Seth Grano Hype and Hoopla - Listen and LOSE Newbury Park, California

Seth Grano is a liar. Without a quiver of conscience, he will manipulate your confidence and tell you whatever it takes in order to get you to trust him.  He will confuse you with financial jargon and swamp you with prospectuses that he suspects you will not read -- all this to get you to follow his advice and sign on the dotted line because, according to his sales pitch, he is the "financial professional," and he "knows what he is doing."

One thing is certain: Seth is devoid of the biochemical ability to experience normal feelings of empathy for others.  He knows he is pulling a fast one over on you and could care less. He actually thrives on the adrenaline rush that goes hand-in-hand with conning you.  He is an adept salesman whose sole motivation is to line his pockets with YOUR money.  Many of the lies he tells are lies of omission. Unpredictable, external market risk aside, he will fail to mention any "internal" risk.  If he mentions the word risk at all, it will be to assure you there is none.  Meanwhile, the illiquid, un-listed, private companies -- yes, thats right, companies not institutions which Seth encourages you to invest in will either have no avenues of redemption, or they will cancel whatever avenues Seth may have told you about in his presentation.  Even in case of your own death, it will become difficult if not impossible for your beneficiaries to get their hands on money you bequeath to them.

These un-listed companies and "alternative investments" he sells you use your money to fund projects in which they often have little or no experience.  Its start up cash for them, play money.  They skim as much as an immediate 20% off the top of your investment to pay fees and commissions, and Seth gets as much as a whopping 10.5% -- of YOUR money.  Thats $105 in his pocket from every $1000 you "invest" without his ever speaking a word in advance of this piracy.  Another approximately $95 in fees and golden parachutes come off the top of your money and goes into the pockets of the company and its executives.  So right off the bat, your $1000 investment just lost $200; your $10,000 investment lost $2,000; your $100,000 investment lost $20,000, etc..

By the time you discover this on your monthly and quarterly statements ("Oh my God! What happened to my money?") 18 months or more are likely to have passed (18 months is the legal parameter), and it will be too late.  The companies Seth encouraged you to invest in will have been sending you inaccurate investors statements until then, and the inaccurate statements will have deceivingly shown that you were making money.  Wrong!  The "reliable monthly income" you were probably receiving as part of this plan and the sales pitch is simply a return of your own capital in small increments.  In this way, your investment continually dwindles while the company, unbeknown to you, pilfers fees, expenses and play money off the top internal risks that Seth never bothered to mention.  Try to call him once you find out, and chances are he will have left town.  In the past ten years, Seth has been with as many as 10 different firms in 9 states. 

07/00 06/01: Metropolitan Investment Securities, Inc., Spokane, WA
11/05 06/06: TGL Advisors, Inc., Littleton, CO
06/01 07/02: First Montauk Securities Corp., Red Bank, NJ
06/02 03/06: Great Northern Financial Securities, Inc., Verndale, WA
03/06 07/06: QA3 Financial Corp., Henderson, NV
06/06 08/08: Multi-Financial Securities Corporation, Denver, CO
08/08 12/09: Community Bankers Securities, Richmond, VA
01/10 03/10: Waterford Investor Services, Clearwater, FL
03/10 11/10: American Beacon Partners, Inc., Eau Claire, WI
11/10 Present: Centaurus Financial, Inc., Anaheim, CA

Such frequent changes of employers within the industry often signal sales practice abuse or other customer harm.  Due to findings that he circumvented his member firm's guidelines, falsified customers' net worth, and sold unsuitable investments to customers, Seth's former partner, David A. Naefke, was barred from association with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in 2011.  Seth is not much different.  He is simply better at eluding regulatory scrutiny.  His FINRA record so far shows "only" a history of customer complaints.

Stay away from Seth Grano and his "educational workshops." This is an education in excessive fees, weak transparency, confusing accounting, conflict-ridden sales agents and generally misaligned interest that you do well to avoid.