The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) is warning investors not to make investment decisions based solely on celebrity endorsements.
Celebrities, from movie stars to professional athletes, can be found on TV, radio, and social media endorsing a wide variety of products and services – sometimes even including investment opportunities.
But a celebrity endorsement does not mean that an investment is legitimate or that it is appropriate for all investors. It is never a good idea to make an investment decision just because someone famous says a product or service is a good investment.
Celebrities, like anyone else, can be lured into participating (even unknowingly) in a fraudulent scheme. Also, celebrities are sometimes linked to products or services without their consent so the celebrity may not even have endorsed the investment.
Even if the celebrity endorsement and the investment opportunity are genuine, the investment may not be a good one for you.
Before investing, always do your research, including these three steps:
- Check out the background, including registration or license status, of anyone recommending or selling an investment, using the search tool on Investor.gov;
- Learn about the company’s finances, organization, and business prospects by carefully reading any prospectus and the company’s latest financial reports, which may be available through the SEC’s EDGAR database; and
- Consider the investment’s potential costs and fees, risks, and benefits in light of your own investment goals, risk tolerance, investment horizon, net worth, existing investments and assets, debt, and tax considerations.
In short – never make an investment decision based solely on a celebrity endorsement, or other information you receive through social media, investment newsletters, online advertisements, email, investment research websites, internet chat rooms, direct mail, newspapers, magazines, television, or radio.
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