Robert McLaughlin Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08
Robert McLaughlin
N/A
I realize Im a little past the deadline for submitting comments, but in the interest of providing as many data points to decision-makers as possible, Id like to share some thoughts.
I have managed my own finances since I graduated from college at 21. After nearly three decades of hard work and sound investment, I retired from the rat race at 50. Surprisingly, I was able to accomplish this goal without receiving financial guidance from Kevin McCarthy or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In the wake of the stock market collapse of 2008, when my safe, professionally managed investments lost up to 50% of their value in a matter of weeks, the selective use of widely diversified leveraged ETF's like SSO were a critical part of my recovery strategy. Without them, my continued retirement would have been in jeopardy.
For those of you too young to know or too old to remember, the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 was the most serious economic calamity since the Great Depression. In large measure, it was provoked by a reckless combination of subprime mortgage loans and carefully packaged "investments" in credit default swaps, derivatives, and other financial instruments so complex that even the bankers who created them pleaded ignorance as their only defense. In other words, the worst threat to Americans' wealth since the 1930's was perpetrated by Professional investment advisors and the Funds they manage, not by the individual investors this ill-conceived proposal seeks to protect.
The changes to securities regulations now under consideration and the widespread financial carnage of 2008 have one thing in common: Neither would be possible without an Act of Congress. The judicious use of leveraged funds is often the only recourse an individual investor has at his disposal to compensate for the bureaucratic overreach of our betters in Washington. American taxpayers are not wards of the state, and it is not the role of the SEC to act in loco parentis. As a fully functioning adult, I am aware of the risks of investing in these vehicles, and I understand that markets go down as well as up. I am willing to live with the consequences my mistakes. I am not willing to live with the consequences of yours. Please stop helping me.
Robert McLaughlin Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08
I realize Im a little past the deadline for submitting comments, but in the interest of providing as many data points to decision-makers as possible, Id like to share some thoughts.
I have managed my own finances since I graduated from college at 21. After nearly three decades of hard work and sound investment, I retired from the rat race at 50. Surprisingly, I was able to accomplish this goal without receiving financial guidance from Kevin McCarthy or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In the wake of the stock market collapse of 2008, when my safe, professionally managed investments lost up to 50% of their value in a matter of weeks, the selective use of widely diversified leveraged ETF's like SSO were a critical part of my recovery strategy. Without them, my continued retirement would have been in jeopardy.
For those of you too young to know or too old to remember, the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 was the most serious economic calamity since the Great Depression. In large measure, it was provoked by a reckless combination of subprime mortgage loans and carefully packaged "investments" in credit default swaps, derivatives, and other financial instruments so complex that even the bankers who created them pleaded ignorance as their only defense. In other words, the worst threat to Americans' wealth since the 1930's was perpetrated by Professional investment advisors and the Funds they manage, not by the individual investors this ill-conceived proposal seeks to protect.
The changes to securities regulations now under consideration and the widespread financial carnage of 2008 have one thing in common: Neither would be possible without an Act of Congress. The judicious use of leveraged funds is often the only recourse an individual investor has at his disposal to compensate for the bureaucratic overreach of our betters in Washington. American taxpayers are not wards of the state, and it is not the role of the SEC to act in loco parentis. As a fully functioning adult, I am aware of the risks of investing in these vehicles, and I understand that markets go down as well as up. I am willing to live with the consequences my mistakes. I am not willing to live with the consequences of yours. Please stop helping me.