This is a guest post by Alex Summers.

Considering the state of the economy and the high number of twenty somethings struggling to find their professional place in the world, a large number of parents are opting to purchase their children homes. Instead of giving their kids a large inheritance years down the road, parents are choosing to pay a down payment or to buy a home for their kids to help them get off on the right foot during their young adulthood.

While financing a home for your child might be a kind gesture and one that most parents would certainly hope they could afford, it isn’t exactly the best decision for the children or the parents. So before you sign a mortgage with your child, consider some of the following reasons why you shouldn’t buy a home for your kid:

Your Kids Need to Learn Financial Responsibility

If your kids are young adults, they don’t need to continue getting hand outs from their parents. They need to learn the importance of being financially responsible for themselves, and if that means that they have to live in that small apartment and keep their possessions in a self storage facility for a few more years, then so be it. During that time they can learn to pinch their pennies which will ultimately make purchasing a home later more rewarding because they will have done it themselves.

Don’t Risk Your Retirement

While no one wants to admit it, the truth is that not everyone is good with money. If your kids haven’t been able to afford a home on their own, there is probably a good reason for it – whether it be lack of income or poor saving habits. Either way, these factors are actually risks, and could leave you liable for mortgage and insurance payments should your child not be able to make them.

Even worse, if the house were to go into foreclosure, you could find your own credit ruined and your retirement savings drained dry from months of trying to keep on top of a mortgage that you were legally tied to. All of which could ultimately mean that you have to come out of retirement, and spend the next decade working to make up for your losses.

You Need Financial Freedom

During your Golden years, the last place you want to be is worrying about whether or not your child is making the necessary mortgage and insurance payments to keep themselves afloat. While we all worry about our child’s well-being, your lives are ultimately separate and you each need to be responsible for your own lives. Don’t waste the years that you are supposed to be mortgage free and enjoying your life in worrying whether or not you are going to be left with a mortgage that ultimately shouldn’t be yours to begin with.

Every parent wants to help their child out, but ultimately, choosing to buy your child a home is detrimental in more than just the financial ways. Your children need to buy their own homes so that they can aggregate their own personal worth and equity, and so that they can learn about financial responsibility in the adult real world. So if the topic arises, do yourself and your children a favor by politely declining to help them buy a home and stating that you’ll be setting that money aside for them later.

Author Bio:  Alex Summers is a frequent contributor on several personal finance sites, often focusing on why minimalistic living, such as packing your possessions into a self storage facility and downsizing, is truly the way to financial freedom.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Why You Should Not Buy Your Child a House

Technorati Tags: buy a home, child, Foreclosure

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This is a guest post by James Lander.

If you’re like most people, you’re probably dreaming of relocating to a new place for your retirement. We all want to take off to some warmer, quieter place when we finally get freedom from jobs that tie us down to one place. It can be hard choosing a place to retire so you really need to give it careful thought and planning before you make a decision.

People have different wants and needs in a retirement place: affordable housing, pleasant weather, or just abundant recreational activities. However, there are certain key aspects that most people look for when choosing a retirement place. Here’s a list of the best cities to retire in based on some of the top features that people consider when selecting a retirement place, according to data from Onboard Informatics.

The right blend of amenities and affordability – Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

Pittsburg is one of the best places with the widest varieties of amenities that best suit retirees. On top of that, the cost of living is very low, not to mention the unusually low median price of a home – $97,900 – for a city with first-class healthcare facilities and a large university. There are also free bus rides for senior citizens of age 65 and above (with proper ID) on the Port Authority trains and buses. Depending on your budget, you can buy season tickets to the symphony, the ballet or the Steelers or all the three; retirees are simply spoilt for choice when it comes to activities in Pittsburg.

Amiable year-round weather – Flagstaff, Arizona

Because of its low humidity levels and high altitude, Flagstaff’s four-season weather conditions are generally pleasant all-year-round. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Flagstaff receives sunshine for 78 percent of the year and its temperatures go over 90 degrees only for three days in a year on average, unlike most other sunny climates. Like most sunny cities around the country, Flagstaff can receive a significant amount of snow during winter but the plentiful sunshine often melts much of it fast.

