‘You need a third job or a rich husband’: I fell victim to Allen Stanford’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and survived

Dear Quentin,

I am an adult who’s taken responsibility for herself for her entire life. I am sometimes astounded by people’s lack of empathy.

This person is asking a serious question about retiring with $100,000 in the bank, and all they’re getting is chastisement. 

I had a great deal of money. Then, at the age of 54, Allen Stanford, the now-convicted fraudster and his Ponzi scheme, happened. I had listened to a financial adviser who handled the money for my multimillionaire clients, and I, too, was left with almost nothing.