Become a Free Lunch Seminar Monitor

By: AARP.org | Source: AARP.org | March 2009

Seeking Volunteers

View the 'What to Listen for Checklist' form.

Got Mail?

Send invitations and a completed 'What to Listen for Checklist' to:

AARP Financial Security Free Lunch Mailbag
601 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20049
S11-176

Or scan and e-mail to nofreelunch@aarp.org.

We'll make sure your state regulator gets your input.

Protecting Investors

Working With Regulators

NASAA and AARP members join forces to protect investors.

Additional Resources

Do you receive "Free Lunch Seminar" invitations? You are probably getting even more during tax season when these invitations promise no risk investments and ways to avoid all taxes. If so, and you are looking for an exciting volunteer opportunity, you can become an AARP Volunteer Free Lunch Monitor.

You can get involved by

Mailing in your e-mail solicitations
Viewing the 'What to Listen for Checklist'
Attending a Free Lunch seminar, filling out the checklist and returning it to us

Four out of five investors age 60 and over received at least one invitation to a free investment seminar in the past three years—and three out of five received six or more. The invitations often promise to educate you about investing strategies, avoiding taxes or managing money in retirement—usually with an expensive meal provided at no cost.

Chances are good that you, too, have received similar invitations and wondered whether you should attend.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and state securities regulators, who are members of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), sent investigators to some of these events. Their findings were deeply disturbing. "Every rock that we turned over seemed to have a bug or a worm crawling out underneath," says former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. "In each of the sweeps we conducted, we found significant fraud."

The free meal does not always mean free information. The ultimate goals are to recruit new clients and sell products. While some pitches can be easy to swallow, the consequences can be expensive. Consumers may go to the seminar with the expectation of learning how to grow and protect their investments and retirement savings. During the seminar, however, and in follow-up phone calls or in-home visits individuals may be pressured to make unsuitable investment decisions without having done their homework.

State regulators sit in on presentations as they are able, but with small staffs and a large number of seminars offered daily, their reach is limited.

Ways to Become a Free Lunch Monitor

If you choose to attend a free lunch seminar, consider bringing our checklist along. Use our checklist to help assure that free investment seminars adhere to the guidelines set by financial regulators.

If you have already decided to attend a free lunch seminar, download the What to Listen for Checklist.
Attend a seminar you've been invited to attend

Instructions for the Free Lunch Monitor include:

Do not announce that you are an AARP Free Lunch Monitor
Do not wear clothing that indicates you are affiliated with AARP
Collect all the handouts provided during the presentation
During or after the seminar, fill in your observations on the What to Listen for Checklist

Many seminar sales use a "soft sell" followed by either a phone call or in-house visit where the pressure to purchase— and do so quickly— may occur. We highly discourage inviting individuals you do not know into your home. If you get a phone call as a follow-up to the seminar, we'd like to know if the caller was more aggressive in trying to make a sale than was observed in the seminar. The back of the seminar checklist has space for additional comments.

Thanks in advance for being a Free Lunch Monitor. Let us know how you felt about this volunteer experience, and if you would do it again. Also let your friends know that they too can be Free Lunch Monitors. Using the checklist is a good way to know what to watch and listen for and not be swayed by an exciting sales pitch and a free meal.

If you're not interested in attending any of the seminars, we'd love to have you share your invitations with us.

AARP wants to see what the invitations are saying and who is sending them. The more invitations you send us the better we can work together to assure that investment professionals truly work in the best interest of each investor.