I was reading the article, Life savings gone, ‘Madoff-ed’ best-selling writer back at work – CNN.com. It was about Alexandra Penny, who is a “best-selling” author was one of Bernard Madoff’s victims. About 10 years ago, on the suggestion of a friend, decided to invest all her savings with Madoff. She thought it would be safe with him. She had been working and being diligent about saving her money since she was a teenager. She says, she worked and earned every penny herself, and had a fear of going broke and “becoming a bag lady.”
Apparently, she wrote a first hand account of being a “Madoff-ed,” and how she had to sale property to pay her bills on TheDailyBeast.com. She was surprised by the “vitriol” reaction of the readers who left comments. They called her “a privileged New York princess,” and said that she should “get a job.”
Based on an excerpt from the NY Post (12/24/08):
Of all the victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, Alexandra Penney might not be the most pathetic. Penney grew up privileged – her mother was Greek royalty, her father was a Harvard lawyer – in “a WASPy Connecticut suburb,” she writes on TheDailyBeast.com. She got rich writing such best sellers as “How to Make Love to a Man” and editing Self magazine. And she invested her fortune with Madoff, “that mother[bleep]er,” she calls him. But Penney sounds a bit like Marie Antoinette when she frets about her options: “I’d have to sell the cottage in West Palm Beach immediately. I’d need to lay off Yolanda [her maid] . . . I’d have to stop taking taxis . . . And how hard is it to give yourself a really good pedicure.” Such options have Penney contemplating suicide: “Would you believe the Hemlock Society no longer exists?” But she concludes on an up note – she learns how to buy a MetroCard. “Yesterday, I took my first subway ride in 30 years.” A true survivor.
What do you think? Do you/should we feel sorry for the rich and super-rich when they lose their fortunes? She is much better off then most of us—she has valuable items/property to sale and can work as a writer again. Consider, however, that whatever amount of money she lost, she did work for it. What do you think?
Sounds like Alexandra Penney has spent her whole life thinking about herself, which means she should be well prepared for this kind of situation…really is funny, don’t you think?
By: John K on Sunday, January 11, 2009
at 11:45 am
This shows me that just because you’re rich, that doesn’t make you very smart where money is concerned. Why would you trust ALL your life savings with one person? I think it boils down to greed. People saw Madoff as some sort of money god—constantly bringing in big returns. Of course they wanted in… and look where it got them.
By: embrownny on Sunday, January 11, 2009
at 2:05 pm
It would be unfair to judge her. I just hope she’s not doing it for publicity.
By: msmorrisonspeaks on Tuesday, January 13, 2009
at 2:19 am
Honestly, it only shows it can happen to anyone.
So, it isn’t just the single mothers creating criminals eh?
By: lastinvestor on Friday, January 16, 2009
at 3:21 pm
Let’s see….she wrote a book, she edited a national magazine…so, she worked. Am I to think badly of her because she was well paid? Am I to think badly of her because she was fortunate enough to be born to wealthy parents? What is wrong with us that we belittle someone for having, or for having made, money? Isn’t that what all of us would LIKE to do?
Personally, I’m almost at the bottom of the food chain. I still can feel sorry for rich folk who lose the bulk of their fortune. It’s probably a lot scarier for them than for those of us farther down the ladder. We don’t have so far to fall, and we have a better idea of how to cope when we hit bottom.
By: Moptop on Tuesday, March 17, 2009
at 5:11 pm
Good point. There is really no good reason for anyone to have stolen what was rightfully their’s—whether $100 or $1,000,000.
By: embrownny on Tuesday, March 17, 2009
at 5:17 pm