另类投资是馅饼还是陷阱？（节选）

    2006年12月份，基思·伍德维尔打开罗斯·摩尔寄来的圣诞礼物时，他就知道出问题了。伍德维尔和摩尔的经历非常相似：两人都是犹他州摩门教徒，毕业于杨百瀚大学（Brigham Young University），都当过律师，2001年911后在迸发的爱国热情驱使下决定为国献身，加入了美国中央情报局（CIA）同一个培训项目，两人很快就成了死党。随着双方的妻子相互熟识，孩子们在一起玩耍，他们的生活也进一步交织在一起。到2006年底时，伍德维尔仍在这家情报机构服役，以美国驻澳大利亚大使馆雇员的身份，搜集东南亚情报。而摩尔已经厌倦了这项工作的种种要求，回到了犹他州重新当他的老百姓。

    这年12月，伍德维尔收到了摩尔寄来的圣诞礼物。这是一张励志DVD《秘密》（The Secret），朗达·拜恩写的这本书后来成了畅销书。“你是宇宙中最强大的磁场！你本身拥有比世界上任何东西都强大的磁场，”这就是该书中典型的一段。这张DVD讲述如何运用这种磁力引来财富。

    但一张新世纪式的励志DVD绝不可能对伍德维尔产生吸引力。他只关注事实和证据，一丝不苟，典型的执法人员形象——身材强壮、穿灰色西服、留着极短的寸头。伍德维尔对这份礼物感到很困惑。“我意识到会有什么事发生，”他现在描述当时的状况称。

    几个月后，摩尔写电子邮件给伍德维尔说，他投资的一只私募基金专门购买、转售被低估所谓房屋，正在带来难以置信的回报——每个月10%。这只基金的不寻常之处在于，这似乎不仅仅是钱。它支撑了这样一种信念：不打算依赖政府告诉他们什么地方投资安全的人们需要特立独行和自力更生。摩尔不仅将自己的积蓄投入了这家基金，还在为它做法律工作以及招募新投资者。伍德维尔喜欢简单普通的共同基金，他是那种认为只要买入几只股票，生活就会充满危机的人。他没有理睬摩尔提出的帮他买入基金的建议。

    对于摩尔而言，赚取公务员工资的岁月已经远去，他将尽情享受新的优裕生活。他带妻子去了加勒比海度假。几个月后当伍德维尔去看他时，摩尔向这位好友展示了最令他骄傲的新车：一辆异彩流光的红色雷克萨斯（Lexus）。

    当晚，摩尔携妻子共同观看了伍德维尔妻子在教堂的小提琴独奏演出后，摩尔提出了建议：伍德维尔应当放弃在美国中央情报局的工作，和他一起干。除了成功的房地产投资外，摩尔解释说，他还计划创立一家人生教练公司，肯定能大获成功。“如果你愿意离开情报部门，”摩尔告诉他的朋友说。“我们应当一起干。”

    只要能找到公司进行投资，眼前这样的场景就会不断上演——在酒吧、办公室、在后院露台，在世界上任何地方，朋友劝朋友加入各种各样的风险投资（或冒险）。”

    Keith Woodwell knew something was amiss the moment he unwrapped the Christmas present from Ross Moore. Woodwell and Moore -- both Utahans, both Mormons, both graduates of Brigham Young University, both lawyers -- had become tight friends after both, in parallel bursts of patriotism inspired by 9/11, decided to devote themselves to their country and entered the same CIA training program. Their lives had intertwined further as their wives had become close and their children played together. By late 2006, Woodwell was serving in the spy agency, posing as a U.S. embassy employee in Australia while gathering intelligence on Southeast Asia. Moore had tired of the demands of the job and moved back to Utah, a civilian once again.

    That December, Woodwell received a Christmas present from Moore in the mail. It was a copy of The Secret, an inspiration-oriented DVD that later became a bestselling book by Rhonda Byrne. "You are the most powerful magnet in the universe! You contain a magnetic power within you that is more powerful than anything in this world," went a typical passage. The DVD described how to use that magnet to attract wealth.

    A New Agey self-help video was the last thing that would appeal to Woodwell. He's the sort of man who concerns himself with concrete facts and evidence -- the very picture of buttoned-up law enforcement intensity with his solid physique, gray suits, and a buzz cut that leaves him a millimeter short of full baldness. Woodwell was taken aback by the gift. "I realized something was up," he says now.

    A few months later Moore e-mailed to tell Woodwell he was making fabulous returns -- 10% a month -- in a private fund that bought undervalued houses and resold them. The fund was unusual in that it seemed to be about more than money: It espoused a dogma that stressed individualism and self-reliance for the type of person who wasn't going to rely on the government to tell him where it's safe to invest. Moore wasn't just putting his savings into the fund; he was doing legal work for it and recruiting new investors as well. Woodwell, who favors plain-vanilla mutual funds, is the type of person who considers buying a few shares of an individual stock as living dangerously. He ignored Moore's offer to help him buy in.

    The days of public sector salaries were gone for Moore, it seemed, and he was reveling in his new affluence. He took his wife on a Caribbean vacation. And when Woodwell visited a few months later, Moore showed off his newest and proudest possession: a gleaming red Lexus.

    That night, after Moore and his wife attended a violin recital by Woodwell's wife at their church, Moore made his pitch: Woodwell should give up his CIA job and join him. In addition to the successful real estate investments, Moore explained, he was planning to start a life-coaching business that he was certain would be a success. "If you're ready to leave the agency," Moore told his friend, "we should work together."

    For as long as there have been businesses to invest in, scenes like this have played out -- in bars, in offices, on backyard decks -- with buddies wooing buddies to join them in every type of venture (and adventure) under the sun.