Doctors' Worst Investments Ever
You might have thought that investors had learned their lesson after losing money in the technology stock crash, when sizzling Internet companies and other high-fliers, such as Enron and WorldCom, saw their market value vaporize. It was easy for investors to get caught up in the hype back then, and physicians were no exception.
In recent years, however, many physicians have thumbed their noses at Wall Street, deciding instead to pull their money out of the stocks of faceless corporations and pour it into more tangible investments, such as local real estate and new ventures started by friends and colleagues.
However, in their haste to follow a well-intentioned tip that would fatten their investment accounts and possibly change their lives, some physicians have failed to do their homework, with painful and costly consequences.
We asked financial experts what sorts of poor investment choices their physician-clients have made, and what you can learn from them.
The "Can't Miss" Investment
In times of market turmoil, everyone seems to have an elixir -- a single investment that will revive a sagging portfolio. In many cases, the magic bullet is raw land, based on the argument that "no one's making any more of it." Although that logic is tough to contest, land is generally considered highly illiquid, meaning that it is not as easy to cash out on your investment in land as it is with, say, stocks or mutual funds.
One dermatologist learned that the hard way. She began purchasing large tracts of land near several ski towns out West, until their value made up one third of her entire investment portfolio. When the real estate market went south and she needed to raise cash to cover some debts, she was unable to sell any of the land without taking a sizable hit.
"We were forced to sell some rather promising stocks from her portfolio, at a loss," says her advisor, Matthew Kelley from Gold Medal Waters, a Boulder, Colorado, investment advisory firm. "It was a terrible time to have to sell." The dermatologist still owns all of the parcels of land some 10 years later, he adds.
Another physician-client called Kelley, ready to sink nearly $300,000 into DVD rental kiosks similar to those seen in many supermarkets, drugstores, and other high-traffic areas. Planned as a competitor to Redbox, an industry leader, the company charged investors upward of $50,000 per kiosk. The physician ordered 6 of them.
"There was no business plan, no financial statements for us to review," Kelley recalls. "[The physician] said he already owned one, and that it was 'breaking even.' Never mind that he wanted to put the new kiosks in small apartment buildings, some with as few as 10 residents. We tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen. Thankfully, the amount he spent didn't destroy or detail his retirement plan."
The lesson: Avoid investments that will not be easy to sell, especially if you expect you might need some cash in a hurry. As Kelley's dermatologist-client discovered, you might have to sell an otherwise good investment in a down market, increasing the pain of an already bad situation.
The Temptation of Real Estate
The Siren Song of Bricks and Mortar
Yes, you can make good money on real estate, if -- and only if -- you understand your local market and your timing is impeccable. However, timing the real estate market is often like trying to time the stock market, which is a fool's game, financial planners agree.
Take the middle-aged pediatrician and his wife who decided to raid their IRA accounts (worth about $450,000) and pour it all into a luxury condo, to be used primarily as a rental property, in a Florida resort town. Their advisor, Robert M. Doran from Infinity Wealth Management in Wantage, New Jersey, warned them several times against falling in love with real estate, which he felt certain was poised for a dramatic fall. The couple insisted on buying the condo anyway, reasoning that they would rent it for top dollar most of the year, when they were not using it themselves.
That was in 2007. The condo's value has dropped more than 40% since then, whereas the couple's portfolio would have gained an average of about 5% a year if they had left their money in the diversified basket of stock and bond mutual funds that Doran had set up for them. They have since earned some rental income (enough to cover the condo's annual taxes and some of the monthly maintenance fees), but the sluggish economy has depressed both property values and rental prices, making their overall income from the condo less than expected.
The lesson: Don't put all of your investment eggs in 1 basket. "Never, ever bet the ranch," Doran urges. "If you don't bet the ranch, you can't lose it."
The Financial "Partnership" With Fellow Physicians
Many well-educated professionals tend to gravitate toward investing in things that, by virtue of their training and experience, they think they know something about. Physicians are no exception, say financial planners.
For example, a cardiac surgeon invested $100,000 in a medical device company that was working on a new type of stent. His friend from medical school owned the company and "guaranteed" that investors would double their money within 5 years. "It's been 12 years, and he still hasn't seen a dime," says Karen C. Altfest, principal and executive vice president of client relations of Altfest Personal Wealth Management in New York City. "The surgeon never asked to see a business plan or a list of the major investors -- 2 things that would've helped us in evaluating the investment. I'm not sure he'll ever see anything out of it."
Altfest also relates a much more troublesome incident, involving a young physician-client who serves as the investment fiduciary for his practice's retirement plan, which covers him and a dozen employees. "He took a small chunk of everyone's money, and 75% of his own, and invested it in a tiny pharmaceutical company that has no drugs on the market and no history of being profitable, because he heard from another doctor that it was developing a 'blockbuster.' He did this without his employees' knowledge."
"It's a huge, huge gamble," says Altfest, adding that a total of $500,000 is at stake. "Needless to say, we're very uncomfortable with it."
The lesson: Know what you are investing in before you hand over your money. A financial professional can help you ask the right questions and evaluate any documents (financial statements, business plan, US Securities and Exchange Commission filings, etc) that can shed light on the investment's chances of being profitable.
The Gamble on Being Contrary
If you are one to equate Wall Street to a casino, the lure of an investment that bets against the stock market may seem like the surest way to stop a portfolio's slide. That's what a family physician thought in 2009, as he watched his portfolio sink 45% from its high. He and his advisor agreed that "bear market" or "reverse market" exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are constructed roughly like mutual funds and trade like stocks on various exchanges, would be the answer.
However, as most financial planners will tell you, trying to time the market is like trying to catch a falling knife: difficult to do and with generally ugly results. In this case, the advisor purchased "triple-leveraged" ETFs that would rise 3% in value for every 1% the corresponding index continued to fall.
Precisely the opposite happened: The markets started clawing their way back up, and the physician began losing 3% for every 1% uptick.
"He called us in a panic," recalls Kelley from Gold Medal Waters. "Actually, it was a well-diversified portfolio, containing all sizes of companies and with foreign and domestic markets represented, but the problem was everything was invested in bear market ETFs. We advised him to sell them immediately, which he did. He has since recovered a substantial portion of his losses, but still has a way to go."
The lesson: Delegate, but don't abdicate. More specifically, know what you own and ask your advisor what could go wrong with a particular investment in a worst-case scenario. Kelley offers a good analogy: "I don't expect to know everything about every drug or device that might be used in a surgery that I'm scheduled for, but I sure want to know what the possible side effects are."
Losing invested money is just as easy as making it, and it is even easier to see your money evaporate if you leap into something blindly and without exercising due diligence. If you have a financial planner or other trusted advisor, any investment pitch that sounds attractive to you is an opportunity to rely on his or her expertise. Do not make a decision without it.
Finally, the old axiom, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," would have spared any of the careless physicians mentioned in this article a big hit to the wallet. Let it be your guide as well.
(Author by Dennis G. Murray, MA)
