Before signing your account opening documents with that exciting new stock broker you saw on TV or heard from a friend was a pure money-maker, do your own due diligence and go beyond Google by running a BrokerCheck.
Lawyers Who Know FINRA Arbitration
Investors: Has Your Broker Left You "Swimming Naked?"
REITs and the Perils of Investing in Them
Brokerage Fined $10M+ for Failure to Supervise Brokers
Brokerages Create Illusion of Fiduciary Duty Through Savvy Marketing
Misleading advertising prevalent among brokerage firms lulls investors into a false sense of security over their investments. They stop checking up on their accounts and their broker because they trust him or her; they’ve been told that is, along with access to information and expertise, the main reason to invest with him or her.
Non Traditional ETFs Bury Gold Rushing Broker and Customers
Regulators Worried About Senior Investors
In many cases, seniors don’t realize their investment portfolios no longer reflect the risk-tolerances and investment objectives they indicated in their broker-dealer account opening documents. On your account statements, your investor profile may not change. It may still be labeled “Conservative” or “Moderate-risk” while the actual investments or overall allocation of investments you hold are anything but conservative or moderate.
Small Investors, Big Losses
New Hampshire to LPL: Alt Investments Must Be Suitable
Beware Phony Senior-Specific Investment Professionals
The law prohibits the use of senior-specialization designations by any person who lacks certification from an accrediting organization. This law makes clear that using a phony senior-specific designation that falsely implies some financial expertise in the investment needs of our elderly investors is against the law.
Last Year, Energy Stocks Went Bust - Did Your Portfolio Go Bust With Them?
Energy securities once regarded as moderate risk can shift into high or very high risk if the natural resources or benchmarks they’re tied to swing dramatically, as did crude oil prices last year. That means that those oil and gas company stock and bonds your broker recommended or purchased prior to this year may have become unsuitable for you as the fracking boom went bust.
FINRA Disciplinary Action Report: February 2015
Financial Fraud Hurts More Than Just Your Savings
As an important recent report by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation indicates, nearly two-thirds of financial fraud victims experience severe emotional trauma and hardship.
Investor Choice for Financial Dispute Resolution
Thanks to Democratic Representative from Minnesota, Keith Ellison, “The Investor Choice Act” has been introduced to Congress. The act would ensure that mandatory arbitration agreements are prohibited under US securities laws. As investor advocates ourselves, we support your right to choose, once the facts of your dispute have emerged, the venue most advantageous to you.
FINRA Has Its Eye on These Financial Products
Last month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published its Regulatory and Examinations Priorities Letter. While the express purpose of this letter is to advise stock brokers and compliance officers about the focus of the accreditation exams many of them will be taking in 2015, the letter also indirectly puts investors and securities professionals on notice.
Preventing Elderly Financial Abuse
Broker Conflicts of Interest Cost Investors Billions Every Year
The Chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors has ruffled some serious Wall Street feathers with the release of a recent report suggesting that Americans with 401(k) retirement accounts could be losing $8 billion to $17 billion per year due to opportunistic trading by the brokers managing their accounts.
FINRA Disciplinary Report January 2015
The Collapse of High Risk, High Yield Oil and Gas MLP Stocks
By introducing an inappropriate amount of risk into your investment portfolio through oil and gas MLP stocks (or any other publicly or privately-traded security or product, for that matter), you may be able to pursue your losses due to bad advice through the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the securities industry’s self-regulating body) arbitration process.