August 30, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode, Chris Markowski discusses the current financial landscape, emphasizing the importance of understanding economic realities and the need for proactive wealth management. He introduces new initiatives at Markowski Investments aimed at providing positive news and life hacks for younger clients. The conversation delves into the philosophy of wealth building, critiques of private equity investments, and the ethical considerations of Wall Street practices. Chris encourages listeners to ask critical questions about their investments and to be cautious with alternative assets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Well, no one authored investment banker, consumer advocate, handalyst, trader
Chris Markowski. He is the watchdog Wall Street. Do you
want to answer exposing the lines and myths that the
big brokerage firms, the mainstream press, and the government are
pushing to keep Americans away from financial freedom.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You can't handle the true.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Bringing America the truth about what really happens in the
financial world.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political
and economic reality.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
This is the watchdog on Wall Streets.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
All right, welcome everybody, and the uh unofficial last weekend
of the summer. You know, I reside in the great
state of Florida, so it just kind of just keeps
rolling on for us.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Anyway.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, a lot of people all fired up college football
back yet pro football the week after.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's been quite the summer.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
We've been very, very busy at Markowski Investments quite the year,
and it's got a couple quick little announcements I'd like
to make. We've been we're adding more stuff for you.
I mentioned this briefly a couple of weeks ago, and
I think this weekend with some of the stories that
came down the pike this week, and we'll be addressing
(01:30):
them that we're just awful. We're gonna be adding this
is gonna be within the next two weeks. We're gonna
have a new section up at Watchdog on Wall Street
dot com. People that obviously listen to the show, listen
to our podcast. I'm gonna be doing a whole not
another podcast, but I'm gonna be doing specific stories in
(01:53):
regards to greatness and people doing wonderful things.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
We get so inundated with bad whose all the time.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I want to have I want to have a spot
there at Watchdog on Wall Street where it's going to
be nothing nothing with great stories, business owners doing various
different things, heroic acts, all sorts of stuff. And we're
gonna do another section as well, where it's going to
be called life Hacks. We're getting a lot more younger
(02:23):
users listeners here and a lot of younger clients are
coming in and they asked me advice on various different
things on building a business, getting ahead, and it's going to.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Be a whole life Hacks section as well.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I have just started on our next book, which is
going to be hopefully i'll get it out by next fall.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I'm going through thousands and thousands and thousands of paces
of material broadcasts. It's gonna be kind of our story
of Markowski Investments and how we built this business over
thirty years.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So it's a lot putting that all together.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Looking forward to that and this week I'm actually going
to be taken off. A little bit later we are
opening our first office in Italy. So got that going on,
got all these new office, a lot of great, great
things happening here at Markowski Investments, and it's all here
to serve you. Again, most important thing I do, I
(03:20):
think the entire week, as far as this business is concerned,
is my job, as far as the Markowski Brothers are concerned,
is trying to try my best, try my best to
bring you the truth about what's really happening on the ground.
I talked about this new listeners to the program, you're
(03:41):
constantly inundated by sales, pitches, narratives that are being pushed
on you, and our job here is to dispel all that.
And again some of the things that we talk about
here on the program. Again it's going to be upsetting
to certain people. I tell people all the time. They said,
you do not pledge allegiance to a political party, You
(04:04):
don't pledge allegiance to any politician. In my humble opinion,
you know, I follow the Lord, and that's what always
drives us and everything that we do. We're equal opportunity
bashers here on the program. Again, I have to repeat
that again and again and again because some people are.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Like, oh, you always going after Trump.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I said, I voted for him with my first choice.
But I voted for him. Shouldn't I be able to
criticize some of the things that he's doing. This conversation
in the way into the studio today, Uh, talking about
you know, my philosophy. You know these that word liberal
(04:48):
and liberal today doesn't mean what it used to be.
I'm I'm a I'm a libertarian. Yeah, I'm a Thomas Massey, Ran,
Paul Ron, Paul Guy. I believe in the United States Constitution.
I believe in the free market. I believe in capitalism.
(05:08):
I believe in the power of the individual. One of
the things I get across again and again and again
here everyone should be every day you want to you
want to wake up and you want your life to
be about building creating, protecting, and teaching.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Each and every one of us.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And I say this again again God has given us
unique talents and abilities.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's not all the same, not all the same. Yet
I would love to.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Have been playing outfield for the New York Yankees or
middle linebacker for the New York Giants.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So just think guy didn't get it. The Bestowo's talents
on me. It is what it is. It's okay.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I understand that you're you're here for a purpose and
you go out every day and you try to do
your best to cultivate those talents and abilities that have
been given to you. And again that that gets down
to our entire philosophy at Markowski Investments.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So I said this.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think I talked about this last week the week
before here in the program. I hate I don't like.
You're a financial planner. Financial planning.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I can't. I don't like that phrase.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I don't like it all because it's not really what
we do. We prep people is what we do. We
prep people. Again, you don't know what's gonna be around
the corner. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
You don't know what opportunity, what opportunity is going to
present itself. Quick story on that. I got about a month.
(06:49):
I gotta I gotta think of something to buy my wife.
It's gonna be our twenty fifth wedding anniversary. And when
I met my my wife, I wasn't again I had was.
We were building up markowski investments as my brothers and
I and I am not dating.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I am just going to work, work, work, work, work, work, work,
no way, no how.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Sure enough, I'm out at a business dinner meeting and uh,
one of my wife's friends found a way to get
my future wife and me together. But you don't know,
I said, you want to make God laugh, tell of
your plans. You don't know what's going to be around
(07:36):
the corner. And this is what we do. This is
why you need to build wealth, to prep to not
not encumber yourself with You know, I'm going to retire
at sixty two. I'm going to retire at this age.
You know, you don't set up wife that way. You
take it as it comes, You take every day as
it comes. You do that, you do that, You're gonna
(08:01):
you're gonna live a really fulfilled life. You go into
things with your eyes open. That that line that I've
used here before on the program from Coach Taylor Friday
night Lights, clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Is it wrong? Is it wrong? Now again?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
This is this is what it's all about for us.
But anyway, anyway, I get off the beat track here
we have to talk. I gotta talk. You don't start
off today. We're gonna talk a little bit about money.
As far as money and valuations and the Federal Reserve
and what Jay Powell said at the the big the
big meeting there at Jackson Hole.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, well, you know, we'll do the FED first.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Basically, this line by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve
says it all risks in inflation are tilted to the upside,
risks to employment are tilted to the downside.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
That's what that is. But he just said stagflation. Stagflation. Thanks, Jay,
tell me something we don't know already. We we've been
putting together portfolios here've been putting together portfolios for some
time in complete in a completely contrarian way to the
(09:33):
way the rest of the industry has been doing things.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
That's that's why we've killed it.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
This is why all these other advisors out there have stumbled,
and I go off with not all okay, but many Okay.
