. We all try to pack 48 hours
in a twenty four hour day and then
steal some more minutes to take
care of family, community
obligations, exercise and of course
“hobbies”. I have no knowledge of
financial investments. I just keep my
savings at the bank, or at least I DID
till the June 2006 AAPI convention
in Atlanta. That was perhaps the
most UNLUCKY weekend of my life.
I met a young man who sold “safe
investments” under the façade of a
God-fearing Sai-Baba devotee. This
boy who touched my feet and was
like a ”son” took me to the cleaners
with not an iota of remorse. For the
last one year I have been struggling
to extricate myself from multiple
very convoluted products which
have earned him and a carload of
his cronies hundreds of thousands of
dollars. I on the other hand have lost
most of my savings!
Now I am very war. Needless to
say, all my waking time has been
spent in reading, collecting
documents, endless phone calls and
sleepless nights. I have lost the
ability to trust people. I am not an
authority on financial matters but I
consider it my responsibility as a
human being and executive
committee member of AAPI to
caution other members. I will just
highlight a few points that you must
take into consideration when
investing your hard earned money.
1. We as physicians are vulnerable
to fraud and scams because we
are very busy, we do not have
time to read documents
carefully. Please do not SIGN
anything without reading it till
you understand all the fine print.
2. We do not make time to seek
out the best adviser; we just
agree to invest with someone
we meet at a convention, dinner
talk etc. Please recognize that
anyone who is sponsoring your
meal, advertisement, CME
meeting, and convention has an
AGENDA. The bigger the favor,
the PRICIER the agenda.
3. We believe in people because
our vocation is based on trust.
There are many products with
EXCLUSIVE names like “Golden
Select“, “Elite index”,
“Universal Life”, “Executive
bonus”, “Premium financing
plan”, etc. These are all
advertisement gimmicks. The
more esoteric the name of
the product, the agent is
guaranteed to get a BUMPER
COMMISSION. As much as
100%. You might not get any
return after age 73-75. Please
take out your policies, look at
your signed illustrations and see
if they are valid.
4. We rely on ESTABLISHED
company names but how many
of us actually read the company
profiles and see what their
investment strategies are. Please
take time to investigate
everything before you WRITE
a check.
5. We do not use our accountant
effectively. Please spend
adequate time before the TAX
week. Discuss all your
investments with your CPA. If
you are not satisfied with the
consultation, do not hesitate to
ask as many questions as you
like and also feel free to take a
SECOND opinion.
6. We all do not have a proper
TAX ATTORNEY. Please bring all
the investment papers to your
attorney and make sure that
your investments are going to
protect your estate. Always have
witnesses present while signing
any financial document. NEVER
sign anything not completely
filled out by the agent. Never
sign FAXED documents.
7. We do not know that all
products/annuities and insurance
policies have a FREE LOOK
PERIOD. We do not know the
difference between variable and
fixed annuities. What is the price
you pay for minimum income
guarantee rider? What is meant
by annuitization? Always ask for
the risk of losing your investment
and penalties on withdrawal.
8. We do not present a united
front. This makes our association
very open to fraudulent vendors.
Remember NOTHING IN LIFE
IS FREE. Cheats often have a
very innocent façade. Please
make it a point to exercise
extreme caution while dealing
with vendors and immediately
inform other members if you are
concerned. I have received a
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