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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

If you have suffered financial loss in your investment account, you may be wondering whether you can sue your broker or financial advisor. Yes, you can sue your broker or advisor. You have two options: filing an arbitration or filing a suit (though the latter is far rarer, as discussed below). Many investors retain financial

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

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

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 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