Putting It All Back Together – How Kyra Sedgwick And Kevin Bacon Used Real Estate To Rebuild After Being Swindled By Bernie Madoff

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Imagine learning your financial advisor has been charged with defrauding his clients and then discovering that a chunk of that stolen money was yours. That was what happened to actors Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon after Bernie Madoff's 2008 arrest, but the couple's real estate investment portfolio has helped them rebuild.

At one time, Madoff was among the most sought-after financial advisers among the wealthy. For decades he generated returns that were so impressive, his peers wondered if it was too good to be true. As it turns out, it was.

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It all came crashing down after Madoff was arrested for bilking investors out of an estimated $65 billion for decades in what may be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. The aftermath left his clients, including Bacon and Sedgwick, in a state of shock. The couple haven't disclosed how much they lost, but according to Hello!, reports put it at around $30 million.

"It sucked," Bacon told People in an interview. He said that he and Sedgwick, who have been married since 1988, had most of their portfolio tied up with Madoff. It seemed like the right idea at the time. Their advisor appeared to be a money-making machine who was generating better returns than almost all of his peers.

“If it seems too good to be true, then it's too good to be true,” Bacon said. Hindsight is 20/20, but he and Sedgwick still had to rebuild. People noted that he didn't seem "too jaded from the experience," and Bacon replied, "Not jaded, more careful, but not jaded." Madoff was a stock trader, which meant there was no overlap between the couple's investments with him and their real estate portfolio.

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Bacon had bought a 40-acre farm in Sharon, Connecticut in 1983, which was shortly before he and Sedgwick began dating, according to Hello! Data from HUD shows the median home price in the Northeastern U.S. was $82,200 back then. Today, the average home value in Sharon is $669,980, according to Zillow. Bacon's farm includes 40-acres of land, so one could assume the property is worth millions.

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Bacon and Sedgwick also own homes in New York City and Los Angeles. Real estate in both markets has appreciated significantly since Madoff's arrest 17 years ago. That equity, plus revenue from acting, has allowed the couple to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Bacon told the "Smartless" podcast that he and Sedgwick recovered "a portion" of their losses, but not nearly all of it.

Today, Bacon and Sedgwick spend time shuttling between their homes in New York and Los Angeles. They may not have realized it when they bought their properties, but those real estate investments gave them a foundation to rebuild on after having what may have been a $30 million nest egg disappear into thin air.

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There are valuable lessons you can learn from the couple's experience with Madoff. If you're going to hire a financial advisor, make sure you vet them thoroughly. Look for someone with the right credentials and certifications, and make sure they disclose any history of criminal wrongdoing or consumer complaints.

Most securities dealers and brokers hold federal licenses, and you can look up their disciplinary history on the FINRA website. Above all else, if the impressive returns they generate for their clients seem too good to be true, there's a good chance they are.

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This article Putting It All Back Together – How Kyra Sedgwick And Kevin Bacon Used Real Estate To Rebuild After Being Swindled By Bernie Madoff originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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