How Stupid Can People Be?

QUOTE from Arne Garborg: " It is said that for money you can have everything, but you cannot. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; knowledge, but not wisdom; glitter, but not beauty; fun, but not joy; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; leisure, but not peace. You can have the husk of everything for money, but not the kernel."


Yesterday I wrote about a man named Carlos (Charles) Ponzi. He is the 1920s man whose legacy was to give his name to what we call today, The Ponzi Scheme. As I was perusing the latest AARP Magazine I read an article entitled, Fraud Alert - Our Own Worst Enemies. It was the story of 21st century Americans who have been defrauded of their life's savings by investing in Ponzi Schemes.

The one couple in the article that caught my attention was a North Carolina couple who turned over all the money they had saved for retirement to a Ponzi Schemer. The amount of money was $700,000. They are the reason I entitled my post today as, "How Stupid Can People Be?"
Their names are Gail and Gary Kepley and the Ponzi guy's name is Sidney Hanson of Charlotte, North Carolina. Here's how the story goes.

The Kepeys had saved $700,000 for their retirement nestegg. They were looking for a safe place to make some good interest. They had gone to a Chamber of Commerce meeting and learned about a financial planner named Sidney Hanson. When the Kepleys met Hanson they saw a balding, heavyset 60-year-old who wore wire-rimmed glasses and a business suit. As they walked into his impressive office in Charlotte he was flipping a silver dollar. Hanson told the Kepleys he came from humble beginnings in West Virginia but had found riches for his clients by investing in precious metals and foreign currency. He also gave them a sheet of references, a list of names that included local pastors. Then he handed them the silver dollar.

"He said he was a devout Christian whose joy in life was to return those blessings that poured out on him to others," said Mrs Kepley.

The churchgoing Kepleys were hooked. Four months later, the Salibury, NC, couple turned over their entire nestegg - the contents of their IRAs, their daughter's college fund, and their savings - to Hanson's company, Queen Shoals, LLC. All $700,000 of it.

Several months later, in May, 2009, the Kepleys were stunned to discover that agents from the securities division of the NC Secretaty of State had raided Hanson's office. They discovered his investment business was actually a Ponzi Scheme, one that had scanned more than 300 people out of $33 million. Hanson pled guilty and is serving 22 years in federal prison.

Gary Kepley died last year from a stroke. His wife, Gail, said he was a totally destroyed man from losing everything they had worked for all their life.

I have several thoughts about this story. I think my title is appropriate for the Kepleys. How can you be so stupid as to put your entire life's savings into one pot at the age they were. Why didn't they do some more investigating and diversify their nestegg or leave it where it was. Not only were they stupid but they were naive and greedy. Like I said yesterday, "If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is." Like Sidney Hanson mankind has always had and will always have people who are greedy, love money above everything else and have no conscious.

HUMOR for today: Any woman can have the body of a 21-year-old as long as she buys him a few drinks first.