Comments on: 7 Financial Advisors I Would Like to Punch in the Face

By: Adam Randall

Adam Randall — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 04:06:21 +0000

I think it all comes down to learning as much as you can regarding personal finance first. If you have no idea what you are doing then you are an easy target for people to take advantage of you. Like PT Barnum said “A sucker is born every minute.”

By: The Insurist

The Insurist — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 23:09:17 +0000

**Insert loud sighing noises** The industry just doesn’t do itself any favors. I’ve seen all of these “suspects” you illustrate Jeff and it drives me absolutely crazy. It’s also frustrating to read some of the absolute $#&@! posted on the internet touted as educated advice. Something many consumers don’t realize is an advisors regulatory history is public information and can be found at finra.org and/or sec.gov depending on the type of registrations they hold. It doesn’t generally take long for the complaints to catch up advisors offering self serving practices and you can find the details on those sites.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:47:09 +0000

I think this speaks to a larger financial industry issue: the barrier to entry is too low. A lot of firms do not require specific educational credentials (those that do mostly state “min of BA/BA/BBA.”

Unfortunately, someone can pass the series7 / 66 and call themselves a Financial Advisor.

The reputation risk to the industry is overwhelming.

By: Margaret Pelletier

Margaret Pelletier — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:12:49 +0000

John Advisor, You sound like the advisor I just dealt with. My husband is 84 and has had eight TIAs. I have Melanoma. We want our money NOT tied up in long term investments. My husband is one who planned ahead for retirement all the while he worked. My husband had shares that he was free to do what he wanted with. The advisor sold his shares and invested him into a seven year term annuity…Yup, B series. Even worst, because of his age, she had to put me as the sole owner.

By: Ted Jenkin

Ted Jenkin — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:41:32 +0000

Jeff,

I loved this article. I worked for a big company for 17 years before I opened up oXYGen Financial. Most consumers don’t realize that large companies manufacture products that their representatives sell, but those products are named differently than the main branded name of the brokerage house, bank, or insurance company. What if you never knew that at Costco Kirkland was the ‘house’ brand or at Whole Foods that 365 was the house brand? Wouldn’t you be upset if you bought something that was sold by the house without knowing whether a) it was truly the best product or b) what kind of money the company was making on you? This goes on every day in our industry.

I also encourage consumer to ask their financial advisor if they take ‘wholesaling money’. Many advisors in this business will offer a product to their clients solely based upon the fact that the product company is giving them ‘marketing money to do a seminar, client appreciation event, etc. So beware if you attend an event and their are product representatives their ‘supporting’ your advisors.

Just some thoughts . . .

Ted

By: Jeff Rose

Jeff Rose — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:10:17 +0000

@ John Advisor

Did you even read the article?

For any client (20 years to 100 years-old) that is concerned about safety of principal, why would they invest into anything other than a CD/savings account/money market, etc? (Fixed annuities could be another option). The client that I referenced didn’t need to make a high interest rate and was MORE concerned about losing what she had.

I’m 34 years old and have over 12 months of our household expenses sitting in cash making absolutely nothing but it’s there for a reason – emergencies.

I’m not frustrated over good financial advisors that take care of their clients. These are examples of financial advisors that solely had their best interest in mind.

The 80 year-old client was advised to put her money in a “safe investment” that was down 30% when she needed to cash it in. Unless I’m missing something how is that “being a smart investor”.

By: John Advisor

John Advisor — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:46:36 +0000

This is a terrible article. Disclosing fees, etc to client is obviously important, but I feel like you are frustrated over competition.
I would love to see you at 80 years old have your money in a .50% cd.
Unless you absolutely needed that cd money to live on, why would anyone invest in a cd today. Just because you’re 80 doesn’t mean you have to stop being a smart investor.

By: Kellen Bryant

Kellen Bryant — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:10:50 +0000

What a great article! I am an elder law attorney and I have seen many of the same things that Jeff talks about here. Many of my clients chase income from their investments and fall into the traps that Jeff discusses here. It is difficult for seniors to figure out who to trust on this stuff. I learned a thing or two myself here because I work with financial advisors.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:29:03 +0000

Just found out I was paying .75% advisory fee on my account and come to find out he had not done a trade on it in 2 years. I feel so taken advantage of and angry at myself for not paying closer attention. Now that I busted him and asked for my advisory fees back they of course will not comply. I’m going to file a complaint with FINRA, but who knows if anything will come of it.

By: Taline

Taline — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:57:03 +0000

Jeff,

This post cracked me up and took me back to my financial advisor days!

I was told too many times that I was being “too honest” with my clients and I needed to stop or else they wouldn’t necessarily invest with me. Well, like the example you gave of the 80 year old being placed in high risk investments, there were some things my morals would not allow me to take part of.

I did however watch other advisors that simply didn’t care about their clients or being transparent and although they made more money than me, I really hope that one day karma gets them!

If I needed an advisor, I would hire you! I really wish more people were like us and not like most are!