With Bernard Madoff’s long, fraudulent story drawing to a close, stock-market analysts look to the larger effect the $50 billion Ponzi scheme will have on equities, Kate Gibson writes for MarketWatch. Combined with the dismal performance in stocks over the last year, experts say Madoff’s deception has probably hurt the overall appeal of stocks for the 50+ crowd that embraced them for retirement.
“This man has single-handedly put the nail in the coffin for millions of baby-boomer investors with respect to their desire to invest in the stock market,” one analyst said. Baby boomers will likely “hang on with a certain portion of their investments in order to have a shot at recouping some losses,” predicts another. “But once they reach a point at which they are satiated, they will remove the remaining funds.” (More Bernard Madoff stories.)