I know some great advisors out there. They tend to
manage very very wealthy people's money. And they know this too.
What you know a lot of advisors do is they
(10:03):
just they do what they're they're told to do by
the company. What's safe, nothing wrong, what's safe, but it's
what's safe for them, what's better for them, So they
don't really have to work sixty forty portfolio as what
they've been pushing on people for decades. Sixty percent stocks
forty percent bonds. As you get older, you increase the
(10:25):
bond position rather than the stock position. Why don't you
take a look at how that portfolio has performed? Awful
awful And it's easy for those advisors because everyone's doing it.
Everyone's doing you know, it's the same thing happens in
(10:45):
sports as well. You know, one coach starts doing something successful,
everyone in the entire league wants to start emulating that.
They all do it. And you take a look at
the value of money. Over the past thirty years, you've
lost fifty four percent of your buying power, fifty four
(11:07):
percent of your buying power. Think about that for a second.
If your money is not working for you, if you
your money is not I always think about it. Those
old I guess I like doing them. I like doing
the old nineteen seventies Arnold Schwarzenegger type workouts.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I go to the gym. It's just it's all work.
You're going hard all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
You're not on the phone, you're not discussing anything, you're
not resting. No, you're just going. You're super setting, You're
busting it. That's how your portfolio needs to be working
for you all the time. Because this is this is
the reality.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
US debt the surge to one hundred and twenty percent
of GDP as federal deficits spiral over the next decade.
Over the last forty forty eight days, the US federal
debt has surged by a trillion dollars. A trillion dollars.
(12:16):
You take a look at the money supply right now,
that is pretty close to all time highs.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Print print, print, print prints. I know, I know what
the powers that be are telling.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You all this terriff revenue is gonna solve all of
our problems, that everything is gonna be Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
No, it's not Steve Miron, who the President wants to
put in at the FED. He basically he wants to
he wants to drive the value of the dollar down,
and he's written papers on this and again, this is
why you better have your money working for you.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
You better have your money worked for Again.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's and it's plain as day to anyone that actually
pays bills, that takes a look at the difference in
grocery prices. I get into this sometimes when I get
into debates certain radio programs out there and they're like, well,
you know, the Secretary Secretary Treasury said that there's little
no inflation out there, and Howard Lutnick said this, And
(13:16):
I said, you know what, tell me a favor. Okay,
go on your phone and look at your Amazon app
or your Walmart app and tell me what the difference
do You tell me that you're not paying a hell
of a lot more and groceries and everyday items because
you are.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
We all are. Okay. I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I don't like it, but for lack of a better phrase,
it is what it is. It is what it is.
I've railed against it. I've railed against Democrats, I've railed
against Republicans.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Same thing.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Spend spend, spend, print print print, value of your dollar
continues drop. Do you think it's gonna change? I hope
it does. That would be fantastic if it does. If
you know we can become fiscally say hey, maybe go
back to the sixty forty portfolio.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
But you can't. You can't.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
We operate what we do as so as I talk about,
you know, get to our website, sign up for our
personal CFO program.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's what we are.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
We're your family's chief financial officer. We are your family's
chief financial officer. This is what we're here to do.
When I mentioned earlier, you want to be able to
take advantage of the opportunities that they present them to
you throughout life. So you better be prepping. You better
be preparing. You better be dollar cost averaging, you better
(14:49):
have your money working for you. That's where we come in,
and again we differentiate ourselves from everyone else is because
guess what we help everyone.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We never tell anyone no.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
We don't have a bouncer at the door with an
earpiece saying I don't know, you don't have ten million dollars.
You can't work with the Markowski brothers. That was always
our business model from the get go. I don't know
that's advisors.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
They don't want to do with it. They want to deal
with it.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
They only want to deal with really, really wealthy people.
They want to go out golf and they want to
do stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I don't golf. I don't have time. I don't have
time to go do it. All this stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I've got way, way, way too many clients, and we
continue to bring them in. My time is spent with them.
This is what we're here for. This is this is
why PEP Pertennis. This is why we have the highest
client retention rate in the industry. It's why clients continue
to pour in from all over the country. We're here
to help. Get to our website, Watchdog on Wall Street
(15:54):
dot com, Sign up for our personal CFO program, sign
up for our news do.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Your home work on me.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Go back and read my columns which have been up
there for over.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Thirty years dating back.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Listen to our podcast see what we are all about
Watchdog on Wall Street dot com, or give us a
call eight.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Hundred four seven to one fifty nine eighty four. I
don't want to give you one.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
No, I don't want to lead you awere, No wanna
know what you should believe in? Math not magic.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You're listening to the Watchdog in Wall Street with Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I'm guessing Morris day in the time. I just think
this says we welcome back.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
It is, uh, Chris Markowski, your watchdog on Wall Street.
So I got a phone call from my brother Matthew,
and he said, Chris, you know people are calling up
asking questions. You know, the private equity been talking about
it on the radio show, and you know, because we
deal with with private equities. But as you've been listening
to this program, we've been hammering them. I hammer them
(17:11):
as well. When I started laughing, I said, you know,
I got to do a better job here on the
program in making myself very very clear. Okay, we have
go back, I said, go back prior to this radio show.
Radio has been out for twenty five years. Go back
prior to the radio show. Go back to the nineteen nineties. Okay,
I was the guy on TV warning you. I was
(17:34):
the guy on the radio warning you about what was
going to happen with the dot coms. I was a
guy who wrote an article about Enron telling you something's
not right here. I don't get it. I don't get again.
I've I've explained this before. That's from the movie Big.
Remember Tom Hanks is sitting He's sitting in that meeting
(17:56):
with all the executives there and they're showing the new
toy and me He's like, he's an adult, but he's
a kid.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Raises his hand and he says, I don't get it.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
That phrase I don't get it has saved my clients
millions upon millions upon millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I don't get it.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Countless examples over the years, a lot of things we
just didn't get anyway. Anyway, private equity has become all
the rage, all the rage, all of these private equity
companies being set up, all of them because again, they
print money, as far as fees are concerned, they do.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
This is not my first rodeo.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I saw the same exact thing happen post two thousand
really took off with hedge funds. I can't even go
back to the nineteen nineties. Back to the nineteen nineties,
there was a guy working at the firm I was
working at, and he wasn't the sharpest tack in the
box by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
He used to stay this all the time. So I
want to get out of here.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I want to own a Ferrari and I want to
have a hedge fund. And he did. He did, you know,
you're too late driving around Afari. He was running a
hedge fund. And I guess he ended up going to
jail because he lost everybody and ripped everybody off.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
And I was back in the day, I was saying,
wait a.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Second, they have all these hedge fund you know how
they performed over the course of the year, like a
batting average for them, all the entire universe. The funny
thing is, though they eliminated and when they put out
those those performance reports, all of the funds that went
out of business, imagine what your batting average would be
if you know they they were eliminated.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
All the days you.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Went, oh for four over five. That's basically what it
equated to. One scam after another. However, there were some
good ones. They're just few and far between. What we're
dealing with right now, what we're dealing with at Markowski
Investments is this gigantic push, this gigantic push by Wall
(20:10):
Street to sell alternative investments. Alternative investments, that's private equity
stuff to the masses. Again, this is not my first rodeo.
