To some degree, we all do the same, don't we? When we invest, aren't we looking to gain the most from our returns? We probably don't or didn't risk as much as Madoff's customer did, but when we invest either through a work 401(k) or an IRA, we want to try to make as much as we can. At least I do.
I remember one fellow on "60 Minutes" that invested the better part of $2million and lost all but about 20% of it. The government was able to retrieve about another 30%, but that was about all that he got back, so he ended up losing close to a million bucks.
I never liked (or trusted) using private brokers. I stick with well known and reputable investment companies like Fidelity or Vanguard.