Introducing: Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin

In Billion Dollar Whale, Pulitzer finalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope chronicle the rise and fall of Jho Low, a Malaysian entrepreneur who allegedly stole billions of dollars from his government’s coffers. Low spent his newfound wealth on a decadent lifestyle, hosting parties with celebrities, purchasing yachts, and gambling exorbitantly.

In addition to covering Low’s excesses, Wright and Hope describe the tactics Low used to succeed as a con man. In our guide, we’ll focus primarily on those techniques, detailing how Low manipulated his image to become accepted among the elite, then leveraged those connections to build financial power. We’ll also describe how Low’s focus on his lifestyle and image ultimately caused his scheme to collapse. We’ll provide political and financial context for Low’s scheme, as well as comparing Low to other notable financial fraudsters.

The cynical view of the financial world says that Wall Street is run by a special breed of traders who exploit investors’ collective fear and greed to enrich themselves however they can, without any care for the havoc they might wreak. In Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis backs up this opinion with a first-hand account of the pursuit of ill-gotten riches at the Salomon Brothers investment firm during the 1980s. As a Salomon employee, Lewis took part in its wealth-chasing culture and witnessed the start of its downward spiral.

This guide will explore Lewis’s portrayal of Wall Street, the boom and bust of the mortgage bond market, and the rise of junk bond investments. We’ll also take a broader look at the financial world and alternate views showing there’s room for ethics and level-headed investing. We’ll conclude with Salomon Brothers’ troubles in the 1990s, which occurred after this book’s publication.

“Sex, drugs, and stock manipulation” are the words that describe the world of Jordan Belfort and his brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont. Belfort and his staff of young traders became incredibly rich via illegal trading practices, then used their wealth to indulge their every hedonistic whim. The Wolf of Wall Street is Belfort’s confessional memoir of his illegal actions, which led to a self-destructive spiral into drug addiction and life-threatening behavior.

In this guide, we’ll explain how Belfort grew his wealth through stock manipulation and money laundering, how he attempted to evade prosecution for his crimes, and how his lifestyle of drug abuse and self-indulgence almost killed him before he accepted the need to change. This guide will also examine whether Belfort’s crimes are still commonplace in modern finance, how the acquisition of wealth affects people, and how drug addiction and recovery can alter a person’s self-awareness and sense of accountability.

In Billion Dollar Whale, Pulitzer finalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope chronicle the rise and fall of Jho Low, a Malaysian entrepreneur who allegedly stole billions of dollars from his government’s coffers. Low spent his newfound wealth on a decadent lifestyle, hosting parties with celebrities, purchasing yachts, and gambling exorbitantly.

In addition to covering Low’s excesses, Wright and Hope describe the tactics Low used to succeed as a con man. In our guide, we’ll focus primarily on those techniques, detailing how Low manipulated his image to become accepted among the elite, then leveraged those connections to build financial power. We’ll also describe how Low’s focus on his lifestyle and image ultimately caused his scheme to collapse. We’ll provide political and financial context for Low’s scheme, as well as comparing Low to other notable financial fraudsters.

The cynical view of the financial world says that Wall Street is run by a special breed of traders who exploit investors’ collective fear and greed to enrich themselves however they can, without any care for the havoc they might wreak. In Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis backs up this opinion with a first-hand account of the pursuit of ill-gotten riches at the Salomon Brothers investment firm during the 1980s. As a Salomon employee, Lewis took part in its wealth-chasing culture and witnessed the start of its downward spiral.

This guide will explore Lewis’s portrayal of Wall Street, the boom and bust of the mortgage bond market, and the rise of junk bond investments. We’ll also take a broader look at the financial world and alternate views showing there’s room for ethics and level-headed investing. We’ll conclude with Salomon Brothers’ troubles in the 1990s, which occurred after this book’s publication.

“Sex, drugs, and stock manipulation” are the words that describe the world of Jordan Belfort and his brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont. Belfort and his staff of young traders became incredibly rich via illegal trading practices, then used their wealth to indulge their every hedonistic whim. The Wolf of Wall Street is Belfort’s confessional memoir of his illegal actions, which led to a self-destructive spiral into drug addiction and life-threatening behavior.

In this guide, we’ll explain how Belfort grew his wealth through stock manipulation and money laundering, how he attempted to evade prosecution for his crimes, and how his lifestyle of drug abuse and self-indulgence almost killed him before he accepted the need to change. This guide will also examine whether Belfort’s crimes are still commonplace in modern finance, how the acquisition of wealth affects people, and how drug addiction and recovery can alter a person’s self-awareness and sense of accountability.

To the outsider, the world of investing can seem daunting to enter—if not outright impossible. But according to investment professional Howard Marks, anyone can learn the basics needed to invest successfully.

In his 2011 book The Most Important Thing, Marks outlines the key tenets of his approach to investing. He argues that the best approach for investors is value investing, which involves determining securities’ intrinsic value and purchasing below it. To practice it successfully, you must learn the nature of market cycles to find opportunities for purchasing mispriced securities, while also learning how to mitigate the risk entailed by investing.

In this guide, we’ll outline the fundamentals of value investing, discuss market cycles and how they’re useful to the value investor, and analyze the common mistakes that often leave investors exposed to unnecessary risk. Throughout the guide, we’ll also examine recommendations from other investors that supplement—and occasionally challenge—Marks’s investing wisdom.

In The Simple Path to Wealth, blogger and financial expert JL Collins offers a simple road map to achieving financial independence and a secure retirement: Spend less than you make, avoid debt, save “F-You Money,” and invest in stock index funds. He demystifies stocks and bonds, as well as a plethora of investment plan options. In addition to explaining basic concepts such as asset allocation, Collins answers key questions such as how to live on your investments and how to avoid major tax hits.

Whether you’re in the wealth accumulation stage of life where you’re growing your investments, or in the wealth preservation stage where you’re living on them, Collins tells you how to use your money to achieve freedom and a more fulfilling life.

Most of us assume financial success depends on education and intelligence. But in The Psychology of Money, finance expert Morgan Housel presents an alternate hypothesis: The key to financial success lies in understanding human behavior. Housel posits that when you understand how emotions and beliefs influence your financial decisions, you’ll make better financial decisions.

In this guide, we compare Housel’s advice with that of other finance experts and supplement his ideas with concrete recommendations. You’ll learn why people fail to achieve financial success and what’s behind your desire for money. You’ll also learn what to include in a financial strategy, how to create one you can follow for decades, how to follow it through those decades—and how to pay attention to the information you need to do so.