I hope you can get on with life....

hang in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your "experts" were such in name only. It really doesn't take much to pass the Series 7, and plenty of people out there have no clue what they're doing.

What really gets me is that not only did many financial people fall for this, but a large number of people knew it was impossible.

It only took a few hours to figure that out, and that's just so you could confirm it, yet nobody did anything about it.

It appears that Madoff's reputation simply protected him.

I'm very sorry for our loss, you were taken advantage of and blaming the victim is wrong.

I'm sorry that you have lost your nest egg, I really am. I can't point fingers at victims of this scheme and ask "how could you let this happen?" because I am sure that if a trusted financial advisor said it was a good bet, I would have signed up. As it stands now, I just throw my savings into my CREF account and hope for the best (lately, I'm convinced that a jar buried in the backyard may be a better bet). You seem upbeat and determined not to let your financial losses drag you into the depths. I have a hunch that you will be able to pick up the pieces and be OK despite this change in fortune. Good luck to you.

Greed will do it every time.

However, even if you loose your house, you still have your talent, and your husband. This says it better than I can.

"For money you can have everything it is said. No, that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money."

-Arne Garborg, writer (1851-1924)

I like your perspective. Great insights. I've never had enough money to invest with a guy like Madoff; had the opportunity presented itself, I surely would have take the bait. I know I have too many sweaters. And I let them get eaten by moths, never bothering to protect what I have. The accumulation is the fix, the getting and not the having. I like what I learned from your essay -- I will put what money I have into real things I believe in. The hedge fund stuff and our financial craziness is all a Ponzi scheme, just some are legal and less risky than others. Thanks for your lovely piece, and thank you for being hard on yourself; harder than you should be, but you opened some eyes.

by someone who knew there was something wrong and yet they said his investment fund was legit. Obviously lots of people didn't look close enough to figure it out so how could any joe blow know if it's legit or not if the "experts" didn't know either.

Very impressed by the humility and good humor.

This person is balanced and wise.

Just ouch.

...over at Tina Brown's new club for her rich chums, the Daily Beast, about how now, because of Madoff, she will have to iron her forty shirts herself and may lose one of her homes, and she treats it as though it were on a level with Katrina. (while making money from writing about it) Reading her stuff I was completely ready to have no pity for the "victims" of this fraud except the charities.

So thank you for a more humble, human perspective from someone who apparently understands that this makes her one with the rest of us, as opposed to Penney, who simply feels filled with horror at the idea of being one of the rest of us.

(And don't even get me started on she of the trust fund, Daphne Merkin. On her I wish a tsuris.)

The accumulation is the fix, the getting and not the having.

It took me many years to realize that the wanting is almost always better than the having. We want something then as soon as we get it we are still unsatisfied and immediately fixate on wanting something else.

By your account, you had enough to pay off your mortgage. To put a roof over your head for the rest of your life, with only property taxes to consider, and a demonstrated talent that would earn you plenty for food, clothing, and transportation, with leftovers to rebuild that savings. The house might have gone down in appraised value. Still, it would have been yours, something tangible that you wholly owned, something to leave your children if any. Instead, you threw that money into a too-good-to-be-true "investment". Now you've lost it all, and you still have a house payment, because what you had - security - just wasn't enough, and you thought you could make more without having to work for it.

No. Sympathy.

Clearly you followed some fairly common advice and didn't trust your gut. What a scary tough way to learn this lesson. You have my full sympathy and best wishes for a financial recovery.

It's just old fashioned greed, that's all. /shrug I'm not saying I may not have done the same if I was in your position, but lets not sugar coat things. It's greed.

I also lost a very large sum of money through a scheme and that was 10 years ago. I felt like the biggest idiot and now understand that although I made a bad decision I don't blame myself for trusting people. You just don't always get it right. Unfortunately the consequences can be devastating.

It's a humbling experience and I am much more cautious when making financial decisions keeping in mind that I have to really decide if it's too good to be true.

It's the reason I didn't get a sub prime loan when I was told that was how all the smart people where making money.

So use it to your benefit if you can.

Please excuse any misspellings or run on sentences I went to Art school.