Well, I’m age 61 now, and those memories/lessons are very vivid. But, like I said … you know the story all too well. I’ll certainly reach out to the lawmakers in N.C.”
—John Collins, MBA
I’ve Seen It Myself
When I began my career in financial services, I worked for an independent insurance agency that was out to save the world from the evils of whole life insurance. We used Company X for our solution provider and replaced people’s expensive and underinsured whole life policies with term and then helped them invest the rest.
This agency gave me some of the best training I ever received in client-centered sales.
About 10 years ago, I got a call from one of the founders of that agency that his former co-founder was going to prison for embezzling about $9 million from his clients, also offering them promissory notes for an investment in his own firm. His clients were lifelong friends, and he was in his 60s at the time. He eventually served seven years in prison, but that didn’t help the people he swindled, some non-English-speaking Lithuanians from his Chicago neighborhood. He was Lithuanian and played on this to gain their confidence and their money.
And you know what? I thought he was one of the most honest people I had ever met. I worked with him for seven years and he was an amazing guy, but …
I have no sympathy for him. How someone can swindle a 40-plus year friend, numerous elderly couples who gave him everything, etc., etc., I will never understand.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I am so proud of you for sharing this story. It is so important to bring all of this dark into the light. Others will learn from your experience; so once again, you are spending your time and efforts helping others. Thank you for that!