BBB & FINRA Foundation Launch Website on Smart Investing

Can a website make us better investors?  The Better Business Bureau and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation hope so.  They have launched a new consumer website, BBB Smart Investing, which is "designed to help investors make smarter investing decisions while avoiding fraud, risky investments and unlicensed brokers."

 According to the Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, consumers reported losing more than $1.5 billion to all types of scams in 2011. FINRA Foundation research has found that investors are overconfident in their knowledge of financial management, particularly baby boomers, who are most often the target of investment scams. A telephone survey found that 92 percent felt "somewhat" or "very" confident about managing their finances, with almost 80 percent describing themselves as "somewhat" or "very" knowledgeable about investing. But only 44 percent got a passing grade on a basic financial literacy knowledge test.