Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

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kenyan
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Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by kenyan »

Somehow, I received an investment adviser 'cold call' a couple of days ago at my work number. I'm on DNC lists at home. Not sure how this information got out - perhaps someone just randomly trying various extensions after looking up our corporate number? I might not be giving them enough credit on their information gathering process.

Anyhow, I politely declined both the dinner invitation and future invitations, stating that I was "very comfortable with my investments." The cold caller wasn't pushy at that point, so I got to hang up without being rude.

Honestly, I'm not really an attractive target yet, with <$500k liquid, and much of that tied up in company plans, so I imagine that they were just targeting people who work for my company (which does sport many older people with good salaries and presumably high NW).
Retirement investing is a marathon.
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SmileyFace
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by SmileyFace »

There might be a mole inside your company that sold a phone list to the adviser. This happened at a place I worked a number of years ago were several of us starting getting calls from the same adviser. Perhaps the mole was getting a kick-back on anyone that the adviser signed up with the scheme.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by THY4373 »

I have a neighbor who is an investment adviser and his company does this. I helped his wife with a computer problem and she mentioned her husband was an investor adviser and gave me the soft sell that I should work with him. I declined nicely but out of idle curiosity I Googled him (and his phone number) and it showed up on one of those who called me websites. There were 10s of reports of his company cold calling folks in the office. In fact they seemed to do exactly what you stated, figure out or guess a number range at a firm and call all/many extensions there. Frequently his employees would leave voice mails as if they knew the person and the like. Anyway all fairly shady in my opinion so I didn't change my view on working with them. I am guessing they call office numbers as a way around the do not call list.
fposte
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by fposte »

Edward Jones goes door to door in my neighborhood.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

I've been cold-called by insurance agents, dentists, financial planners, magazine subscription services - all at work!
The particularly pushy ones are the whole-life insurance agents who want to sell me on tax-efficient investments. :oops: After I give them the lecture on the lowest cost tax-efficient investments available out there, they are speechless; :mrgreen:, and I never receive call-backs from them.
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
flyingaway
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by flyingaway »

My 401(k) is managed by Fidelity. When my balance exceeded 500k a few months ago, I got a call from Fidelity representative to offer help to manage my account. I told her that I am OK with my own account and she never called back again.
jdb
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by jdb »

Back in my wayward youth when would buy stock from brokers and insurance products from agents (before I discovered this site and saw the light :happy ) many times would be asked by the brokers and agents to give them names and numbers of colleagues at work so they could do them a favor by selling products. I resisted these entreaties but suspect it goes on all the time. By the way, if you subscribe to investment publications your name is probably on a list being sold to cold callers, and they especially like the first time subscribers, suspect it was not a coincidence that when first subscribed to Barron's years ago was inundated with broker cold calls (subscription long canceled). Ultimately no way to avoid them, best you can do is use caller ID and voice mail and DNC lists and graciously but quickly say no thanks and hang up the phone, probably while they are still talking.
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Phineas J. Whoopee
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by Phineas J. Whoopee »

DaftInvestor wrote:There might be a mole inside your company that sold a phone list to the adviser. ...
+1

I have a colleague who received a cold call from our friendly local pickpocket organization at his desk number two days after we hired him. I was in the next cube and heard it all. As it happens, the colleague is both wise, and highly experienced in sales, so he didn't fall for it. He did comment to me on the firm's impressive intelligence-gathering operation.

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kenyan
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by kenyan »

I definitely considered the 'mole' angle as another possibility. For some jobs, your work number may be out there and accessible to the general public (sales, service, etc.), but that is most definitely not the case with my job.
Retirement investing is a marathon.
chuppi
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by chuppi »

It looks like people here want to get cold calls once in a while so they can say that they are smart enough to manage their investments. :happy
I was in a bank a couple of years ago for some reason. I was around 35year then. The banker wanted to give me a sales pitch on why I should switch my mortgage and car loan to her bank. I said I own my house outright and I don't have a car loan or any other debt. I am not sure if she believed me but I did feel good that she gave me a 'which planet are you from' look. :)
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CABob
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by CABob »

I doubt that it means you have "made it". I started receiving these call long before I considered myself to be in the "made it" category. A lot of these are doing their advance work at employees who will eventually cash out 401k plans and lump sum pensions and hope to get some of the action. I have found that if you retire and take your :moneybag to Vanguard the calls will stop or at least diminish. Now to deal with the door to door Edward Jones folks.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (investing sales attempts).

