Help Avoiding Bad Investments

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The Better Business Bureau and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation are offering a new website to help investors avoid fraud and scams…

“Our partnership with BBB will help Americans in communities across the country protect their savings from fraudsters,” said FINRA Foundation President Gerri Walsh. “The FINRA Foundation’s ‘Outsmarting Investment Fraud’ curriculum and resources have been field-tested, and give consumers the tools and information they need to thwart fraudsters touting investment scams.”

“This is a great partnership,” says Carrie Hurt, President and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. “Even though BBB has always investigated investment scams, this gives us a whole new portfolio of prevention tools to offer to consumers. The FINRA Foundation’s basic ‘Ask & Check’ message is exactly what consumers need to hear before they make investment decisions. We think this program will go a long way toward preventing investment scams that have become so much more prevalent in recent years as people more actively manage their own retirement funds.”

Their announcement mentions a 2006 survey where more than 80 percent of consumers claimed to be confident and knowledgeable about investing, but only 44 percent passed a basic financial literacy test. They hope the site can give people the education to match that confidence.

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