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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 …

Some financial professionals owe a fiduciary duty to their clients. All investment advisers are required to be fiduciaries by law, and stockbrokers may be fiduciaries depending on the circumstances – even though those same brokers must act in the client’s best interests (which is akin to a fiduciary duty). So what is a fiduciary duty …

On November 17, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s request to loosen supervision standards for remote offices, thereby making it far easier for stockbrokers to sell inappropriate, if not outright fraudulent, investments to their clients. The vast majority of stockbrokers try to put their client’s interests first, offering advice …

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 …

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 …