Low-cost mountain town – Boone, North Carolina

Spend your retirement years enjoying the dazzling views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the budget town of Boone, North Carolina. The town features three ski resorts in the immediate neighborhood, several trails for cross country skiing, snowshoeing and winter hiking. With a population of 17,122 – as of 2010 – residents of this small town have access to the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the most picturesque roads in the country. The median price of a house was $215,250 in 2010.

Affordable water views – Traverse City, Michigan

If you’re considering retiring to a lakeside house, Traverse City might be your dream retirement place. With over 180 miles of Lake Shoreline (Lake Michigan), you are sure to find a lake house that fits in your budget. The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake shore boasts of fresh water beaches and high sand dunes that residents and tourists can climb. Also, if you’re in to boating, the opportunities are endless on the twin Grand Traverse Bays. The average price of a house in this city is $155,715, which for water proximity, is quite reasonable.

Most eco-friendly place – Walnut Creek, California

Snuggled in the Eastern Bay region of the San Francisco Bay area, this warm incorporated California city blends all the niceties of a city with plentiful access to the wilderness. You will find fine eateries, high-end shops and organic restaurants in the downtown area, plus the Lesher Center for Arts. There are 2,704 acres of open space and 22 parks in the city. There is simply plenty of space to enjoy a bike ride, a hike or a stroll with your partner. You can also decide to drive to nearby San Francisco or to the summit of Mount Diablo to catch some spectacular views. However, life in the Bay area is a bit on the high end, with the median price of a home at $411,000.

Best recreational and cultural place to retire – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the oldest state capital in the country at over 400 years. The city’s unique culture and art galleries – such as the New Mexico Museum of Art – make it a rich cultural place to retire in. The mix of cultures in Santa Fe is like no other in any other city around America, where you find Anglo, Hispanic and Native American cultures beautifully blended.

Your choice of retirement city

You may have to do more research for a place that suits your particular lifestyle and retirement needs but when it comes to weather, affordability, retirement activities and a big population of retirees, these places currently stand out.

Author Bio: James Lander is a regular contributor for Couponing.com, a site that strives to give consumers the best information on couponing and hot deals.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Best Cities to Retire In

Technorati Tags: Boone, city, Flagstaff, Pittsburg, Santa Fe, Traverse City, Walnut Creek

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This is a guest post by Mike, the founder of CreditCardForum.

When you think of credit card rewards, the first thing that pops in your head is probably “cash back” or “airline miles.” But those are only a couple of the different types. These days you can find rewards programs for almost anything, including ones to boost your retirement savings.

How do they work?

These operate in a very similar manner as a regular ol’ cash back credit card. You earn a percentage of your purchases back – but instead of getting the rebate as cash – you get it in the form of a direct deposit to your retirement account.

In the United States, these rewards are funneled into a linked IRA account. For example, with the Fidelity Retirement Rewards card, you earn a straight 2% rebate on all purchases, which is automatically deposited into your Fidelity traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or SEP IRA account. There are also a number of more generically branded credit cards, which provide this as one of several redemption options (i.e. in addition to IRA deposits, you can opt for a rebate check, travel points, and so forth).

In Canada, to the best of my knowledge there are no broker-affiliated cards like this. Nor are there any cards which are specifically marketed as a way to save for retirement. That being said, some Canadian banks allow cardholders to redeem their rewards in the form of a direct-deposit to a bank account. Depending on the bank, a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) or Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) may be eligible for that deposit.

Are they a smart idea or not?

Because credit card rewards sometimes feel like “free money” the whole idea of using them to grow your retirement account may seem like a good idea, but there are both pros and cons to this approach.

Advantages

• Easy and automatic: In today’s economy, coming up with extra money for retirement isn’t always easy. These types of programs are an automatic way to increase your contributions, without changing your budget.
• More practical: As mentioned at the start, there are reward programs for literally everything under the sun. For example, some store cards offer a 5% rebate, but it can only be spent on more clothes. What’s more practical… buying more clothes or saving for retirement? I think most would agree with the latter!