I've seen this before. This is a game of demonic
musical chairs. Gotta take a break. I will explain further.
(20:33):
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com
is our site again. Become a part of our family,
the Watchdog and Wall Street family, our personal CFO program.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
We'll be back.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Bringing America freedom, one listener at a time. You're listening
to The Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Bob Seger to me, Quintessential, Quintessential summertime music, Bob Seger,
Silver Bullet Band, I Doobie Brothers as well.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Anyway, welcome back everybody. All Right, We're gonna go to
delve deeper into this. I'm gonna try try to explain
this to everybody because something wicked this way comes. If
someone asked me to say, you know, as far as
you're acumen when it comes to investing, or what has
(21:39):
made you so successful and protecting your clients and building wealth.
I listen, I'm not a mathematical genius by any stretch
of the imagination. My brother Matthew, on the other hand,
that's a different story. He manages and structures portfolios. He
was a mathematics major at NESCAC School. Hamilton's smart kid. Okay,
(22:00):
kids fifty but anyway, neither here nor there. I guess
my biggest attribute is again my BS meter. I can
take a look at something and I can know my
fraud meter goes off and again. People been listening to
(22:21):
this program know that right now, right now, or what
we've been seeing. I'm watching these private equity companies buying
up businesses, whether it be veterinary clinics, whether it be
HVAC companies, whether it be accounting firms, whether it be
(22:41):
investment firms, at valuations that make no.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Sense what soever.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Now, what they eventually have to do is they have
to sell those assets at an even higher price. They're
having a very difficult time doing that, very difficult time
doing that. Spoke to gentlemen today, you know the other one,
Oh yeah, guy, private everything is that they're winding a
(23:10):
thing down. They're trying to get me out. I can't
get out. The big investment firms out there. They want
to sell these products, they want to sell these products
because they're making a fortune when they sell them. The
commissions are very, very high. Now, I continue to rip
into private equity funds all the time here because I
(23:32):
know it's gonna happen. They're now trying to push this
into people's for a one case. Now, the amount of
work time and effort that we at Markowski Investments put
into analyzing anything that we put into our clients accounts,
in particular private equity, you're not going to be able
(23:54):
to do. The average investor is not going to be
able to do. I almost threw up in my mouth
this past week. This is the type of power that
Wall Street has. You've got a block of Republicans, block
of Republicans that this past week and again they obviously
got checks, they obviously collected checks on this that want
(24:15):
to allow what they're calling a safe harbor rule for
private equity and four to one case, basically giving.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
All of these four to one.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
K companies a get out of jail free card if
anybody loses a ton of money and these private equity
companies blow up in people's four to one case.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I'm not kidding here, you go. It is a get
out of jail free card.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Joe Biden did the same thing for all of the companies.
Remember all of the DEI investment funds and all that
crap that were we told you was absolute garbage.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
He did the same thing for them. But here you go.
You got a group of Republicans.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
You got Steve Dames, Means, Jim Banks, Katie Britt, Bill Cassidy,
Bill Haggerty, Cynthia Loomis, Bernie Marino, Mullen Schmidt, all.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
These guys they signed off. So basically, it's.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
You know, any any four to one K company out
there that provides four to one k's, you sign up
at your office. They can stick whatever piece of garbage
private equity fund in there, and you're you think you're
you're you're.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Oh Jesus, which is alternative investments. This is what rich
people do. Oh this is gonna be.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Great, and it can blow up and they're not going
to be held responsible. Well again again, I'm a big
believer in personal responsibility. Okay, and this is I'm addressing
this to anybody out there. Again, they haven't started going
into these four one k's yet, but if they do, Okay,
I strongly suggest before you put anything into your four
(25:53):
one K when it comes to alternatives, is you contact us,
We'll let you know something is legit or not. That
has been an open ended invitation for everyone, anybody who
listens to this program, anybody who listens to my podcast.
(26:14):
We have saved countless people from doing god awful things
with their money, and granted, a lot of people have
chosen not to listen to what we've told them. People,
I'm warning you, I'm warning you. Okay, there's some really
(26:34):
good ones out there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
There are.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Again, we deal with them that we deal with them,
and they're used in a specific way, in a specific manner,
based upon that individual's situation. They are not for everyone.
They make that clear. They're not for everyone. I did
the same rant about bloody annuities for crying out loud,
you've got all those damnuities salesman, the insurance guys out there,
(27:00):
Oh will you nuts, No, it's not for everyone. In fact,
more often than not, it's the absolute worst thing that
people can do with their money. You know how many
times we're trying to get people out of annuity contracts
that weren't sold properly by some ned Ryerson Insurance salesman
(27:21):
member Neino knows Red Neo knows ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Feel feel Connors.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
You have to know the difference people, and that's what
we're here for. We're gonna take a quick break, We're
gonna get back. I'm gonna give you some questions you
need to ask if someone is presenting you.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
The great opportunity to buy into private equity.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com, Watchdog on Wall street dot Com.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
We'll be back ticking Wall streets. Liars, crooks, and sheets
out behind the woodshed. You're listening to the Watchdog on
(28:12):
Wall Streets.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Now pay close attention.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Okay, not every not every alternative asset is bad. Say
it again, not every alternative asset is bad. But if
man you I'm not a gambling man. If somebody were
(28:39):
to ask me, you know how many you know, what
many percentage do you think, Chris, or you know these
these private equity coveries, what percentage do you think are
actually any good? I'd say it no more than two percent.
Now think about that, no more than two And think
(29:03):
about the accuracy that I had when it came to
the dot COM's. Think about the accuracy that we had
when it came to the whole mortgage crisis, telling everybody
exactly what was going to happen, hedge funds, you name it.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
More recently, all of the disruptor companies. Okay, how'd that
work out? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
About two percent? So you need to tread very very careful.
Here are some questions. Okay, but it's actually Jason's wide
Wall Street Journal. He's a great finance reporter. Put some
of these together. I want to share these with you
major institutions. These are questions you need to ask, need
(29:48):
to ask of your advisor. And again, I'm going to
put this together as well in a newsletter column and
you can sign up for our newsletter at Watchdog on
Wallstreet dot com. Giant institutions, some colleges and university endowments, whatnot.
