Rogues Gallery: Jerry Tuma

It's really hard to figure this guy out.  He's either terribly misguided or he's another charlatan masquerading as a Christian in order to appeal to that audience.  I've heard some horror stories from ex-clients that make it hard to believe that it's just the former.  His firm is tiny and the firm's website looks like his kid built it in his spare time.  He's another market timer with all the typical wild predictions and scare tactics.  You can look for some sort of quantifiable track record, but you won't find it.

Studied under who?

He makes some carefully worded and convoluted claims about his education on his website, which states "Jerry studied under one of the nation's top economic forecasters, a disciple of Nobel Prize winning economist, Milton Friedman".  If you're not careful, it's easy to get the impression that he studied under Friedman - I suppose that would have been during Friedman's tenure at UT-Arlington (not likely)!  Market timing is a stupid idea, but it makes for a good radio show because the great unwashed think that smart advisors are supposed to be able to make market predictions.  These guys know that and they take advantage of it.

Rogues Gallery: Dr Bill Clark

Can I play my horn for you?

Bill Clark sends out fliers in the mail with ludicrous statements that are designed to scare elderly prospects into coming to listen to the sales pitch he's doing at a local restaurant.  He, too, has some serious black marks on his compliance record and has had his securities license suspended for some very bad behavior when he worked as a broker at Merrill Lynch.  He uses the moniker "Dr. Bill Clark", but his bio says he did his "doctoral work" at Cornerstone University, a school that does not list any doctoral degree programs on its website.  Curious, isn't it?

This guy actually offers to play the trumpet for senior groups as a way to get in front of them and make his sales pitch.  He uses christian radio stations to boost his credibility with his conservative senior audience, but he's a complete charlatan hawking high commission insurance products and promoting his sales pitch with misleading statements.  Don't go near this guy or let anyone you know get fooled by his act.  You can learn more here.

Rogues Gallery: Money Matters with Ken Moraif

Expert in cookies and market timing

Moraif is a good example of the kind of charlatan that you often find on weekend radio shows that are really extended infomercials.  His show is extremely dumbed down and has lots of silly amateur sound effects.  He continuously promotes his seminars and the included chocolate chip cookies that will "take you to cookie heaven".  It's about as cheesy as you can get, but people actually fall for this garbage.

Moraif's pitch is primarily for his market timing system, which seems to have worked in one down market period and falsely predicted others.  He has some black marks on his compliance record and the firm charges high fees so that they can fund the radio shows that drive the sheep to his seminars.  Don't be one of them.  You can find more information here.