Disadvantages

• Tax implications: The biggest drawback is that these rebates will count against your annual tax-free limits. For 2011, the IRS allows an American to contribute up to $5,000 tax-free to their IRA/Roth IRA. So if you earn $1,000 this year on your Fidelity card, you will have to subtract that amount from your tax-free limit. When you consider the fact that credit card rewards are generally non-taxable as it is, wouldn’t it make more sense to contribute your regular income instead, since doing so will be tax deductible?
• Not always lucrative: It’s hard to beat the straight 2% offered on the Fidelity card – but aside from that – most cards which offer retirement rewards aren’t very lucrative. The Edward Jones card for example only gives 1 point per dollar. Being that the points are usually only worth 1 cent or less, this is hardly anything to write home about. So you may not always be earning a high percentage with these programs.

Conclusion? Before signing up for one of these cards, you will definitely need to consider the good and bad that come with them. At the end of the day, it may be smarter instead to just use a regular cash back card and manually deposit those earnings into your retirement account yourself.

About the Author: Michael Dolen is a full-time blogger. He started his site, CreditCardForum, back in ’08 as a place where people could ask questions and get answers about credit cards. Not only will you see him reviewing the best credit cards, but also giving advice for just about every issue related to credit and debt.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Credit Card Rewards For Retirement

Technorati Tags: IRA, rewards

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Today is Elder Abuse Day in Canada as Sharon Singleton points out in her article, Seniors should focus on estate planning.

Canada will mark Elder Abuse Day on Tuesday, with concern about retirement and pension planning mounting as the population ages. Nearly half of all Canadians from the baby boomer generation have not saved enough for their needs, according to a poll carried out for the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

As lawyer Les Kotzer of Fish & Associates suggests that’s a recipe for exploitation of their elders. In his book, Where There’s an Inheritance, he collates about 80 anecdotes on how a lack of estate planning, or mistakes in working out a will, have led to abuses.

Longer lives and reducing financial resources give a double whammy to those who have done insufficient retirement planning. That can affect both the boomers and their parents. The boomers are hoping to inherit from their recession-era parents who are in turn dependant on over-indebted kids.

Kotzer points out that some of the most common problems come from giving up control to the children, without having proper protection in place. He cites a number of examples:

Children who had convinced their mother that she could save them money on taxes when she died by transferring her assets to them. They then paid her an allowance, though when she overspent one month, her daughter yelled at her.

An 80-year old woman was pressured by her son to put the house in his name to avoid probate taxes. What he didn’t tell her was that his business was going bankrupt and his creditors sent her a letter laying claim to the house.

A 75-year-old woman worked two jobs. She had loaned her daughter $100,000 and her son $150,000 and when her husband died asked for the money back. Her daughter didn’t have the cash and her son claimed it was never intended as a loan and she’d have to go to court and sue him for it.

It is important to keep good records and these documents need reviewing on a regular basis to reflect changes in life. Wills should be drawn up and kept up to date as grandchildren are born, or children get divorced. Putting such documents away and forgetting them is a recipe for a family disaster.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Elder Abuse Day In Canada

Technorati Tags: abuse, boomer, elder, Power of attorney, will

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Your retirement savings account may have been what you hoped would provide the retirement you dreamed about.  The first upsetting factor may be a good news / bad news issue.  You will probably live longer than your parents lived and than you may have envisaged.  Yet you are in great health and feel you can go on for ever.

The second factor has affected a large number of retirees and that is the major recession that is now easing but leaving many funds in much poorer shape than they were before.  For either or both reasons you may find that you are short on retirement funds.  Here is what Rob Carrick recommends.  Don’t panic:  it’s a time for some strategic thinking.

Anxiety about not having enough put away for retirement is rampant in this country. Fortunately, there are solutions. If you simply can’t contribute more to your retirement savings plan, you can work longer. You can also try ramping up the risk level in your retirement portfolio to achieve higher returns, and scaling back your retirement lifestyle aspirations to comfortable but not extravagant levels.

If you feel that it is only you that is affected by this, then consider a recent survey commissioned by BNN, CTV and Standard Life.  They found that:

• only 35 per cent of participants are confident of having enough money to live on in retirement
• 41 per cent have enough to live on, although their standard of living may decline or they will have to continue working
• 16 per cent said they will have to rely on the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security to supplement their savings, and
• 8 per cent said they will not be able to afford retirement at age 65.

Given this, many are considering working in their retirement years and thus extending their retirement savings.