They have all sort of They got experts, top men,
years of experience in selecting and monitoring alternative assets. Even so,
(30:12):
their performance has oftentimes been disappointing.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
What do you know that they don't? By some measure?
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Another questionnaire, private equity is even more expensive than publicly
traded stocks. Aside from past performance, which isn't predictive, Why
should I believe that this fund is likely to offer
superior return.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Another question.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
ETFs carry an annual expense as low as point zero
three percent. The typical alternative fund charges fees of around
two percent, roughly seventy times more. Some charge at least
two hundred times more. Why do you think this fund
is worth seventy times more than an et From two
(31:02):
thousand and eight to two thousand and two, alternative funds
benefited from being able to leverage returns with borrowed money
at extraordinarily low rates. With interest rates higher, won't future
returns be lower? Private equity funds are sitting on tens
of thousands of companies they can't sell. Why should I buy?
(31:22):
If I need to get my money out? How long
will I have to wait? And what will it cost me?
And do you earn any additional compensation for your recommendation?
Ask those questions. We're here to help. Ask us watchdogomallstreet
dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
We'll be back.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street. This is
(32:02):
the watchdog on Wall Streets.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Yeah, it's it's amazing to me.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Again, I've been I've been doing this for so long,
been covering ripoffs and scams, trying to trying to help
people out and we explain to you again, one way
to protect yourself is to understand understand that everything in
life that has meaning, value and worth involves work, time
(32:35):
and effort. There are Yeah, I played this before. There's
different types of people in the world. And I've also
talked about what is legal and what is right. Just
because something is legal in this world, and most importantly,
especially when it comes to Wall Street, doesn't make it right.
(32:57):
This is why my brothers and I left the big firms.
Our philosophy does not jibe, does not jibe with Wall
Street at all at all. We put our clients first.
They put their company's bottom line first. And again, a
lot of these companies, they're all publicly traded. They're publicly
(33:19):
traded and the CEO of the company has a fiduciary
duty to the shareholders. You are just a number. Oh,
they presented to you like they're there to take care
of you. But come on, man. And one of the
interesting things. I got some stories I'm gonna go through today.
I got nauseous when I read some of them because
again I've been reporting on this, warning people about this,
(33:42):
and again they still exist. Yeah, I'm gonna kind of
put this in sports terms, when I coach a team,
I coach a team and I got a player on
the lacrosse field. Okay, you're not familiar with the game
of lacrosse. It's it's awesome first and foremost. You know,
it's an athletic game, physical game.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Kind of like basketball.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
If one of my players, one of my players on
my team just absolutely takes the ball, runs right past
somebody scores piece of cake.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Okay. I'm not big on place. I'm not.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I'm big on the kids learning to play and move
off ball, all sorts of stuff. I'm gonna come down.
I'm gonna say, do it again. Okay, keep doing it
until they stop it.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Same thing in football. He watch a football game.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
It was sending to the thought process behind somebody's coaches
running backs like rattle on off four or five six
yards of carry. Uh, just keep giving a ball, keep
giving a bolt so they actually stop that play.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Well, wall Street does the same thing.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
They're gonna keep running the same scam again and again
and again until you wise it up and you stop
buying it. I couldn't believe this one again. It's extraordinary
to me. You got Chalamuth Papatilla Okay, he is the
spack king special purpose acquisition Companies. And again, who warned
(35:01):
you about these things just a couple of years ago. Yeah,
that was us, That was us. He is doing another one.
He's doing another spack And I'm pulling my hair out
here with this thing. If you take a look at
(35:22):
the performance of his other SPACs, one down ninety eight percent,
another one down sixty eight percent, another one down seventy
three percent, another one ninety down ninety five percent, another
one down seventy six percent.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
What are you doing? What are you doing? It's funny thing,
you know.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
And he's calling this fund, he's calling it the American
Exceptionalism Acquisition Company. And he actually put he actually put
I've reported on this spot. I have to do it
again because it blows my mind. Okay, he actually put
in this that Hey, uh, if you do lose your
entire tire capital everything you put into it, Uh, they
(36:06):
will embody the saying from President Trump that there can
be no crying in the casino. Now again, after seeing that,
then you decide to put money into that again, whatever
happens to you again, I remember Quint from Jaws. There
cage go in the water you go into cage shock
in the water, just singing fair well and.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Adue to the affair.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Spanish ladies said again, you get what you deserve from
that one file this one under U day Traders, Day
Traders in Forrest Gump. It's a line from Forrest Gump.
Stupid is as stupid does. I'm sorry, sorry, It not
nice to call people stupid. Come on at some point
(36:53):
in time, Okay, you gotta look yourself in the mirror
and say.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Boy, that was stupid. Boy, I am stupid. I can't
I do that. It's liberating to do it own it.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
There's a story said to me, this person's going off
on he read I's following some online trader social media
by the name of Edwin Dorsey and mentioned to go
short sell short a bunch of these companies. And the
things went in the opposite direction and he got wiped out.
(37:24):
He got squeezed. But it was only I already did
ten percent of my portfolio. Yeah, but what happens if
the thing goes to the moon. You still have to
pay the shares back. That's the risk that you've got
with shorting wiped out his entire portfolio, and I look
at these things, and I say to myself, and he's
shorting like small companies, tiny companies, And I'm like, why
(37:48):
why you think you can play that game. You think
that you can trade with the big boys. You think
you have that type of capital. You don't think that
they can see what you're up to on screens and
wipe you out.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
They can move market, especially when it's small floats.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
I used to watch this happen all the time, also
with currency traders as well.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Are you are you crazy? Oh oh, you're so smart.
You got your little Robinhood account.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
You got these small little companies that you read online
that are gonna go down, so you start shortening.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Them, and then you're gonna get your head taken off.
Use your head.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
People, do things the right way, build wealth over time,
don't look for short cuts. This story as well, JP Morgan,
I gotta pay three hundred and thirty million dollars fine,
I mean report on this is going back to like
two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, the one
(38:46):
MDB scandal, and it was ongoing. I think Goldman Sachs paid.
I don't like four or five billion dollars. Why do
I bring this up because again this doesn't really even
make the news. I bring this up because you know
who you're dealing with, Okay, JP, Morgan, Goldman, Sachs, Merrill, Lynch,
Morgan Stanley are too big to fail. They're omnipotent. They
(39:09):
can do whatever they want, whatever they.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Want, and nothing's gonna happen to them. Is that somebody
you want managing your money?