I get occasional cold calls to my work number. I have some fun, but have to remember that I'm at work which limits my actions. I did, however, ask work to block the number.
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DualIncomeNoDebt
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by DualIncomeNoDebt »

kenyan wrote:Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'
No.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by investor »

when working (retired long ago) I used to get these calls at work. Somehow these "criminals" got hold of a company phone book. I used to tell them it was unethical to call someone at work. They, naturally, could see nothing wrong with it. I never do business with anyone who calls me on the phone (including politicians) or leaves a trash on my front door. Also used to get calls at work from "Job Shoppers"

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LongerPrimer
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by LongerPrimer »

My Pappy told me to Never decline a free meal. A No, is still spelled the same even after the food. The difference is now get to say No for a reason. It's a date, who knows, you may even enjoy the meal and find whatever they are selling, interesting. :annoyed :confused :idea:

No one has ever offered me a dinner. :(
FedGuy
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by FedGuy »

My name, photo, and contact information were listed on my previous employer's website. I got a few of these calls early on in my time there, and felt uncomfortable saying a flat-out "no," so I tended to hem and haw and hope they'd eventually go away (I now realize that a "no" would have been both more effective and more considerate). Some of the cold-callers would say things like "I'm going to be in your office on Wednesday to meet with some of your colleagues and would love to chat with you while I'm there," but when pressed would usually be unable to name the colleagues they claimed to be visiting.

One guy did come in to speak to one of my colleagues once. He happened to be getting off the elevator as I entered the elevator to go to lunch; he recognized me, called me by name, and asked again if we could meet. I was able to get away, citing "a meeting" I was going to be late for, but that really creeped me out. I put an end to our correspondence after that.

It eventually reached the point where I literally stopped answering calls from unfamiliar numbers. The majority of my calls became investment solicitations, and it was just easier to screen than to have to get some finance salesman off my phone.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by jdb »

LongerPrimer wrote:My Pappy told me to Never decline a free meal. A No, is still spelled the same even after the food. The difference is now get to say No for a reason. It's a date, who knows, you may even enjoy the meal and find whatever they are selling, interesting. :annoyed :confused :idea:

No one has ever offered me a dinner. :(
With due respect to your Pappy he probably never had to sit through an interminable sales pitch without ability to sneak out back door or he would have realized no such thing as a free lunch or dinner. And there is an inverse correlation between quality of meal and quality of investment product being hawked. Or to put it another way the more expensive the meal the more expensive the investment product. Now a free drink, that may be a different matter.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by LongerPrimer »

never got a free drink either.
the last guy. i bought the drink. A ML young guy. 2 yrs younger than my son. It was only a cola but should a been a well drink to help alleviate the disappointment. :annoyed :mrgreen:
:beer
Slowmaha
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by Slowmaha »

I can't believe cold calling still works, but apparently it does.. My in-law has several service providers he uses because "they kept calling".. Unbelievable..
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by sailfish2 »

Northwestern Mutual advisor contacted people at my previous company. The advisor did receive my business for a LTD plan, but not so much with the whole life policy he tried to sell. Nice guy, but fortunately I had learned everything I needed to know about whole life insurance.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by Boglegrappler »

You can stop cold calls by saying "Let me stop you.....I'm in the business." Of course if they know you're not, it won't work.

I got a free dinner at a nice place from Fidelity, as they invited a group of investors with larger balances (I think). That was enjoyable, and there was no sales pitch. I even won a Fidelity hat in the quiz contest at the end of the night. (I was closest to knowing the 10 year treasury closing yield that day. I missed it by 2 basis points.) So far I haven't received another invitation, but it was an expensive evening for Fido and there were about 25 people.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by cherijoh »

kenyan wrote:Somehow, I received an investment adviser 'cold call' a couple of days ago at my work number. I'm on DNC lists at home. Not sure how this information got out - perhaps someone just randomly trying various extensions after looking up our corporate number? I might not be giving them enough credit on their information gathering process.