If you have strong nerves then ramping up the risk level in your portfolio with more exposure to the stock market is an option to consider.  However it is a tricky way for beefing up your retirement savings, so approach it with caution.

The safest way of addressing your concerns about a retirement savings shortfall is to scale back your lifestyle aspirations for your senior years. It will be something like the economizing that’s necessary when you’re raising children and carrying a mortgage. And for your leisure time, develop affordable hobbies.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Retirement Savings Account

Technorati Tags: pension, Savings account, Stock market

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Most seniors look forward to a good life in retirement.  However there are now two key changes that mean that this only comes through careful financial planning for your retirement. 

• Seniors are living longer
• The major recession has depleted the funds they may have accumulated to cover their retirement.

In other words, you may have to trim your spending to make your savings last.  Just consider one of the examples quoted in the Star news item:

When Janet and Bob retired at age 55, they were earning a joint income of $400,000. Both were senior executives in the corporate world.  Now in their late 60s, they live more frugally. No longer do they own a cottage up north, buy new cars, eat in restaurants or rent condos in Florida with friends.  They live on a budget of $60,000 to $70,000 a year, which doesn’t include debt, to make their savings last.

Statistics Canada published a report in 2005, which detailed the spending patterns of older people:

• Households age 75+ spent 73 cents of each income dollar on personal consumption.
• Food, shelter and transportation made up the lion’s share (61 to 68 cents) of each consumption dollar.
• Households pay more for government and private health insurance plans than 20 years ago.  There are higher out-of-pocket expenses for health costs not covered by insurance, such as prescription drugs, other medical equipment, dental services and eye care.

Here are some of the ways you can stretch your savings.

• Live frugally and cut out unnecessary expenses
• Stay healthy and vigorous
• Give up the automobile and walk, take public transport or taxis as needed.  You’ll be much better off
• Keep working part-time or make money out of your hobby
• Use senior discounts to the maximum
• Sell items on EBay
• Learn to cook and cut down on prepared meals
• Grow fruit and vegetables in your garden
• Invite people to your home instead of dining out.
• Buy any needed items on Craigslist or at Value Village
• Sell unwanted belongings on Craigslist.
• Have a financial planner and meet say twice a year to see if  you are still on track

As a retiree, you have fewer work-related expenses, you pay less in personal income tax and you contribute less to public benefit programs.  Since there is no need to leave an estate, with careful living you can enjoy what you have to the maximum and hope to die when your time comes just a little better than broke.

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Post from: Senior Money Memos

Good Retirement Planning

Technorati Tags: Financial plan, Health insurance, Income tax

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This post started off with a draft title of A Senior By Any Other Name.  I was picking up the theme of a Montréal Gazette article I enjoyed entitled, What’s in a name? That which we call a senior …

The reason why my interest was piqued by that article was that I recognized the author’s name, Janet Torge.  It reminded me of pleasant evenings spent playing badminton in Beaconsfield many years ago since she was a member of the club there.

Janet mused about some of the existing names that are being used to describe seniors:

• Boomers
• Seniors
• Old people
• Elders
• Zoomers

All of them seem to have drawbacks and she came up with the pleasing alternative of Late Bloomers.

Avoiding the word plays that the Bloomers word might have suggested, I suddenly realized that there seemed to be an acceptance that what we are talking about here is a label for others to use about those of us who are over 50.

Since we are all living longer and staying healthier, I am not sure I will meekly accept a label that others might put on me.  Given many more years of productive and fulfilling life, it seems to me that a more proactive approach suggests we should not be looking for a Senior label.  A label is usually something you stick on an inanimate object.  What we need is a Senior Brand.

Why a brand?  Without a strong brand, others may assume the wrong things about seniors in general.  If we want to get more positive reactions, then we should not be shy about the positive contributions we can make.  The Senior Brand should certainly accentuate the positives.  Just think of some of the adjectives you might apply:

• Distinguished
• Experienced
• Knowledgeable
• Fund of memories
• Energetic
• Reliable
• Inventive

At the same time as guardians of the brand we must make sure that any possible negatives that people may assume would apply are never visible.  That means avoiding any suggestion that we may be:

• Weaker
• Forgetful
• Irascible
• Vision challenged
• Nodding Off
• In our dotage