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Just ask him.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Watch Dog on wallstreet dot com. Watch Dog on.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Wallstreet dot com, our personal CFO program.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Don't go anywhere, We'll be back.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Chris Markowski is the watchdog of Wall Streets
Well, no one authored investment banker, consumer advocate, handalyst, trader
Chris Markowski. He is the watchdog Wall Street. Do you
want to answer exposing the lines and myths that the
big brokerage firms, the mainstream press, and the government are
pushing to keep Americans away from financial freedom.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You can't handle the true.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Bringing America the truth about what really happens in the
financial world.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political
and economic reality.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
This is the watchdog on Wall Streets.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
All right, welcome everybody, and the uh unofficial last weekend
of the summer. You know, I reside in the great
state of Florida, so it just kind of just keeps
rolling on for us.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Anyway.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, a lot of people all fired up college football
back yet pro football the week after.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's been quite the summer.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
We've been very, very busy at Markowski Investments quite the year,
and it's got a couple quick little announcements I'd like
to make. We've been we're adding more stuff for you.
I mentioned this briefly a couple of weeks ago, and
I think this weekend with some of the stories that
came down the pike this week, and we'll be addressing
(01:30):
them that we're just awful. We're gonna be adding this
is gonna be within the next two weeks. We're gonna
have a new section up at Watchdog on Wall Street
dot com. People that obviously listen to the show, listen
to our podcast. I'm gonna be doing a whole not
another podcast, but I'm gonna be doing specific stories in
(01:53):
regards to greatness and people doing wonderful things.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
We get so inundated with bad whose all the time.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I want to have I want to have a spot
there at Watchdog on Wall Street where it's going to
be nothing nothing with great stories, business owners doing various
different things, heroic acts, all sorts of stuff. And we're
gonna do another section as well, where it's going to
be called life Hacks. We're getting a lot more younger
(02:23):
users listeners here and a lot of younger clients are
coming in and they asked me advice on various different
things on building a business, getting ahead, and it's going to.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Be a whole life Hacks section as well.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I have just started on our next book, which is
going to be hopefully i'll get it out by next fall.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I'm going through thousands and thousands and thousands of paces
of material broadcasts. It's gonna be kind of our story
of Markowski Investments and how we built this business over
thirty years.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So it's a lot putting that all together.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Looking forward to that and this week I'm actually going
to be taken off. A little bit later we are
opening our first office in Italy. So got that going on,
got all these new office, a lot of great, great
things happening here at Markowski Investments, and it's all here
to serve you. Again, most important thing I do, I
(03:20):
think the entire week, as far as this business is concerned,
is my job, as far as the Markowski Brothers are concerned,
is trying to try my best, try my best to
bring you the truth about what's really happening on the ground.
I talked about this new listeners to the program, you're
(03:41):
constantly inundated by sales, pitches, narratives that are being pushed
on you, and our job here is to dispel all that.
And again some of the things that we talk about
here on the program. Again it's going to be upsetting
to certain people. I tell people all the time. They said,
you do not pledge allegiance to a political party, You
(04:04):
don't pledge allegiance to any politician. In my humble opinion,
you know, I follow the Lord, and that's what always
drives us and everything that we do. We're equal opportunity
bashers here on the program. Again, I have to repeat
that again and again and again because some people are.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Like, oh, you always going after Trump.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I said, I voted for him with my first choice.
But I voted for him. Shouldn't I be able to
criticize some of the things that he's doing. This conversation
in the way into the studio today, Uh, talking about
you know, my philosophy. You know these that word liberal
(04:48):
and liberal today doesn't mean what it used to be.
I'm I'm a I'm a libertarian. Yeah, I'm a Thomas Massey, Ran,
Paul Ron, Paul Guy. I believe in the United States Constitution.
I believe in the free market. I believe in capitalism.
(05:08):
I believe in the power of the individual. One of
the things I get across again and again and again
here everyone should be every day you want to you
want to wake up and you want your life to
be about building creating, protecting, and teaching.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Each and every one of us.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And I say this again again God has given us
unique talents and abilities.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's not all the same, not all the same. Yet
I would love to.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Have been playing outfield for the New York Yankees or
middle linebacker for the New York Giants.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So just think guy didn't get it. The Bestowo's talents
on me. It is what it is. It's okay.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I understand that you're you're here for a purpose and
you go out every day and you try to do
your best to cultivate those talents and abilities that have
been given to you. And again that that gets down
to our entire philosophy at Markowski Investments.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So I said this.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think I talked about this last week the week
before here in the program. I hate I don't like.
You're a financial planner. Financial planning.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I can't. I don't like that phrase.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I don't like it all because it's not really what
we do. We prep people is what we do. We
prep people. Again, you don't know what's gonna be around
the corner. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
You don't know what opportunity, what opportunity is going to
present itself. Quick story on that. I got about a month.
(06:49):
I gotta I gotta think of something to buy my wife.
It's gonna be our twenty fifth wedding anniversary. And when
I met my my wife, I wasn't again I had was.
We were building up markowski investments as my brothers and
I and I am not dating.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I am just going to work, work, work, work, work, work, work,
no way, no how.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Sure enough, I'm out at a business dinner meeting and uh,
one of my wife's friends found a way to get
my future wife and me together. But you don't know,
I said, you want to make God laugh, tell of
your plans. You don't know what's going to be around
(07:36):
the corner. And this is what we do. This is
why you need to build wealth, to prep to not
not encumber yourself with You know, I'm going to retire
at sixty two. I'm going to retire at this age.
You know, you don't set up wife that way. You
take it as it comes, You take every day as
it comes. You do that, you do that, You're gonna
(08:01):
you're gonna live a really fulfilled life. You go into
things with your eyes open. That that line that I've
used here before on the program from Coach Taylor Friday
night Lights, clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Is it wrong? Is it wrong? Now again?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
This is this is what it's all about for us.
But anyway, anyway, I get off the beat track here
we have to talk. I gotta talk. You don't start
off today. We're gonna talk a little bit about money.
As far as money and valuations and the Federal Reserve
and what Jay Powell said at the the big the
big meeting there at Jackson Hole.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, well, you know, we'll do the FED first.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Basically, this line by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve
says it all risks in inflation are tilted to the upside,
risks to employment are tilted to the downside.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
That's what that is. But he just said stagflation. Stagflation. Thanks, Jay,
tell me something we don't know already. We we've been
putting together portfolios here've been putting together portfolios for some
time in complete in a completely contrarian way to the
(09:33):
way the rest of the industry has been doing things.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
That's that's why we've killed it.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
This is why all these other advisors out there have stumbled,
and I go off with not all okay, but many Okay.
I know some great advisors out there. They tend to
manage very very wealthy people's money. And they know this too.
