For all you First Command believers

[Beaver]

First Command to Pay $12 Million to Settle SEC and NASD Charges Involving Misleading Sales of Investments to Members of the Military

[Guest pinko]

Something's not right when your bank uses your money to take you out for steak dinners.

[Guest NoseArtGal]

These guys aren't affiliated with that Officer's Investing company that always spams guys at work is it? The ones that claim the base commander is a member, etc. Then they have conferences on base facilities and hand out fancy brochures and what not. I think they have pins they wear that kinda show "rank" or something. Somebody here will know what I'm talking about. These guys aren't affiliated are they?

[Guest TheBobGoat]

that kinda sounds like them

dewey?

[Baseops.Net]

Yes,

This is the artist formerly known as USPA/IRA -- changed their name to throw off their scent...

[Guest NoseArtGal]

ah... Yeah I knew a scam when I went to their meeting with some buddies a few years ago. I can't believe the AF let them call dudes at work... Lord. Anyway, glad they're exposed.

[Guest deweygcc]

You do know you DO NOT have to buy that particular investment dont you?

[Guest gonads]

they actually hit me up at the Randolph AFB Officer's Club......DURING AN ASSIGNMENT DROP! I still can't believe that. I know quite a few people who have lost a lot of money with them. I mean, they make you pay $3000 up front, which would be the money which would work the longest for you none-the-less!

[Bergman]

Originally posted by NoseArtGal:

I can't believe the AF let them call dudes at work... Lord.

The AF DOESN'T let them call you at work. I don't know how they justify it, but it seems like accepted practice with them. They also shouldn't be using squadron recall rosters to find new clients. Whoever gives them a copy should be shot! :mad:

[Guest NoseArtGal]

No kidding. They definitely talk like they're all establishment. And that was my perception, too. They seemed to be wired. So when I went to their dinner and heard the garble...I was just disappointed and didn't think these guys should have the benefit of Air Force resources. Do I know I don't have to buy it? Absolutely, and I didn't. But I did have to be pretty firm with them to keep them from calling me. I just get irritated when people prey on the military. Whether it's these loan sharks, pawn shops, or whoever it is...it makes me mad. Screwing over military guys is their business and while Os can recover from this stuff...the young enlisted maintainer might get sucked into it. Or the young maintainer's wife while the maintainer is deployed serving his country. Damn parasites...

[Guest kylejustin]

There's also another company out there that is called the Military Benefits Association. When I was in Tech School at Sheppard they were allowed to come to the squadron. Subsequently, I got on board and lost a some cash after I found out what a scam it was. Base legal got involved after several students made complaints and they were not allowed to come on base anymore. Just wanted to put that out there as anotherone to look out for.

[M2]

Those USPA/IRA cocksuckers came tracking me down back when I was a lieutenant, I had to finally threaten legal action against them if they didn't stop bugging me. They are annoyingly persistent bastards, mostly retired military who wrongly use that status as an ‘in’. I believe Senator Hillary Clinton was a driving force behind going after these sons of *****es, I am no fan of hers but I have to give her credit for doing the right thing in this instance.

There are plenty of legitimate investment firms out there, do your research and approach one yourself, I would strongly recommend against doing business with a group that approaches you unless you have dealt with them previously and trust them. It is your money we are talking about here…

Cheers! M²

[Guest Walter_Sobchak]

Sometime towards the end of my senior year of college when all of us soon-to-be-officers had the AETC mandated personal finance lesson, we had a guest speaker who sure enough was a First Command guy.

"Now I'm not here to pitch First Command, but I wouldn't want you to miss out on the great opportunities that First Command can offer you."

Absolute clownshoes.

[Guest HueyPilot]

I went with USPA/IRA a while back, at the urging of my parents. I guess they had a good USPA guy, but the ones I've dealt with, particularly at Maxwell, were quite pushy. Every time I got a raise, they wanted me to invest it in another fund.

I spent alot of money on my house when I moved to Alabama and wanted to reduce some of my investments later to pay off some loans, and they almost got pissed. I wound up changing the allotments myself. Hell, gotta pay off debt first!

I haven't spoken to them in a while...I guess I'm going to wait and see how the guys at Dyess are. If they are pushy like the Maxwell folks, I may change brokers.

[Scooter14]

The guy at my UPT base called a guy in my class right before we started and wanted to take us all to Pizza Hut because he was a retired IP and wanted to talk to us about flightline expectations.

He never identified himself other than his name, so I go home and call him (he'd been hounding guys in my class for a couple days and they kept bugging me about calling this dude) and the receptinist picks up the phone...

"First Command, how may we help you?"

Ohhhh, I see how it is. If he'd been up front, I would have set up the appointment and let him feed us, but the fact he never identified himself as a FC guy really pissed me off.

I started a mutual fund with them 10 years ago, and that's it. One guy in Omaha continuously called me, and it just alienated me more and more.

Listen up, kids...Starting a mutual fund IRA early is very good, having a monthly allotment to it is very goos as well, just find one of the other 894 companies out there to do it with.