Thinking along those lines you might come up with the following (or their female equivalents where appropriate) as possible contenders for the brand name:

• Chiefs
• Heads
• Sages
• Senators
• Authorities
• Gurus
• Nobles
• Statesmen
• Patricians
• Patriarchs
• Peers

Those are just to get your mental juices flowing.  If you can think of a more positive brand name for seniors, then why not add it in the comments.  This is really important because there are more and more of us every year who will be promoting that brand. Let’s find a brand we can be proud of.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

Senior Label Or Senior Brand

Technorati Tags: boomer, Brand, elder, Janet Torge, label, Old age, zoomer

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If you have income, then you must pay taxes. That is true even when that income may be only what a Ponzi schemer may have reported to you. That is unfortunately the situation in which the Montréal victims of Earl Jones now find themselves.

Apparently the Quebec tax authorities will try to lighten the tax burden on Jones’s victims even though many should have no tax burden since the income was illusory.

Victims of financial fraudster Earl Jones won’t have to pay taxes on investment income they didn’t actually earn, Quebec Revenue Minister Robert Dutil announced. Jones’s victims will also be able claim a deduction for lost revenues, Dutil said in a statement. “I sympathize with these people who are going through a deplorable situation, and I want to clarify this to help avoid all confusion for these victims,” he said.

When someone is in a precarious financial situation and unable to meet their obligations, the agency follows their case closely in line with the information available.

Some of the fraudster’s victims are finding at the federal level that things are moving more slowly and there are delays in getting some relief for taxes they paid on fictitious income.

Kevin Curran, a member of the Earl Jones Victims Organizing Committee, says the government told victims last summer to file adjusted tax returns for previous years stating that the fake income provided to them by Mr. Jones was erroneously reported, at which point they would receive tax refunds. Many of the more than 150 victims did so, but despite a promise to move swiftly, they are still waiting for their tax returns. Some of these people are struggling to afford daily living expenses. Furthermore, a handful of the victims that would qualify for increased government pensions cannot get them because their income is still wrongly pegged as being too high.

Last year in the United States, the Ponzi Scheme victims of Bernie Madoff received somewhat faster tax breaks although the public resentment about the support the troubled banks were getting may have created a more favorable climate for speedy action.

The Internal Revenue Service announced unprecedented tax relief for victims of Ponzi schemes, saying many of those affected could deduct up to 95% of their losses immediately. The move represents a significant relaxation of longstanding limits on tax relief for victims of investment scams. It reflects the pressure officials are feeling to help individuals who have been hurt in the current financial crisis, when public resentment is growing over the billions of dollars the government is directing into troubled banks and other big corporations.

Meanwhile it is good to see that vigorous action is being taken to prosecute those who perpetrated these dreadful schemes. The Feds are targeting Bernie Madoff’s brother and sons for Tax Fraud.

Last summer, prosecutors essentially made clear they wouldn’t go after Bernie’s wife, Ruth. But that’s not the case in regard to his brother, Peter, or his sons, Mark and Andrew. It is reported that federal tax-fraud prosecutors in Manhattan are pursuing cases against Bernard Madoff’s brother and sons.

To add to this sorry tale of woe, it now appears that there is a Bogus Web Site Reportedly Trying to Rip Off Madoff Victims

A bogus Web site is targeting victims of Bernard Madoff’s record Ponzi scheme in an apparent identity-theft scam, the Securities Investor Protection Corp warned today, The New York Post reported. The site claims that $1.3 billion in Madoff money was recently found hidden in Malaysia, and displays photos of huge stacks of cash allegedly stashed by the mega-crook. The so-called “International Securities Investor Protection Corporation” urges burned investors to submit claims by filling out an online form and mailing in a copy of “your most recent brokerage account statement.”

The site rips off design elements of the real SIPC site. The SIPC wants to be as clear as possible that Madoff victims and other investors should not share any personal financial information via this Web site or rely upon it as an information source.

One would hope that these poor victims have gone through enough to realize that once bitten requires them to be twice shy.