What you know a lot of advisors do is they
(10:03):
just they do what they're they're told to do by
the company. What's safe, nothing wrong, what's safe, but it's
what's safe for them, what's better for them, So they
don't really have to work sixty forty portfolio as what
they've been pushing on people for decades. Sixty percent stocks
forty percent bonds. As you get older, you increase the
(10:25):
bond position rather than the stock position. Why don't you
take a look at how that portfolio has performed? Awful
awful And it's easy for those advisors because everyone's doing it.
Everyone's doing you know, it's the same thing happens in
(10:45):
sports as well. You know, one coach starts doing something successful,
everyone in the entire league wants to start emulating that.
They all do it. And you take a look at
the value of money. Over the past thirty years, you've
lost fifty four percent of your buying power, fifty four
(11:07):
percent of your buying power. Think about that for a second.
If your money is not working for you, if you
your money is not I always think about it. Those
old I guess I like doing them. I like doing
the old nineteen seventies Arnold Schwarzenegger type workouts.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I go to the gym. It's just it's all work.
You're going hard all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
You're not on the phone, you're not discussing anything, you're
not resting. No, you're just going. You're super setting, You're
busting it. That's how your portfolio needs to be working
for you all the time. Because this is this is
the reality.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
US debt the surge to one hundred and twenty percent
of GDP as federal deficits spiral over the next decade.
Over the last forty forty eight days, the US federal
debt has surged by a trillion dollars. A trillion dollars.
(12:16):
You take a look at the money supply right now,
that is pretty close to all time highs.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Print print, print, print prints. I know, I know what
the powers that be are telling.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You all this terriff revenue is gonna solve all of
our problems, that everything is gonna be Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
No, it's not Steve Miron, who the President wants to
put in at the FED. He basically he wants to
he wants to drive the value of the dollar down,
and he's written papers on this and again, this is
why you better have your money working for you.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
You better have your money worked for Again.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's and it's plain as day to anyone that actually
pays bills, that takes a look at the difference in
grocery prices. I get into this sometimes when I get
into debates certain radio programs out there and they're like, well,
you know, the Secretary Secretary Treasury said that there's little
no inflation out there, and Howard Lutnick said this, And
(13:16):
I said, you know what, tell me a favor. Okay,
go on your phone and look at your Amazon app
or your Walmart app and tell me what the difference
do You tell me that you're not paying a hell
of a lot more and groceries and everyday items because
you are.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
We all are. Okay. I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I don't like it, but for lack of a better phrase,
it is what it is. It is what it is.
I've railed against it. I've railed against Democrats, I've railed
against Republicans.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Same thing.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Spend spend, spend, print print print, value of your dollar
continues drop. Do you think it's gonna change? I hope
it does. That would be fantastic if it does. If
you know we can become fiscally say hey, maybe go
back to the sixty forty portfolio.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
But you can't. You can't.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
We operate what we do as so as I talk about,
you know, get to our website, sign up for our
personal CFO program.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's what we are.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
We're your family's chief financial officer. We are your family's
chief financial officer. This is what we're here to do.
When I mentioned earlier, you want to be able to
take advantage of the opportunities that they present them to
you throughout life. So you better be prepping. You better
be preparing. You better be dollar cost averaging, you better
(14:49):
have your money working for you. That's where we come in,
and again we differentiate ourselves from everyone else is because
guess what we help everyone.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We never tell anyone no.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
We don't have a bouncer at the door with an
earpiece saying I don't know, you don't have ten million dollars.
You can't work with the Markowski brothers. That was always
our business model from the get go. I don't know
that's advisors.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
They don't want to do with it. They want to deal
with it.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
They only want to deal with really, really wealthy people.
They want to go out golf and they want to
do stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I don't golf. I don't have time. I don't have
time to go do it. All this stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I've got way, way, way too many clients, and we
continue to bring them in. My time is spent with them.
This is what we're here for. This is this is
why PEP Pertennis. This is why we have the highest
client retention rate in the industry. It's why clients continue
to pour in from all over the country. We're here
to help. Get to our website, Watchdog on Wall Street
(15:54):
dot com, Sign up for our personal CFO program, sign
up for our news do.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Your home work on me.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Go back and read my columns which have been up
there for over.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Thirty years dating back.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Listen to our podcast see what we are all about
Watchdog on Wall Street dot com, or give us a
call eight.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Hundred four seven to one fifty nine eighty four. I
don't want to give you one.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
No, I don't want to lead you awere, No wanna
know what you should believe in? Math not magic.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You're listening to the Watchdog in Wall Street with Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I'm guessing Morris day in the time. I just think
this says we welcome back.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
It is, uh, Chris Markowski, your watchdog on Wall Street.
So I got a phone call from my brother Matthew,
and he said, Chris, you know people are calling up
asking questions. You know, the private equity been talking about
it on the radio show, and you know, because we
deal with with private equities. But as you've been listening
to this program, we've been hammering them. I hammer them
(17:11):
as well. When I started laughing, I said, you know,
I got to do a better job here on the
program in making myself very very clear. Okay, we have
go back, I said, go back prior to this radio show.
Radio has been out for twenty five years. Go back
prior to the radio show. Go back to the nineteen nineties. Okay,
I was the guy on TV warning you. I was
(17:34):
the guy on the radio warning you about what was
going to happen with the dot coms. I was a
guy who wrote an article about Enron telling you something's
not right here. I don't get it. I don't get again.
I've I've explained this before. That's from the movie Big.
Remember Tom Hanks is sitting He's sitting in that meeting
(17:56):
with all the executives there and they're showing the new
toy and me He's like, he's an adult, but he's
a kid.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Raises his hand and he says, I don't get it.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
That phrase I don't get it has saved my clients
millions upon millions upon millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I don't get it.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Countless examples over the years, a lot of things we
just didn't get anyway. Anyway, private equity has become all
the rage, all the rage, all of these private equity
companies being set up, all of them because again, they
print money, as far as fees are concerned, they do.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
This is not my first rodeo.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I saw the same exact thing happen post two thousand
really took off with hedge funds. I can't even go
back to the nineteen nineties. Back to the nineteen nineties,
there was a guy working at the firm I was
working at, and he wasn't the sharpest tack in the
box by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
He used to stay this all the time. So I
want to get out of here.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I want to own a Ferrari and I want to
have a hedge fund. And he did. He did, you know,
you're too late driving around Afari. He was running a
hedge fund. And I guess he ended up going to
jail because he lost everybody and ripped everybody off.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
And I was back in the day, I was saying,
wait a.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Second, they have all these hedge fund you know how
they performed over the course of the year, like a
batting average for them, all the entire universe. The funny
thing is, though they eliminated and when they put out
those those performance reports, all of the funds that went
out of business, imagine what your batting average would be
if you know they they were eliminated.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
All the days you.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Went, oh for four over five. That's basically what it
equated to. One scam after another. However, there were some
good ones. They're just few and far between. What we're
dealing with right now, what we're dealing with at Markowski
Investments is this gigantic push, this gigantic push by Wall
(20:10):
Street to sell alternative investments. Alternative investments, that's private equity
stuff to the masses. Again, this is not my first rodeo.
