Naked Investor

Over 6 million Canadians control more than $500 billion in RRSP and RRIF investments...or do they?

Do RRSP owners support an industry that feeds on the fear and ignorance of Canadians ill-prepared to manage their retirement assets? While claiming professional status, financial advisors are salespeople often more closely aligned with mutual fund marketers and bond dealers than with their own clients. What's more, the industry insists on a policy of self-regulation, unhindered by direct government supervision and unresponsive to demands for transparency and accountability.

The Naked Investor sounds a wake-up call for Canadians hoping to retire in comfort and security. Through real-life stories, many of them heart-rending in their tragedy and unfairness, it exposes the dark side of the investment industry in dramatic fashion, revealing the ploys and tactics of greedy brokers and advisors, voracious banks and mutual fund operators, false prophets posing as celebrity gurus, and outright embezzlers who steal the dreams of trusting clients.

Written with passion and sly humour, The Naked Investor will disturb both an industry that appears more focused on building wealth for itself than for its clients and RRSP investors whose trust too often is misplaced with devastating consequences.

John Lawrence Reynolds is the author of eight non-fiction books, including the award-winning Free Rider: How a Bay Street Whiz Kid Stole and Spent $20 Million and six mystery novels. He has also won two Arthur Ellis Awards (for best mystery novel) and a National Magazine Award. He lives in Burlington, Ontario.