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Loading... "Do you sincerely want to be rich?" The full story of Bernard Cornfeld and IOSby Charles Raw, Godfrey Hodgson, Bruce Page
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Page, Bruce (Author); Hodgson, Godfrey (Author); Cornfield, Bernard (Subject) The authors provide a great account of the rise and fall of Investors Overseas Services (IOS) from its involvement in the first mutual funds of the early 1960's to its eventual bankruptcy in the early 1970's. As they say, "The real lesson of the IOS story is an old one: it is that human communication is so fragile that a man can put out whatever propaganda he likes in his own interest and be sure that enough of it will be believed to make his fortune." IOS was essentially Bernie Cornfeld and Edward Cowett using Cornfeld's sales line that they were the first to provide top class investment advice to the small man. The IOS funds used a committed and well paid international sales force to market this concept and it was the cost of this along with desperate performance chasing investments that eventually sank them. This is one of my favourite books and just as enjoyable as Eichenwald's "Conspiracy of Fools" (Enron story) for the high quality research and stranger than fiction main characters. no reviews | add a review
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In the fall of 1955, Bernard Cornfeld arrived in Paris with scant money in his pocket and a tenuous relationship with a New York firm to sell mutual funds overseas. Cornfeld, a former psychologist and social worker, knew how to make friends fast and soon targeted two groups of people who could help him fulfill his economic ambitions: American expatriates who were looking to build their own fortunes and servicemen abroad who loved to live high-rolling lives and spend money. Cornfeld built a multi-billion-dollar and multi-national company, famous for a winning one-line pitch: "Do you sincerely want to be rich?" No library descriptions found. |
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