Enron’s lessons lost on some

NEW YORK – If you’ve spent this past week thinking about Kenneth Lay, Enron Corp.’s founder and a convicted felon who died Wednesday at 64, turn your thoughts to something more constructive: your own portfolio.

The lessons of the Enron debacle, which wiped out more than $60 billion in market value and almost $2.1 billion in pension plans, were clear, yet investors continue to make some of the same mistakes. Some of the lessons we should have learned:

•Don’t bet the house on any company, especially the one you work for.

If you work for a company, your future is already tied to its future. Don’t double down.

•Remember that where there’s trouble you can see, there may be more on its way.

•If you don’t understand what the company does, beware. If you don’t understand their disclosures, run. And if you don’t have time to read disclosures, ask yourself why you bother trading individual stocks.

•Finally, beware of the company that is too focused on quarterly earnings.

In the end, Enron failed because its focus was not on operations, adequate controls and playing by the rules – the things executives must pay attention to accomplish something old-fashioned and boring: staying out of bankruptcy court.