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Im haven't looked much into this story, but wasn't it something like everyone was making a 10% return on investment every single year? If that was the case then I could understand why someone would refi to do something like that. It's easy to look back and see something was wrong. Not so easy to do that before it has happened.
But the guy is in his 90's and his house was probably paid for. Why put your home in jeopardy and refinance for a few extra bucks?
Ben Lomond Madoff Victim, 90, Returns To Work - cbs5.com (http://www.cbs5.com//local/elderly.madoff.victim.2.929316.html - broken link)
A 90 year old man has gone back to work earning $10 an hour after losing his life savings to Bernie Madoff. How sad . And even worse, he re-fi'd his home to invest even more money with Madoff.
Madoff is pond scum. But, I'm sorry at 90 years old that man should "not" have been taking any risks. That was pure greed and now he's paying for it.
And he refinanced his home. The greed and stupidity of people astounds me and then they want other people to feel bad for them.
Let's play devils advocate here, this man should never have been invested with Madoff, or indeed any kind of equity-like products at his stage in life. All people either in, or approaching retirement should be in low risk fixed income or debt products
He doesn't want sympathy, although I do have it for him. He seems like a good man.
"he seems like a good man". Then let me ask why did he refinance his home at such an old age? That sounds like a scam because he knew he wouldn't live to pay it back, JMO.
Not sure why there's all this venom for this poor guy. People are reading things that are not in the article. For example, everyone comments that he refinanced his house. There is no reference to that except a comment about house payments, which could mean taxes. Also, you have no idea whether he needed money for medical bills or not, which he clearly has. He is simply living off the interest from his savings. So, where is all the greed in that?
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Originally Posted by ChunkyMonkey
Not sure why there's all this venom for this poor guy. People are reading things that are not in the article. ... He is simply living off the interest from his savings. So, where is all the greed in that?
True, I can see a 90 yr old who is not expecting to be raped by a sleaze (and probably a kind and understanding acct manager) being a tad rusty on 'financial strategy'. As we know, there are far more astute investors buried in this fraud, as well as the sleeping watchdogs.
I found myself dangerously close to investing my personal real estate gains into a 'sure thing' title holding equity position in Senior Housing that was paying 9%... 1 yr later a huge mess, one of the largest bankruptcies in the industry with 274 senior housing centers involved. The principle manager who created the failure negotiated $54,000 / month to cover his expenses during the proceedings (Plus his legal expenses paid). I had been getting 11% in my RE that I sold, so felt 9% for bridge lending with asset secured was not too greedy.
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. And even worse, he re-fi'd his home to invest even more money with Madoff.
The greed and stupidity of people astounds me and then they want other people to feel bad for them.
I had been getting 11% in my RE that I sold, so felt 9% for bridge lending with asset secured was not too greedy. 