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Post from: Senior Money Memos

Taxes Add Insult To Injury For Ponzi Victims

Technorati Tags: Bernard Madoff, Earl Jones, Internal Revenue Service, Montreal, Ponzi scheme

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Statistics Canada has some good news to report:

Canadians are now living longer according to Statistics Canada. For those born within the last two years, life expectancy has increased by more than two years, as compared to 10 years ago. The agency says much of the gains in Canadian life expectancy come from men, even though women still live the longest. Men’s life expectancy at birth rose by 2.9 years to 78.3 in 2005-2007. Among women it increased by 1.8 years to 83.0.

Life expectancy among seniors is also on an upward trend, as it has been for several years. The average man who has already made it to the age of 65 could expect to live an additional 18.1 years in 2005-2007. That’s an increase of two years from the previous decade. A 65-year-old woman can expect to live an additional 21.3 years, up by 1.3 years.

It may be good news, but it may create real problems for the total budget. The office of Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page reports that the Aging population will soon strain federal finances.

The government faces a renewed battle with the provinces over health-care cash as Canada’s greying population puts an increasing strain on federal finances in the coming decades. … It is a battle that will also be fought along generational lines, as public services for Canadian seniors account for a growing proportion of federal spending, leaving working Canadians to pick up the tab even as their living standards shrink.

In the future, population aging will move an increasing share of the population out of their prime working-age years and into their retirement years. An older population puts increased spending pressures in areas such as health care and elderly benefits. In parallel, slower labour force growth will restrain growth in the economy and in the general tax base from which the government collects its revenue.

If health-care transfers are allowed to increase at the current rate, the federal government would have to raise taxes or cut spending by nearly $30 billion in the next budget to keep Canada’s debt in check.

Another factor is that the national fertility rate has fallen from a peak of 3.9 children per woman at the tail of the “baby boom,” to 1.5 children per woman now. Coupled with the longer life expectancy by 2019, individuals over the age of 65 are expected to account for more than a quarter of the population; and by 2029, more than a third.

This puts incredible pressure on the Federal parties as they consider the next federal budget.

The Conservatives are promising to “stay the course,” and will keep cutting corporate taxes. This will lead Canada into even deeper deficits. The NDP would prefer that Canada’s seniors are helped out of poverty with improvements to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). This is unlikely to get support from the major political parties. Since Liberal and Conservative governments started cutting corporate taxes 10 years ago, individuals are carrying 61 percent of the cost of government programs, while corporations now pay only 15 percent.

Post from: Senior Money Memos

More Older Canadians Will Strain Federal Finances

Technorati Tags: Canada, health care, Life expectancy, Population ageing, Statistics Canada

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Earl Jones gets an 11-year sentence for orchestrating his massive fraud scheme.

Victims of the Ponzi schemer had hoped he would get the maximum 14-year sentence but a deal reached between prosecutors and his attorneys agreed on the 11-year sentence. Since he can apply for parole after serving one-sixth of his sentence that means he could be released from prison after 22 months. Many victims who have seen their future destroyed wonder how such an evil fraudster could possibly be spared the maximum sentence allowed by the law.

Earl Jones pleaded guilty last month to running a pyramid scheme that started in 1982 and included at least 158 victims, including several close friends and relatives. The Quebec court Judge Helene Morin was extremely harsh on Earl Jones in her remarks Monday. “Some victims call him a liar, a demon, a parasite, a snake, a financial predator and a social sociopath, as he promised them that their money was not only to be safe with him but growing.”

Many people had trusted Earl Jones but perhaps the most devastating case was that of his brother, Bevan.

Jones’ brother said he never wanted to speak to him again and would never forgive him.
“None of us will ever be the same,” said Bevan Jones who, along with his wife Frances Gordon, was fleeced out of $1 million.
“You work all your life, you sell your printing company and now we live on our government pension,” Bevan Jones said.
“Everything we saved up for and worked for is gone, ruined, by this little … I can’t say the word.”

The judge made sure that Earl Jones understood that his victims are not just suffering financially: she said all have suffered from insomnia and many have seen their health rapidly deteriorate. Some who took pride in never having taken medication are now on anti-depressants.

Jones has been shunned not only by his friends and relatives, but his wife Maxine has also filed for divorce. Jones once lived in the lap of luxury, but recently, he lived anonymously in a suburban rooming house and was penniless apart from a government pension.

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The Montreal Ponzi Schemer Gets Justice

Technorati Tags: Charles Ponzi, Earl Jones, Prison

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