Heroes And Villains

One writer tells of three of his Foolish Heroes and three who are Wise Villains.

It's hard to find people who selflessly fight for consumers. I asked fellow writer Alison Hunt if she could think of any such Foolish heroes. She responded: 'Hey, wouldn't it be great if Spiderman fought PPI? That would be wonderful!'...So no help there then.

I then turned to Ed Bowsher, the editor. He simply said: 'Just make sure you get a quote about the Beach Boys in there.'*

Heroes

So here's a short list of my own favourites who are, or appear to be, relatively selfless (benefit of the doubt given where appropriate). Failing that, they have become heroes through wit, wisdom or by leading the way through success, and without any apparent ego. The sorts of people you'd want on your side, rather than in it, like a thorn.

Ros Altmann

There are two words to describe this woman: 'driven' and 'angry'. A former pensions adviser to No.10, she now campaigns tirelessly for the more than 100,000 people who have been robbed of their pensions when the decision was made to take billions from pension schemes. She's made the national papers 22 times since the beginning of 2006 by campaigning on all things to do with the effects of poor pension policy.

But she certainly isn't blinded by her emotions. She cogently argues the case for substantial Government assistance to put right its mistakes. She comments strongly on the Government's continued defiance of both a Parliamentary Ombudsman ruling and a High Court ruling that the Government has acted unlawfully and needs to make amends.

JK Galbraith

Galbraith was an economist. He died last year. Fools shouldn't trust people in the financial industry just because they are so-called 'professionals', so it's Galbraith's healthy disrespect for his own profession that I liked.

He took the arrogance out of his profession with a very quotable turn of phrase:

"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable."

"There are two classes of forecasters: those who don't know, and those who don't know they don't know."

"The experience of being proved completely wrong is salutary. No economist should be denied it, and none are."

Warren Buffett

Buffett is more a role-model than a hero, perhaps. We shouldn't try to emulate everything he does, because the majority of investors can't hope to match his staggering performance.

It's his success, coming from nothing to become one of the richest men in the world, that makes him a hero. After all, that's what you read The Motley Fool for: to save and make more money. (Perhaps after we help you get out of debt!)

Furthermore, his investment strategy is to buy shares and hold them for a long time, which is a strategy we firmly believe in. (Read The Easiest Way To Invest.)

He also enjoys himself while he does it: that's a big part of his success and it's a good tip for anyone considering any money-making venture.

Oh yes, and he's donating almost all of his $40billion-odd fortune to charity. You can't argue with that.

Villains

It's a lot easier to find villains than heroes. I could name pretty much any financial company as a villain, because I have one or two dozen gripes with each of them. Choosing individuals is a lot harder though, because it can be hard to pinpoint where the blame is...

John Varley

..But you can argue that the buck stops at the top man, so making an example of Barclays' chief executive officer might be a place to start. I could have picked any bank's CEO, but Barclays is topical after the BBC's recent Whistleblower report on dreadful mis-selling practices. (Read Penalty Charges And Other Banking Tricks!)

Varley can't be entirely to blame for this. But he does head the company, so he has to take the flak, in my opinion. Yes, his business has to compete against all the other banks, which are no better. But no one makes him do his job, do they? There are plenty of jobs that he could get which wouldn't involve treating customers in this way...So what does this say about a person who would do this job?

Gordon Brown

I don't want to get political. I think politicians are all as bad as each other, it's just that this one happens to run the Treasury right now. It could have been any Chancellor.

Brown is a villain for the same reason Altmann is a hero, because of his part in the poverty caused to many thousands of pensioners.

He's also a villain because of all the stealth tax rises he's overseen. Through hidden means he has increased taxes dozens of times. I don't think that raising taxes is wrong, but at least he could be honest and open about it. Problem is, honesty and openness are not necessarily the traits of a successful politician.

Whoever invented payment protection insurance!

More accurately, perhaps, this should be whoever priced payment protection insurance (PPI). This insurance is supposed to protect you if you're unable to pay off your debt due to accident, sickness or unemployment. However, lenders typically make about 80% profit on this insurance, making it one of the biggest rip-offs in the financial industry.

Read more about it in Fool Fights Rip-Off Insurance.

These people should all be ashamed of themselves. We should condemn these villains, and listen to the heroes. This way, we'll be head-to-toe healthy, wealthy and Foolish. (Happy now, Ed?)

* In case you're confused, Heroes and Villains is a Beach Boys track; arguably their finest hour - Ed.