Anyhow, I politely declined both the dinner invitation and future invitations, stating that I was "very comfortable with my investments." The cold caller wasn't pushy at that point, so I got to hang up without being rude.

Honestly, I'm not really an attractive target yet, with <$500k liquid, and much of that tied up in company plans, so I imagine that they were just targeting people who work for my company (which does sport many older people with good salaries and presumably high NW).
I use caller ID and ignore any number that I don't recognize. There is a low volume on my work number; it is usually robo-dialing from toll-free numbers. At home, I just block numbers that call multiple times and don't leave a message.

But I do receive regular solicitations in the mail at home for dinner seminars at fairly pricey restaurants like Ruth's Chris. I currently shred them, but have considered taking them on as a "public service" project after I retire. :wink: I could attend, ask lots of awkward questions about fees and why they are comparing their approach's returns to a totally inappropriate benchmark. I could also poke holes in the illustrations and ask awkward questions about the footnotes. I might be able to save some poor naïve investors from their clutches.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by LongerPrimer »

jdb wrote:And there is an inverse correlation between quality of meal and quality of investment product being hawked. Or to put it another way the more expensive the meal the more expensive the investment product. Now a free drink, that may be a different matter.
If only in my wildest dreams. Now that We are almost there, no one wants to recognize the nearly, "millionaire next door. " As I told the ML youngster, "Where were you (ML) 35-40 years ago, when we're just getting started, and had only $50/mn to investt?" :oops:
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by MathWizard »

flyingaway wrote:My 401(k) is managed by Fidelity. When my balance exceeded 500k a few months ago, I got a call from Fidelity representative to offer help to manage my account. I told her that I am OK with my own account and she never called back again.
I started to get more calls soon after hitting $500K, maybe that is a magic number.
Of course it could also be my age, since I am also getting more mail for long-term care
insurance.
TFinator
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by TFinator »

I used to get people calling me trying to refinance my mortgage. I missed most of the calls but one day decided to go through the process. I let the nice lady know that I was 18 years old and shared a 20x20' box my roommate.
She didn't get it, so I told her that i was describing my on campus dorm room.

"...So you don't have a mortgage then?"
BradMajors
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by BradMajors »

We had an investment adviser call every single employee in my company... one after the other. Our local operator / receptionist knew this was happening, but did not know any way to block the caller.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by dublin »

I got an email from Fidelity asking me to call them for advice shortly after a 401k hit $20k...I guess that's a more modest level of making it?
traumadoc77
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by traumadoc77 »

I had a sketchy looking guy come up to my house selling annuities... I was like who buys annuities from some random guy going door to door?
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by fandango »

W get cold calls all the time. Usually while we are relaxing and eating dinner.

Two particularly bad ones:

- A Edward Jones agent knocked on the door and said that he was "lost" in our neighborhood. Then wanted to come in and "talk". Needless to say, I sent him packing. There must be a million Edward Jones agents out there. I see an office on every corner. They must be the ultimate bottom feeders.

- I keep my "short term emergency funds" at Wells Fargo. FDIC insured account just in case. Every quarter, I get a call from someone in their investment group wanting to talk with me about my account. I say "no thank you" and move on. But it does irk me to be solicited by my own bank. Not only do they want my money, they want to tell me how and where to put it!

I have never given anyone making a "cold call" a dime of business.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by tibbitts »

In defense of cold-calling, probably a significant percentage of the earnings that many of us here have enjoyed have been generated from cold calling - perhaps even more so in the pre-internet era. Some of us have done cold calling ourselves, some not, but many have benefited from it.
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Re: Got my first cold call - does this mean I've 'made it?'

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Got a new call - they wanted to "help me de-correlate my portfolio from the broad market indexes" :oops: :oops: and sell me a credit card for payment efficiency. :oops:
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
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