what was bernie madoff telling his investors they were investing in?

He was allegedly investing in stocks and using options on those stocks to get high returns. The split strike strategy involves buying a basket of stocks, then writing call options against those stocks, and using the proceeds from writing the call option to purchase a put option. Its not that hard to understand, as long as you understand what writing a call option means and a put option. And those are simple. Anyone who has passed 10th grade math should be able to understand the concept. The problem was that Madoff allegedly wasnt using this strategy. And it probably wouldnt have given the high returns he claimed anyway. He wasnt doing anything except taking money from current investors and giving it to previous investors, which is the definition of a Ponzi scheme. "Taking money from Paul to pay Peter" There was no investment at all.

Get ready for tax increases. Anyway, I understand the Social Security trust fund will be solvent until 2040. At least that's how the Clinton administration left the trust fund. However, I know some retirees that got notices that their benefits were being reduced. So, the trickle down theory is starting to work on the seniors first. I guess this is the trickle down that Reagan, Bush, and Bush were trying to accomplish. Crowd out savings and investment through high unmanageable debt to lower our living standards.

He just say "look at the statements".

If you press further, his right-hand-man threatens to give your money back.

Go watch "The Madoff Affair" on the PBS WGBH subchannel. It explains everything.

scammers usually have complicated hard to understand tactics... madoff talked about split strike convergence lol... he talked in very complicated terms, hence relying on people not to ask him how exactly it works..

watch the video!!

good luck:)

the guy above me is right... he talked in very complicated financial language that you don't understand. when people were asking him to explain he would say that he had no time...