I've seen this before. This is a game of demonic
musical chairs. Gotta take a break. I will explain further.
(20:33):
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com
is our site again. Become a part of our family,
the Watchdog and Wall Street family, our personal CFO program.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
We'll be back.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Bringing America freedom, one listener at a time. You're listening
to The Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Bob Seger to me, Quintessential, Quintessential summertime music, Bob Seger,
Silver Bullet Band, I Doobie Brothers as well.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Anyway, welcome back everybody. All Right, We're gonna go to
delve deeper into this. I'm gonna try try to explain
this to everybody because something wicked this way comes. If
someone asked me to say, you know, as far as
you're acumen when it comes to investing, or what has
(21:39):
made you so successful and protecting your clients and building wealth.
I listen, I'm not a mathematical genius by any stretch
of the imagination. My brother Matthew, on the other hand,
that's a different story. He manages and structures portfolios. He
was a mathematics major at NESCAC School. Hamilton's smart kid. Okay,
(22:00):
kids fifty but anyway, neither here nor there. I guess
my biggest attribute is again my BS meter. I can
take a look at something and I can know my
fraud meter goes off and again. People been listening to
(22:21):
this program know that right now, right now, or what
we've been seeing. I'm watching these private equity companies buying
up businesses, whether it be veterinary clinics, whether it be
HVAC companies, whether it be accounting firms, whether it be
(22:41):
investment firms, at valuations that make no.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Sense what soever.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Now, what they eventually have to do is they have
to sell those assets at an even higher price. They're
having a very difficult time doing that, very difficult time
doing that. Spoke to gentlemen today, you know the other one,
Oh yeah, guy, private everything is that they're winding a
(23:10):
thing down. They're trying to get me out. I can't
get out. The big investment firms out there. They want
to sell these products, they want to sell these products
because they're making a fortune when they sell them. The
commissions are very, very high. Now, I continue to rip
into private equity funds all the time here because I
(23:32):
know it's gonna happen. They're now trying to push this
into people's for a one case. Now, the amount of
work time and effort that we at Markowski Investments put
into analyzing anything that we put into our clients accounts,
in particular private equity, you're not going to be able
(23:54):
to do. The average investor is not going to be
able to do. I almost threw up in my mouth
this past week. This is the type of power that
Wall Street has. You've got a block of Republicans, block
of Republicans that this past week and again they obviously
got checks, they obviously collected checks on this that want
(24:15):
to allow what they're calling a safe harbor rule for
private equity and four to one case, basically giving.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
All of these four to one.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
K companies a get out of jail free card if
anybody loses a ton of money and these private equity
companies blow up in people's four to one case.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I'm not kidding here, you go. It is a get
out of jail free card.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Joe Biden did the same thing for all of the companies.
Remember all of the DEI investment funds and all that
crap that were we told you was absolute garbage.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
He did the same thing for them. But here you go.
You got a group of Republicans.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
You got Steve Dames, Means, Jim Banks, Katie Britt, Bill Cassidy,
Bill Haggerty, Cynthia Loomis, Bernie Marino, Mullen Schmidt, all.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
These guys they signed off. So basically, it's.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
You know, any any four to one K company out
there that provides four to one k's, you sign up
at your office. They can stick whatever piece of garbage
private equity fund in there, and you're you think you're
you're you're.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Oh Jesus, which is alternative investments. This is what rich
people do. Oh this is gonna be.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Great, and it can blow up and they're not going
to be held responsible. Well again again, I'm a big
believer in personal responsibility. Okay, and this is I'm addressing
this to anybody out there. Again, they haven't started going
into these four one k's yet, but if they do, Okay,
I strongly suggest before you put anything into your four
(25:53):
one K when it comes to alternatives, is you contact us,
We'll let you know something is legit or not. That
has been an open ended invitation for everyone, anybody who
listens to this program, anybody who listens to my podcast.
(26:14):
We have saved countless people from doing god awful things
with their money, and granted, a lot of people have
chosen not to listen to what we've told them. People,
I'm warning you, I'm warning you. Okay, there's some really
(26:34):
good ones out there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
There are.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Again, we deal with them that we deal with them,
and they're used in a specific way, in a specific manner,
based upon that individual's situation. They are not for everyone.
They make that clear. They're not for everyone. I did
the same rant about bloody annuities for crying out loud,
you've got all those damnuities salesman, the insurance guys out there,
(27:00):
Oh will you nuts, No, it's not for everyone. In fact,
more often than not, it's the absolute worst thing that
people can do with their money. You know how many
times we're trying to get people out of annuity contracts
that weren't sold properly by some ned Ryerson Insurance salesman
(27:21):
member Neino knows Red Neo knows ned Ryerson from Groundhog Day.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Feel feel Connors.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
You have to know the difference people, and that's what
we're here for. We're gonna take a quick break, We're
gonna get back. I'm gonna give you some questions you
need to ask if someone is presenting you.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
The great opportunity to buy into private equity.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com, Watchdog on Wall street dot Com.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
We'll be back ticking Wall streets. Liars, crooks, and sheets
out behind the woodshed. You're listening to the Watchdog on
(28:12):
Wall Streets.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Now pay close attention.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Okay, not every not every alternative asset is bad. Say
it again, not every alternative asset is bad. But if
man you I'm not a gambling man. If somebody were
(28:39):
to ask me, you know how many you know, what
many percentage do you think, Chris, or you know these
these private equity coveries, what percentage do you think are
actually any good? I'd say it no more than two percent.
Now think about that, no more than two And think
(29:03):
about the accuracy that I had when it came to
the dot COM's. Think about the accuracy that we had
when it came to the whole mortgage crisis, telling everybody
exactly what was going to happen, hedge funds, you name it.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
More recently, all of the disruptor companies. Okay, how'd that
work out? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
About two percent? So you need to tread very very careful.
Here are some questions. Okay, but it's actually Jason's wide
Wall Street Journal. He's a great finance reporter. Put some
of these together. I want to share these with you
major institutions. These are questions you need to ask, need
(29:48):
to ask of your advisor. And again, I'm going to
put this together as well in a newsletter column and
you can sign up for our newsletter at Watchdog on
Wallstreet dot com. Giant institutions, some colleges and university endowments, whatnot.
