Former NASDQ chairman, Bernie Madoff, will be spending the next 150 years in prison. Since he’s 71 right now, that means he’ll be a free man once again at age 221. Nobody’s feeling too sorry for The Ponzi King right now though. Even his sons refuse to talk to him. The scope and breadth of Madoff’s investment fraud is staggering.

To those who have been following Jason Hartman for any length of time, this really should come as no surprise. Any time you give up direct control of your investments, this could be the result.

We say this often but it bears repeating. When you invest on Wall Street, expect to find one day that:

1. You’re investing with a crook.2. You’re investing with an idiot.3. You’re paying huge management fees.

You might be extraordinarily unlucky and hit the mother lode – an idiotic crook who charges huge management fees. And even though you might think we’re beating this particular drum unnecessarily stridently, think of it like this. It’s your financial life at stake here. It’s your retirement and the economic health of your family for generations to come.

Bernie’s not the first or last schemer to tap into the ignorance of investors. Need a sure fire way to avoid losing everything to scandals like this? Don’t play the same game these pour souls were playing. Don’t turn your nest egg over to pie-in-the-sky promises. Stay in control of your investments. Always know what’s going on with them and, while we strongly suggest having a trusted financial advisor, don’t give them the reins to the stagecoach!