Ethics Edge - August 2007

Help Your Clients Build Their Investing Knowledge

NEB has formed an arrangement with WallStreet University in which clients of NEB members can purchase discounted investor education. Clients of NEB Members get 55% off.

WallStreet University is an institution trusted by partners such as Standard & Poor’s, Lipper, Insurance Information Institute, Thompson Learning, Rutgers University, and others. It empowers individual consumers and business executives to take charge of their finances through enhanced investment | Continued »

NEB Partners with ProducersWEB.com to Launch New TrendWatch Podcast Series.

SAN DIEGO, CA, September 24, 2007—To help financial professionals benefit from emerging industry trends, National Ethics Bureau (NEB) has partnered with ProducersWEB.com to produce a new podcast series entitled Trendwatch. The podcast series will be available on ProducersWEB.com.

Hosted by NEB Chairman Steven R. McCarty and NEB President Jeff | Continued »

The National Ethics Bureau™ (NEB) is a membership organization of financial professionals who have successfully passed a comprehensive seven-year background check and have agreed to maintain NEB membership standards. All members are admitted into NEB’s national registry, which consumers can access free of charge to verify a member’s background.

NEB also advocates for business ethics and consumer protection through its trade-magazine columns, conference presentations, consumer guides, monthly Ethics Edge newsletter, and web site ethicscheck.com.

NEB is not a financial marketing organization. It does not sell or endorse any financial products. Nor does it receive financial considerations from its members or other entities who sell such products.

NEW: Monthly podcast that features interviews with top industry experts on current trends in the financial Services Industry.

Click here to register...

	Consumers at Risk from Unregulated Private- Equity IPOs
September 2007
Private equity and hedge funds firms have unleashed eye-popping wealth for their owners. But financial advisors should warn their high-net-worth-clients not to assume these wealth-generating engines will enhance their wealth should they participate in a private-equity or hedge-fund initial public offering. The problem is their fee structures and lack of full disclosure obscure real returns, says Joseph Borg, President of the North American Securities Administrators Association. \| Continued »

	Who Owns You, Cowboy?
	Many insurance and financial advisors savor their independence. That’s why captive agents often go independent as their skill, knowledge, and client list grow. But even as a free agent—a lone cowboy or cowgirl—how independent are you really? Are you subject to the influences of other entities in your professional life? Do you let those influences affect your decisions—and your ethics? Do you let them call all the shots?
And most important, can you truly be an independent and unbiased professional when your hide is branded by industry “ranchers” with huge stakes in your success, but little ownership of your mistakes?

Maybe these questions are quaint. After all, the days of the open range and noble cowboy are long past. \| Continued »

Use NEB Brochures to Build Good Will
As a financial professional, you have a unique opportunity to educate your clients about their insurance or financial needs.. NEB’s consumer protection guides are a great vehicle to this end. Here are some ideas for using them in your \| Continued »

	Listen and Learn
	Ethics isn’t something you learn from a book. You learn it by living—by making tough choices and by listening to people who’ve lived longer than you. NEB Member Evan Beecham is a perfect case in point. Before entering financial services full time in 1993, Beecham worked for the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, eventually becoming captain of the county jail. He stayed in law enforcement for 12 years, where he learned a tremendous amount about ethics, especially from the lieutenant he worked under early in his career. “He taught me to mean what you say and say what you mean, to keep your word, and to be honest,” Beecham says.
While he was still in law enforcement, Beecham also worked as pastor of a church. \| Continued » Become NEB's next Member of the Month! (click here)