They have all sort of They got experts, top men,
years of experience in selecting and monitoring alternative assets. Even so,
(30:12):
their performance has oftentimes been disappointing.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
What do you know that they don't? By some measure?
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Another questionnaire, private equity is even more expensive than publicly
traded stocks. Aside from past performance, which isn't predictive, Why
should I believe that this fund is likely to offer
superior return.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Another question.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
ETFs carry an annual expense as low as point zero
three percent. The typical alternative fund charges fees of around
two percent, roughly seventy times more. Some charge at least
two hundred times more. Why do you think this fund
is worth seventy times more than an et From two
(31:02):
thousand and eight to two thousand and two, alternative funds
benefited from being able to leverage returns with borrowed money
at extraordinarily low rates. With interest rates higher, won't future
returns be lower? Private equity funds are sitting on tens
of thousands of companies they can't sell. Why should I buy?
(31:22):
If I need to get my money out? How long
will I have to wait? And what will it cost me?
And do you earn any additional compensation for your recommendation?
Ask those questions. We're here to help. Ask us watchdogomallstreet
dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
We'll be back.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street. This is
(32:02):
the watchdog on Wall Streets.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Yeah, it's it's amazing to me.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Again, I've been I've been doing this for so long,
been covering ripoffs and scams, trying to trying to help
people out and we explain to you again, one way
to protect yourself is to understand understand that everything in
life that has meaning, value and worth involves work, time
(32:35):
and effort. There are Yeah, I played this before. There's
different types of people in the world. And I've also
talked about what is legal and what is right. Just
because something is legal in this world, and most importantly,
especially when it comes to Wall Street, doesn't make it right.
(32:57):
This is why my brothers and I left the big firms.
Our philosophy does not jibe, does not jibe with Wall
Street at all at all. We put our clients first.
They put their company's bottom line first. And again, a
lot of these companies, they're all publicly traded. They're publicly
(33:19):
traded and the CEO of the company has a fiduciary
duty to the shareholders. You are just a number. Oh,
they presented to you like they're there to take care
of you. But come on, man. And one of the
interesting things. I got some stories I'm gonna go through today.
I got nauseous when I read some of them because
again I've been reporting on this, warning people about this,
(33:42):
and again they still exist. Yeah, I'm gonna kind of
put this in sports terms, when I coach a team,
I coach a team and I got a player on
the lacrosse field. Okay, you're not familiar with the game
of lacrosse. It's it's awesome first and foremost. You know,
it's an athletic game, physical game.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Kind of like basketball.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
If one of my players, one of my players on
my team just absolutely takes the ball, runs right past
somebody scores piece of cake.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Okay. I'm not big on place. I'm not.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
I'm big on the kids learning to play and move
off ball, all sorts of stuff. I'm gonna come down.
I'm gonna say, do it again. Okay, keep doing it
until they stop it.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Same thing in football. He watch a football game.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
It was sending to the thought process behind somebody's coaches
running backs like rattle on off four or five six
yards of carry. Uh, just keep giving a ball, keep
giving a bolt so they actually stop that play.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Well, wall Street does the same thing.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
They're gonna keep running the same scam again and again
and again until you wise it up and you stop
buying it. I couldn't believe this one again. It's extraordinary
to me. You got Chalamuth Papatilla Okay, he is the
spack king special purpose acquisition Companies. And again, who warned
(35:01):
you about these things just a couple of years ago. Yeah,
that was us, That was us. He is doing another one.
He's doing another spack And I'm pulling my hair out
here with this thing. If you take a look at
(35:22):
the performance of his other SPACs, one down ninety eight percent,
another one down sixty eight percent, another one down seventy
three percent, another one ninety down ninety five percent, another
one down seventy six percent.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
What are you doing? What are you doing? It's funny thing,
you know.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
And he's calling this fund, he's calling it the American
Exceptionalism Acquisition Company. And he actually put he actually put
I've reported on this spot. I have to do it
again because it blows my mind. Okay, he actually put
in this that Hey, uh, if you do lose your
entire tire capital everything you put into it, Uh, they
(36:06):
will embody the saying from President Trump that there can
be no crying in the casino. Now again, after seeing that,
then you decide to put money into that again, whatever
happens to you again, I remember Quint from Jaws. There
cage go in the water you go into cage shock
in the water, just singing fair well and.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Adue to the affair.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Spanish ladies said again, you get what you deserve from
that one file this one under U day Traders, Day
Traders in Forrest Gump. It's a line from Forrest Gump.
Stupid is as stupid does. I'm sorry, sorry, It not
nice to call people stupid. Come on at some point
(36:53):
in time, Okay, you gotta look yourself in the mirror
and say.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Boy, that was stupid. Boy, I am stupid. I can't
I do that. It's liberating to do it own it.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
There's a story said to me, this person's going off
on he read I's following some online trader social media
by the name of Edwin Dorsey and mentioned to go
short sell short a bunch of these companies. And the
things went in the opposite direction and he got wiped out.
(37:24):
He got squeezed. But it was only I already did
ten percent of my portfolio. Yeah, but what happens if
the thing goes to the moon. You still have to
pay the shares back. That's the risk that you've got
with shorting wiped out his entire portfolio, and I look
at these things, and I say to myself, and he's
shorting like small companies, tiny companies, And I'm like, why
(37:48):
why you think you can play that game. You think
that you can trade with the big boys. You think
you have that type of capital. You don't think that
they can see what you're up to on screens and
wipe you out.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
They can move market, especially when it's small floats.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
I used to watch this happen all the time, also
with currency traders as well.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Are you are you crazy? Oh oh, you're so smart.
You got your little Robinhood account.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
You got these small little companies that you read online
that are gonna go down, so you start shortening.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Them, and then you're gonna get your head taken off.
Use your head.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
People, do things the right way, build wealth over time,
don't look for short cuts. This story as well, JP Morgan,
I gotta pay three hundred and thirty million dollars fine,
I mean report on this is going back to like
two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, the one
(38:46):
MDB scandal, and it was ongoing. I think Goldman Sachs paid.
I don't like four or five billion dollars. Why do
I bring this up because again this doesn't really even
make the news. I bring this up because you know
who you're dealing with, Okay, JP, Morgan, Goldman, Sachs, Merrill, Lynch,
Morgan Stanley are too big to fail. They're omnipotent. They
(39:09):
can do whatever they want, whatever they.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Want, and nothing's gonna happen to them. Is that somebody
you want managing your money?
Speaker 4 (39:17):
Just ask him.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Watch Dog on wallstreet dot com. Watch Dog on.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Wallstreet dot com, our personal CFO program.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Don't go anywhere, We'll be back.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Chris Markowski is the watchdog of Wall Streets
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