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Chapter 180: Black October Part 2
Frank was an ordinary worker with a dual-income household. His mother, who lived next door, took care of their child, while he and his wife each had a job.
Both of them working naturally meant they earned an additional income, and it was quite significant. If this situation continued for several years, it would amount to a substantial sum.
Frank’s job sometimes involved dealing with the affluent clients of Bupayne. He knew better than most that getting rich overnight in Bupayne wasn’t just a myth. After discussing it with his wife, they approached a financial company and opened an account.
It was worth mentioning that for ordinary people, trading stocks and securities was a complicated matter. Manual matching processes could cause anyone to miss the best trading opportunities. To achieve quicker and more stable matching, one would need a private trading seat.
However, the cost of a trading seat had soared to nearly a million, putting it beyond the reach of ordinary people. As a result, they had to rely on financial brokerage firms to manage their accounts, incurring various fees in the process.
Yet, over time, they still made a significant profit.
When the financial market was on an upward trend, even the worst stocks could perform miracles, let alone the carefully selected stocks by the brokerage firm.
Soon, their account balance grew from a few thousand to nearly ten thousand, which was a substantial amount for an ordinary family.
However, the market recently became increasingly difficult. Except for a few heavyweight stocks that continued to rise, the upward momentum of other stocks had gradually slowed down.
Brokers claimed this was a temporary adjustment, and once it was over, the stocks would rise again as they had before.
Many people believed the brokers because ninety-five percent of the people on the streets of Bupayne had little to no understanding of stocks. Only five percent were true financial professionals.
With a large number of outsiders contributing to the prosperity of this industry, they also gained substantial dividends.
Recently, Frank's broker had been advising him to invest in bonds, emphasizing it as a prime opportunity to earn over ten percent returns almost immediately. It was said to be a deal that was unmatched in the current market.
He was told that there was no need to worry about fluctuations in trading prices because the bond’s price was set at its face value. But if the issuing country offered incentives, the incentives would only raise the bond’s upper limit, not lower it.
In other words, it was a guaranteed profit deal, and even if there were no future takers, they would still be able to redeem the bonds for cash directly.
After a brief study of bonds, Frank and his wife confirmed this to be true. According to the books they read, bonds were unlikely to depreciate. Had they consulted more professional sources, their perspective might have been different. However, their lack of familiarity with such resources may have influenced their decision-making regarding these options.
Eventually, they decided to invest all their savings, along with a credit loan from the bank, into the first batch of foreign war bonds, convinced that investing in bonds was risk-free.
"About twelve percent, more than twenty thousand!"
That was what Frank told his family and friends. He even opened a bottle of wine priced at 8.99 bucks to celebrate. Facing envious and jealous eyes, he felt like he was walking on clouds. He thought his luck and vision were excellent and even considered becoming a full-time financial investor in the future. He had even drafted a learning plan for himself.
All these aspirations for a bright future came to a halt on the last Friday evening of the previous month.
The final issue of the monthly "Trading Report" used about a quarter of its space to remind all investors of the significant risk of bond exchange. This time, they did not hide this statement among other sensational content but displayed it openly.
All this was triggered by the federal government’s comprehensive failure in its foreign policy on the international stage.
In August and September, the President’s cabinet still fantasized about resolving these and other troubles through diplomatic positions. However, they obviously failed.
Neither the victorious nor the defeated nations of the recent world war had any goodwill towards the Baylor Federation. They naturally delayed and reneged as much as possible.
The failure in diplomacy immediately caused some issues to spiral out of control. The redemption period for the first batch of war bonds was approaching, and major banks had already cleared out as many bonds as possible. They also refused to redeem these bonds directly or act as agents for redemption.
Because they knew these bonds were nearly worthless, they could not bring any value and would instead entangle them further.
So this time, the "Trading Report" bluntly clarified some issues, once again proving it was a newspaper that dared to speak the truth and had a conscience!
Its stance and attitude were as neutral as the current Federation, not favoring anyone!
After reading the report, Frank broke into a cold sweat. He immediately inquired with his broker about the bond redemption matters and then went to the bank.
The bank directly refused his request and told him he could take a ship to the bond-issuing country's bank for redemption, but redeeming them domestically was almost impossible.
Unwilling to give up, Frank, thinking more quickly than others, called the issuing bank in the bond-issuing country. Initially, the other party assured him they could provide redemption services at any time, which made Frank breathe a sigh of relief.
But when he provided his bond code, the other party immediately informed him that these bonds were associated with certain risks. They temporarily halted redemption, and in that moment, Frank's heart sank; he was utterly devastated.
A total of over ten thousand bucks, ten years of effort, all turned to waste. This wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he still had to pay for various living expenses and personal credit loan interests every month, or else the bank would seize his and his parents’ houses, his car, and he would have to move to a worse neighborhood, maybe even become homeless with his family!
In despair, he called his broker.
"You knew it all along, didn’t you?!" Frank’s voice was low and filled with anger, like a volcano about to erupt.
The broker on the other end was silent for a moment before dryly responding, "Would you believe me if I said I didn’t know?"
From the few seconds of silence, Frank knew the broker was aware of some inside information, which made him even angrier. "We've known each other for many years and never had any unpleasant interactions. Why would you do this to me? I thought we were friends."
The broker chuckled lightly, "Frank, I have a whole phone book full of friends like you in my pocket."
"Over these years, you've profited a lot from our partnership. This incident was merely an unfortunate occurrence, and you should know, I also didn’t want this to happen."
"Our superiors have instructed us to recommend these bonds. All we could do was call you and inform you of their returns and risks. The final decision was in your hands, not mine."
A broker’s phone communication would follow a very standard procedure, not hiding any risk-related information, but skillfully making people misinterpret the risks.
When recommending these bonds to Frank, the broker also cautioned him about their risks. However, he managed to convince Frank that the risk he mentioned simply meant that no one else would buy the bonds. When the broker assured him he could redeem them at face value, these risks seemed negligible to Frank.
Frank’s voice became more agitated. "You lied to me! This is a fact! You must give back my money!"
The broker’s voice also became impatient. "Firstly, I didn’t lie to you. I told you it was your decision."
"Secondly, our commission agreement clearly states that risks are borne by you. You want me to compensate you because you’ve suffered losses now. But when you made tens of thousands of bucks over the years, did you call to share half with me?"
"Wake up, you're not a child anymore. There's no candy to cry over. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. I don't have time to waste with you here!"
"If you have that much free time, why not think about your future."
With a loud bang, the phone was slammed onto the base, followed by a busy signal. Frank was furious; he felt pushed to the edge of a cliff.
If they had only lost their savings, it wouldn’t have mattered much. But they had also used their credit loans from the bank and part of his parents' savings and their credit loans.
As soon as the credit loan was introduced, nearly everyone eligible applied for it. During these difficult times, there was nothing more reassuring than having some money in hand.
But this also turned previously non-existent issues into frightening realities.
Frank’s whole family might end up homeless!
After locking himself in his room for two days, Frank finally decided to escalate the matter. This wasn't a rash decision; it was one he made after careful consideration.
As the first person to cause a stir, if the federal government helped them resolve these issues, then as the representative figure of the cause, his problem would be addressed first.
As for going to jail, he didn’t care much. He knew that ten years of effort couldn’t recover the lost money, but if serving ten years in prison could, he thought it was worth it!
So, on Sunday night, he took a knife and some ropes and visited his broker.
This was why his broker appeared at the exchange with a grim face today.
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