It has been more than a century since Charles Ponzi was arrested for conducting the scheme that now bears his name. Yet, Ponzi schemes remain a very real concern for investors, and each year investors lose untold millions in schemes perpetrated by scam artists and unwittingly recommended by their brokers […]
If you invest, there is a risk that you will fall victim to fraud. Investment fraud is pervasive, and fraudulent schemes can take many different forms. Whether you invest on your own, with a broker or investment advisor, or through a retirement plan, it is important to be aware of […]
As an investor, you want to maximize your returns. This is the whole point of investing, and the more your investments yield, the more comfortably you can live in retirement. But, when investing, it is important to have realistic expectations. There are no guarantees, and while individual investments may occasionally […]
When you invest with a brokerage firm, you expect the firm to last. You expect it to help you grow an investment portfolio that will allow you to live comfortably in retirement, and you expect it to be there to help you manage your funds in retirement when the time […]
If you work with a stockbroker, one of your main reasons for doing so is probably so that you can rely on your broker’s trading advice. Stockbrokers watch the market constantly, and they have the insights and tools needed to make informed predictions about how stocks and other securities are […]
As a retail investor, you rely on your stockbroker to provide the information you need to make informed investment decisions. You rely on your stockbroker to provide information that is not only accurate but also complete. If you don’t receive all of the information you need, you might not be […]
The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is tasked with enforcing the nation’s securities laws, and it routinely opens investigations into brokerage firms and other entities. It announces many of these investigations in Press Releases published on its website, and it maintains a running list of civil lawsuits filed as a […]
As an investor in the United States, you have clear legal rights. There are several laws, rules and regulations that protect you, and you can use these protections to pursue a claim for damages when you suffer fraudulent investment losses. Different laws, rules and regulations apply in different circumstances, and […]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued an Investor Alert warning of the fraud risks associated with self-directed IRAs. Unlike a more-traditional IRAs, self-directed IRAs allow retirement investors to make their own decisions about how to invest their life savings. As the SEC notes, “[c]ustodians for self-directed IRAs […]
Sometimes, brokers get it wrong. They do their research, review their client’s portfolio and investment objectives, and make informed investment recommendations that lead to investment losses. This happens, and it reflects the fact that no one can predict the market with absolute certainty. But, sometimes, a broker’s bad investment advice […]