Remember Tommy Belesis? Founder and CEO of preeminent boiler room John Thomas Financial? Breakout star of Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps? Mentor to Shia Labeouf? Guy who enforces rules at his shop about not letting junior employees sit down, who has cultivated an atmosphere in which senior brokers rub the balls of a bull every morning for good luck and walk around saying things like “motion creates emotion” without any irony, and who generally gives the impression he proudly displays towels in his guest bath that have been hand-stitched with the phrase “Don’t pitch the bitch,” which he make sure to point out during house tours? This may come as a surprise, as it seems so out of character, but he’s been charged with fraud and intimidation that in one instance involved suggesting an employee ought to look both ways before crossing the street. Read more »
Thomas Belesis
If Threatening To Hit An Employee With His Car Is Wrong, Tommy Belesis Doesn’t Want to Be Right
By Bess LevinBoiler Room Operator Who Doesn’t Let Junior Sit Down, Thinks Cameos In Shia LaBeouf Movies Are Good For Business Shockingly Charged With Fraud
By Bess Levin
Who could have seen this coming, besides everyone? Read more »
“Brokers who show up with stubble are sent to the bathroom, where a bow-tied attendant dispenses razors, cologne and candy.”
By Bess Levin
Back in February, FINRA informed John Thomas Financial founder Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis, he of rallies for Wall Street and Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps fame, that he “may face disciplinary action on a claim that he artificially inflated the price of a stock,” while the Post reported that the firm was being probed by the FBI and the SEC. According to the firm’s lawyer, Robert Bursky, “There is not a shred of evidence that suggests there is an ongoing inquiry by the FBI,” and if you asked David Pitts, a spokesman for John Thomas, if the brokerage is a boiler room, which Bloomberg did, he’d say it is not (and that, on the contrary, “it helps real companies raise money and provides honest advice to investors”). Regardless of whether or not any of the allegations are true, a few business practices one might want to avoid if questions like “is this place legit” or “is this business entirely modeled after 2000′s Boiler Room” are being raised include: Read more »
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You know what they say: You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your financial planner. Or something like that. One of the great things of being in charge of your money is choosing who (if anyone) will help you manage it. The choice isn’t always an easy one. How will you know that your planner is reputable and trustworthy?
These five red flags may be good indications of whether the financial planner sitting across from you is someone you should trust with your money. LearnVest Planning also provides an innovative 7-step program for your money where you work one-on-one with a financial planner. To see if this program is right for you, start with a free financial consultation.
1. She Isn’t Certified
“There are a lot of good planners out there who aren’t Certified Financial Panners™,” says Samantha Vient, CFP®, of LearnVest Planning Services. “However, CFPs® are required to adhere to the CFP® Board’s standards of professional conduct.We believe it’s always a good idea to work with someone who has the CFP® designation, which is issued after completing a CFP® Board-approved personal financial planning curriculum, passing a rigorous exam issued by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, meeting experience requirements and passing an ethics and background check.
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Sponsored Content
SoFi Answers the Call to Refinance Student Loans and Provides Unique Community Benefits
This is a guest post written by SoFi’s CEO, Mike Cagney.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk amongst leaders in Washington about how to improve the painful process of repaying student loans. At SoFi, we feel your pain and work hard to offer more flexible, more affordable options for our borrowers. One idea that’s getting a lot of attention is increasing the options for refinancing debt after graduation. The only lender currently focused on refinancing private and federal student loans is SoFi.
We recognized early on that borrowers who have made timely payments on their loans, graduated from school, and have a job should be able to refinance their student loans at a lower interest rate. This may be why, after resuming lending by invitation, the media became increasingly interested in what we are doing.
In a recent article posted on MainStreet.com SoFi General Counsel Rob Lavet had this to say about SoFi’s ReFi products: Read more »
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