When seeking professional financial guidance, there are two main options: brokers and investment advisors. There are several similarities, as both brokers and financial advisors offer professional financial advice. While these jobs may seem indistinguishable at first, in reality, there are significant fundamental differences between the two. Investors should be aware of these differences and their …
Many investors retain financial advisors and brokers to help them invest their hard-earned money. They rely on financial advisors and brokers to provide insight and investment guidance. Unfortunately, there are instances where investors lose money due to the negligence or fraud of their financial advisors or brokers. While many brokers and financial advisors will blame …
Before you hire a babysitter or a new employee, you probably do a quick check on them. With the Internet, it’s easier than ever to pull up information on people with whom you do business in your daily life. Yet many people pick a stockbroker or financial advisor without ever doing a basic check to …
Hugh Berkson, working with co-author David Meyer, has written and published his third report concerning unpaid arbitration awards, titled: FINRA Arbitration’s Persistent Unpaid Award Problem. Hugh’s report reveals that the problem with unpaid arbitration awards, about which he first wrote in February 2016, has not improved in the least. Claimants who brought arbitration claims against …
At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The latest evidence supporting that timeless gem is Robinhood’s promise of free stock trading available to anyone. It sounds great, except when Robinhood’s trading platform goes offline, leaving tens of millions of clients unable to buy, …
Robinhood has been in the news a lot again lately, and that news isn’t terribly favorable. Given that we represent investors, not firms, we fielded a lot of calls about Robinhood’s potential responsibility related to folks’ losses related to GameStop, AMC, Nokia, and Blackberry. To our great surprise, we concluded that, based on what we …
The Quick Version Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, and other online platforms have prevented retail investors from entering buy orders in Gamestop, AMC, Nokia, Blackberry, and other securities. Those investors are understandably angry at missing out on the opportunity to buy and ride the stocks up (presuming they were to continue to climb in price). Do the …
We’ve received dozens of calls from distressed investors, all with the same complaint: “I woke up today, saw that my stock is trading at a much higher price, but when I went to sell, I had a fraction of the shares I had yesterday. Help! My broker stole my stock!” There are certainly examples of …
The past decade brought unprecedented gains in the stock market. The daily reports of positive performance seemed like they would never end, and investors enjoyed years of monthly statements showing that their portfolios were doing well – very well. The next month’s statement won’t show gains. In fact, nearly all investors can expect to see …
Markets Go Up And Down – And They’re Doing That A Lot Right Now No investor or broker has a crystal ball. Nobody knows when the market is going to soar, or when it’s going to crash. While the common understanding is that the markets go up and the markets go down, we’ve seen a …
Unfortunately, there are some disreputable securities brokers and financial advisor out there. Some engage in churning, a type of broker misconduct, which can have serious financial consequences for their clients. All investors need to know what churning is, how to spot it, and what to do about it if they suspect their broker or financial …
The news headlines are full of people discussing the recent market volatility. Many commentators are offering their opinions of who’s to blame for the serious losses that we’ve seen over the course of the last few weeks. The team at McCarthy Lebit is not in the business of offering opinions of what’s driving the market …
We often advise readers of this blog to act promptly if they suspect that their stockbroker mishandled their accounts or gave them unsuitable or misleading recommendations. Usually, we just post a general warning that potential filing deadlines can bar investment claims. But we thought it might be a good idea to explain a bit more …
The Most Notorious US Financial Scammers Every civilized society is dependent for its success on its citizens being able to trust one another. And most people actually do tend to trust one another. Why? Because they themselves are basically good, or at least reasonably honest, and believe they will be treated honestly by others – …
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having lost a lot of money in your brokerage account, you may not be sure why it happened or you may suspect or know that it’s your broker’s fault. Assuming you become certain you have a valid claim – and how you do that is the …
