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He spent 22 months behind bars and now he is offering up financial advice.
Jordan Belfort, convicted securities fraud and money launderer, spent almost two years in jail for crimes committed while he was working on New York’s Wall Street. But according to the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, since being indicted in 1998 he has become a better person and businessman.
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Speaking at a financial conference held in the Hunter Valley, NSW, in September, Mr Belfort said he had a message to share with those working in the financial sector, including financial planners and mortgage brokers.
“In our business, it can be hard. It really is, it’s easy to lose your ethical way,” he told the room of 200 people.
“And when I get interviewed, I say, ‘It’s not like everyone on Wall Street is crooked, it’s probably like three per cent’. It’s very few people.
“You really just can’t be half pregnant when it comes to ethics in this business. It's either you’re ethical or you’re not, there is no middle ground. You’ve got to put your clients first - there is no other way. You need to have great products and learn how to sell those as effectively as possible.”
According to Mr Belfort, that is the formula for long-term success.
“Today my mantra for my life is to give 10 times as much value as I would ever expect to get back in money. You know what, the money takes care of itself; people will always pay for value. Your job is to give the value and give it in bucket loads,” he said.
“Learn from the good and from the bad because I promise you, if I could do it all over again, I would have done things very, very differently. I wouldn’t have taken the first bag of cash for a payoff that started the process, and from there I went on a rationalisation spree. Before I knew it, I was associating with people I never thought I’d associate with, doing things I never thought I’d do. I look at my life as a cautionary tale and also as inspiration [that] you can come back from anything.”
The Wolf of Wall Street opens in cinemas tomorrow December 25. The dramatisation of Mr Belfort’s life was directed by Martin Scorsese, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey.
