Who's Guarding Your Mutual Fund Investment?

Well here's another news item I'm going to print off and use when I talk about the benefits of investment real estate. And this time it's not just about its superior financial returns. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that high-power brokerage Jefferies & Co. Inc. has agreed to pay some $9.7 million to settle regulators' charges that it illegally lavished nearly $2 million in golf trips, entertainment including a Playboy party and other gifts on Fidelity mutual fund traders in exchange for their trading business. The SEC and the National Association of Securities Dealers, the brokerage industry's self-policing organization, on Monday announced the settlements, under which two Jefferies executives also were sanctioned. Under the agreement, Jeffries neither admitted nor denied guilt. Hmmmmm. I'm sure there are several investors who placed their money with Jeffries who are mad as hornets. Mutual funds can be decent investments. And most brokers are honest. But you don't know how your broker uses your money, and you have absolutely no control over it. Well, actually, with reports like this, you kind of do get an idea how some mutual fund investments are used. Sheeeesh!