Actor, Writer Stein to Speak at CPCU Ceremony

American Institute for CPCU announced that Ben Stein, whose diverse career includes being an Emmy-winning game show host (“Win Ben Stein’s Money”), well-known movie actor, novelist, TV sitcom actor, movie script writer, speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford, university teacher, and writer and teacher about finance, will be the featured speaker at the national conferment ceremony for the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter class of 2004 on Oct. 24. The American Institute’s conferment ceremony is held in conjunction with the CPCU Society’s Annual Meeting and Seminars, which will take place Oct. 23-26 in Los Angeles.

Stein will give CPCUs and their guests a humorous road map showing how to make something useful of the money that comes in and out of their lives.

Stein was born in Washington, D.C., the son of noted economist and writer Herbert Stein. He received a B.A. degree with honors in economics at Columbia University. He is a 1970 graduate of the Yale Law School, where his classmates elected him valedictorian. He served as an attorney; worked in advertising; and taught courses on the political content of films and TV at American University, University of California at Santa Cruz, and Pepperdine University. He was a speechwriter and lawyer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was also a columnist and wrote editorials for The Wall Street Journal.

After a move to Hollywood, Stein became a novelist, TV sitcom writer, and movie script writer. He has written and published 24 books, both fiction and nonfiction. Most of his books are about Hollywood and mass culture, but some are self-help books, and others are about finance. His latest book is How to Ruin Your Financial Life.

His other activities include work on exposing the Milken/Drexel junk bond scheme in Barron’s, which was instrumental in the recovery of billions of dollars for investors and taxpayers. He has taught about law, economics, and securities law at Pepperdine Law School. He has also served as an expert witness in many securities law cases.

His acting career includes playing roles in more than 30 movies and TV shows, including a recurring role in the sitcom “The Wonder Years” and his role as the boring teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and hosting 860 episodes of the game show “Win Ben Stein’s Money.”
He is a regular commentator on finance for Fox News Network, a commentator on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and a columnist for the business section of the Sunday New York Times.

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