If we're going to be money-savvy kids, we must know how to watch out for scams and frauds that will cause us to lose our hard-earned money. In this episode of the Cash Kid Podcast, we explore the importance of investment protection and scam prevention with Amanda Senn, the director of the Alabama Securities Commission. Learn about the role of the Securities Commission, real-world examples of its impact on preventing fraud, and how technology affects financial safety. Discover actionable tips on how to safeguard personal information, the significance of financial literacy, and the new financial education requirements for high school students. This informative episode aims to educate kids and adults alike on the essentials of financial protection and literacy. Episode: So, you got some cash, maybe from an allowance? Or, that money your grandma gave you for your seventh birthday. Here ya go, sweetie! Woo hoo! Thanks, Grandma! Whatever it is, what are you gonna do with it? Spend it? Hide it away? Or maybe invest it? Let's start learning how to make that money grow. Time to learn how to be a Cash Kid. Millions of dollars lost to fraudsters. Scams across the states. The elderly and kids are big targets. Who is working to protect our investments? And how can kids my age help stop these scams? Plus, taking a financial course is now a graduation requirement in my state. Yep. We’ve got it all covered in this episode of the Cash Kid Podcast where we went on the road to talk with The Alabama Director of the Securities Commmission, Amanda Senn. I personally, had no idea what this department in our state was doing for us everyday. How there are people behind the scenes working to make sure only legitimate business is being conducted and stop fraudsters so we can protect our hard earned money. If you aren’t already, be sure to follow us on social media @cashkidpodcast. Visit our website at cashkidpodcast.com and join our mailing list. Please, please, leave a review from whatever platform you are listening from and help us spread and grow the Cash Kid mission. Alright, we traveled to Montgomery, Alabama to conduct this interview with Ms. Senn. So let’s jump right into it! Cash Kid: Welcome to the show Ms. Senn. And first off, tell us a little bit about yourself. Amanda Senn: Thank you, Cash Kid. I'm glad to be here. My name is Amanda Senn, and I've been with the Alabama Securities Commission for almost 16 years. Interesting fact, I started as an intern and worked my way up, became general counsel, deputy director enforcement and then last year, succeeded at the long time director,Joe Borg, as the director of this agency. Cash Kid: Yep, that's really interesting. So, what is a securities commission and why do we need it? Amanda Senn: So, a security is more than just a stock, a bond, a debenture. There are a laundry list of things that are covered, but it's essentially anything with a view toward an investment. So, you don't actually have to have a writing. But, our agency enforces laws that, um, directly impact. People who sell securities and Those products that are considered securities. We also serve as a resource to our financial industry in the state. Oftentimes some of the smaller businesses don't always have the tremendous amount of resources that the larger firms have. So we're in a unique position to be able to collect information from across the United States and provide it to our industry folks to let them know what's going on and hopefully keep them apprised of all the trends that are coming out in the financial industry. So can you explain how you advocate for investor protections? Why do, why do we need this protection? Just to be clear, there are two securities regulatory bodies, the Federal Securities Exchange Commission and then the State Securities Commissions. The State Securities Commission, our office here, does have some dual oversight with the federal government, but we are exclusively responsible for certain investment advisor And we retain, um, fraud authority so we can prosecute any cases where we have some crook that comes into our state. Because I'm certain none of our Alabama residents are crooks. They come into our state and, um, and represent, um, That, you know, we have this typically what we'll see. So we have this great investment opportunity and, um, it's going to grow jobs in the state and we need investor capital and I'll put it with my, um, you know, business model and my plan and we'll help grow this industry. What happens in a criminal case is they take the money and they don't do what they told the investor they would do with it. They instead funnel it into personal expenses. Sometimes these crooks buy houses, cars, diamond rings for their girlfriends. It's not always a guy though. Sometimes we have female crooks, but they will just take money and, and steal it. So. Um, so investor ...
