Check the Fine Print!

I received a newsletter from what seemed to be an investment magazine yesterday. Not too unsual ... the usual bevy of advisors trying to get you to part with your hard-earned $$ for their hot stock tip. They were aggressively recommending an energy stock, which they prophesized was bound to skyrocket. Hmm, unfortunately for them, I love details and have developed a habit for reading fine print, so I scrolled down to their mandatory disclosures, only to discover that a) they have received tons of advertising dollars from that very company, b) they will continue to receive money for promoting the stock :-0, and c) the "advisor" personally owns 25,000 shares of stock in that company. Talk about conflict of interest ... actually, this wasn't one - the verbage made it pretty clear the firm that put out the newsletter was essentially an advertising firm. We can whine about what the heck are those folks at the SEC are doing, but I'd rather we just take matters into our own hands and stop getting conned. READ THE FINE PRINT, FOLKS!!