Philo-Semites: Anti-Semites Who Like Jews

In the three or so weeks since my cover story on the financial crisis appeared in the Atlantic (subscribe now, and you're guaranteed a place in heaven when you die, and also possibly a tote bag), I've received more than two hundred solicitations from financial advisers and brokers looking for my business. I'm touched, but I'm now in a steady relationship with a new guy who's going to manage my vast wealth. More on that later.

I've also received a fair amount of anti-Semitic mail (big surprise there). One letter links me to Madoff and Pollard and Menachem Begin. Go figure. Then there are letters like this one, which fall into a gray category. Read it carefully, and you'll see why:

Dear Jeffrey,
 
I enjoyed your article so much that I sent it to a dozen or more friends and family.
 
My investing experience is similar to yours except that it is longer (I retired at age 71, 3 years ago) and it probably involved more money due to my long career.  But the losses, observed unhelpfully by my advisors and custodians, sound similar.
 
I decided to fire Fidelity Professional Advisory Group and put much of our savings into investment grade bonds maturing in 1-5 years.  I entrusted $200K into the care of a professional bond manager with a Jewish name, low fees, and good reputation.  Besides all that, she buys flour in 50-lb bags for baking at home.  My kind of business person.
 
In 5 months her small firm has grown my account to $210K, while avoiding junk and without putting more than 5% into any one issue.  I doubt that they can duplicate that indefinitely because there were some rather unusual opportunities in the midst of the recent debacle, but even if the performance drops in half from 1% gain per month to 0.5%, I will be happy.  And I'll sleep well at night.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/05/philo-semites-anti-semites-who-like-jews/17125/