Dear Smart People,

I know you read my tag saying ‘We make Smart People Richer’. Sure I do. A person who has read all my 5983 posts, understood them, and implemented them surely has saved/ earned more to justify all the effort.

So here is the disclaimer.

Every finance professional (oops, ok, any professional) whom you meet is trying to sell something to you. He needs to earn money for himself, his family, his company, his government (like we all do), his drug addiction or his alcohol. He is not here because he is your friend. If nothing, he is here to hear people say “he is so Noble, large hearted and helping us”. He is doing it for his ego, if not for his cash. No, none of us want to do anything for you for free. Why the #$#@##$$%^^ should you get it free. My recent reject for a free lecture is – believe it or not – an international bank – which wanted a lecture on retirement for its top executives. No, it is not a commercial bank. Go figure. No sir, nothing comes free.

Every written word, media appearance, tweet, facebook post, jingle, radio program…is an attempt to sell you some product. Good chance that you do not need that product. Good chance that you will blame some regulator for the shitty stuff you bought. Do we not blame the world for our inability to control our love for sugar, carbs, and fried shit that we eat? Do we not blame ‘thyroid’ for our weight problem? Do  we not kid ourself about being fit? Go to a Cross Fit gym, survive a month (going regularly), and if you are alive, comeback and tell me about what you think is ‘strength’. See if you can do the 5 minute plank.

Read the document offered to you. Read the fine print. Re-read. If you do not understand, ask an expert whom you trust and who is not the person offering you the product. Of course if your ego does not allow you to, go ahead and buy it. Who am I to stop a fool and his money being parted.

If the Sec, Sebi, and 5 other regulators came with a book on ‘1000 ways how a crook can F.. your money’ on a weekend, by Monday there would be 1012 ways for sure. The Regulator is here to do what the most powerful people in the industry want to really do. If you think the Regulator is here to protect you, well you can believe Hillary Clinton would have been more useful to India than Donald Trump. Hogwash. Lawmakers are here to make laws so that we can all feel safe, and smug. Regulators make you sleep well – thinking people can’t fool all the people all the time. Some of us know you can cheat many people for a pretty long time-frame.

When your bank RM offers you a free Refrigerator for buying an annuity plan, the regulator will make you believe the transactions are not connected at all. If you take it, you are a sucker, but yes such offers will be thrown at you.

What more can I say? If you did not understand what I am saying, you are a big time sucker. You will need a lot of help. I hope you find it for FREE. On blogs. On Facebooks. From Journalists. From Agents.

Sorry for taking a dig at you for being a fool. Enjoy..