Daily Lesson from Life 13 February 2009

I missed blogging on 14 Feb 2009 as I was leaving for Beijing on the mid-night flight and was busy in the day preparing for it! This trip is to meet up with an old friend, Yan Lai, who is flying in from San Francisco!


News Quote:

Madoff victim kills himself He died from a single bullet wound to the head. -Sat, Feb 14, 2009 Reuters

LONDON - A FORMER British soldier killed himself after losing his life savings in an alleged US$50 billion (S$75 billion) fraud run by Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff, news reports said on Friday.


William Foxton, 65, who had served in the British Army and more recently worked as a defence contractor in Afghanistan, died from a single bullet wound to the head in the southern English port city of Southampton on Tuesday, police said.

'A pistol was recovered at the scene. Police do not believe the death to be suspicious,' a police statement said.

News reports said his death was a suicide and quoted his son, Willard, as linking it to the loss of his life savings of close to 1 million pounds (S$2.15 million) in the alleged Madoff fraud.


The BBC's website said Foxton had invested his life savings in two Austrian-based hedge funds, but shortly before his death he discovered both funds had been closed and their funds invested with Madoff.

'I want Madoff and others involved to know that they have my father's blood on their hands,' Willard Foxton was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying. 'I'm very angry. My first thought was to show up at Madoff's trial in New York and throw my father's medals in his face.' William Foxton served with the British Army until the mid-1970s, lost an arm in an explosion in 1976 and later joined the Sultan of Oman's armed forces, where he rose to the rank of major, the newspaper said.

He also worked on United Nations humanitarian missions and, in the 1990s, led a European Commission monitoring mission in the Balkans, it said."

Another death relating or arising from the Madoff fraud case. A tragedy for an honest soldier. My condolences to the family.

Lessons for me:

1. this incident once again revealed that when we are responsible for other people's money, we simply just have to absolutely above reproach and must behave ethically at all times. The blows to the people who lost their life saving due to the trust they place in you can caused them to take the ultimate extreme action of ending their lives! You will, as the son of this victim said: ' have blood on your hands!'. This is not what any leaders will want to find themselves in!;

2. to be able to be above reproach and act ethically, it starts with your own values and how your consistently practice those values in your daily behaviors! Simple routine like: reminding yourself each morning why you take others' money and invest the best your could professionally and competently; that it is not just for the management fee you will get or the commission you will earn from 'churning'; that it is to help these people to build a nest egg that they can rely on when they grow old or retired!;

3. for those who entrust their money to others, it is also a duty and prudent behaviors to develop by asking questions when things are not going well as well as when things are going 'too well'! Finally we must be mentally prepared for losing our life savings but we need not be overly despaired! Yes, it must be hard to stomach when we are innocent victims. At the same time, if we end our lives there and then, there is no way for us to get back. As long as we are alive, we will find a way out of the adversity. Relatives and friends will be there to help us re-build. And yes it may not be ideal or up to our expectations, but we must adjust.

Another suicide death. May not be the last as there are still folks who may not see it the way I just shared! Different circumstances, different considerations, and different results!