You aren't feeling well. You mention to your friend that you need to make an appointment to see your doctor ... and your friend says, "Why don't you try this doctor who flies in every month or so? He seems like a good guy!"

Taking your friend's advice, your see the suitcase doctor who breezes in for a few days, and says "take two aspirin, and don't bother calling me in the morning, cause I will be on my way back to good ol' US of A." That'll be $200 cash, please. How terrific, a doctor on demand! Two days later, you are highly miffed because you became even more ill during the night, and you aren't sure who to call now ? your easy, breezy new doctor is nowhere in sight.

Now substitute, onshore broker for the good doctor and what have you got? Some visiting salesman selling some onshore investment to local residents.

A suitcase salesman is a term used to describe brokers and other investment related individuals who fly into Bermuda on a regular basis with the goal of conducting business out of their suitcases.

Having said that, many of these people are highly respected professional consultants here for legitimate business reasons ? not to cast aspersions on the entire group.

But somehow, and it is always unclear just how, others manage to filter through immigration and customs when it is evident in hindsight (and documented evidence) that they are financial salespeople here to compete directly with local investment firms for the life savings of Bermuda residents.

After a few days, the suitcase men leave replete in the knowledge that substantial sums will be wired out to investment firms elsewhere in the world. At least, we want to think that's where the money goes. But how do we really know?

We don't, until we learn of the losses, or the lack of assets in an unavailable account simply gone missing elsewhere. When your money has travelled overseas, who can you turn to for redress? Who will represent you if the entire investment disappears?

Competition is a healthy thing. Every investment firm and resident professional here in Bermuda wants to provide services and products based on merit

Local investment firms have to jump through numerous hoops to start an investment business: mandated restricted capital allocations, compliance and regulatory know your client best practices, audit trails, fiduciary care, due diligence and numerous other requirements imposed by not only the local Monetary Authority but other jurisdictions as well, just to operate.

Investment firms must hire personnel, provide pensions, payroll tax, health insurance and other benefits. Make no mistake, it is expensive to do business in Bermuda, yet we have an investment infrastructure that is sophisticated, mature and very competent.

Local investment professionals put their reputation on the line every single day. Everyone knows who we are and what we stand for. A suitcase broker, what does he stand for. We don't know ? well, he just conveniently opens a suitcase.

Licensed Investment professionals and firms in Bermuda are generally prohibited from soliciting business in the US. And if caught trespassing will have to answer to their regulatory authorities, the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Why then aren't we applying the same reciprocity in restrictions to onshore suitcase people who come into our island; practice without an investment licence and leave without contributing anything to our economy?

What are local residents saying when they choose to do business with these out of country salesmen? Bermudian firms are not up to snuff? Bermudian advisors are not knowledgeable? Bermudian advisors don't provide quality care? I don't believe that any of the above statements apply.

If anything, maybe Bermudian advisors are more considerate of their clients and just not as aggressive. After all, as one client told me: "Well, that broker just harassed me day after day until I finally bought something ? just to make him go away?" Who won that deal?The potential client is given generic copied investment material where the firm touts itself as "a private investment-banking firm, specialising in corporate finance. The senior management is dedicated to investment advice of the highest quality to sophisticated high net worth investors in retail and institutional levels."

Sounds really good, except that the salutation Dear XXXX section is filled in by hand (form letter) and the rest of the missive appears to be addressed to some other person. In addition, most interestingly, the broker is proposing that the prospect purchase a micro cap stock that has lost 40 percent of its value in the last six months. Where is this sale related to corporate finance?

A review of the rest of the sales information reveals a margin account application. New and novice investors are generally not familiar with the concept of opening a margin account where you are contractually obligating yourself to pay on demand for any losses incurred on your behalf by your broker.

You are also giving your broker discretion to trade and borrow on your behalf as well as the flexibility to leverage your account.

More alarming is the fact that you are granting the investment firm a security interest in any, and all property belonging to you or in which you may have an interest, or held by you. This property is considered collateral for any market trading moves made on your behalf by your broker utilising the margin account.

You also within this contract give permission to have your property sold to satisfy any of these obligations. While margining accounts is a strategy used by many sophisticated investors to accelerate profits, the bottom line for you is this ? if your investments go sour, you get a margin call ? you have to pay immediately or lose assets. Somehow when you thought you'd just like to buy a few small stock positions, this may not be what you thought you were getting.

It must be the reputed $400 billion in capital ensconced here that attracts so much interest in this international jurisdiction. Foreign financial salespersons have no concept of any of the financial issues facing local residents including tax ramifications that can occur when investing in another country's tax regime. Possibly, they do not care. Because they are unknown, they may present credentials that cannot be verified, and sell investments that may not be appropriate for this jurisdiction. Most importantly, they are simply not here ? most of the time.

It appears based upon feedback from other investment professionals that there is future legislation in an already very full line-up, that the Minister of Finance will consider adding to the Investment Business Act, namely an order for Carrying on Business in Bermuda and addressing the issue of Cold Calling into Bermuda.

We sincerely hope that these items will receive due attention. They will go a long way to level the playing field. That's all any business wants, the opportunity to compete effectively. As we all know, reputational excellence will always win ? in the long run.

As for those who are considering these types of investment arrangements, consider this: if you would never settle for long-distance doctoring, why would you allow some long-distance broker to handle your second most precious possession (after your health), namely your lifetime savings.