December 16, 2010
Ladies/Gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting comments
I've been angry about the "financial consultan" issue for over 10 years. I took a friend for an appointment with her "advisor". I was appalled
He had her money in 4 different mutual funds, all with front-end loads. He said that was to provide diversification. When I checked the top 10 companies in each fund, I discovered of course that there was a great deal of duplication In addition to that, he was moving her money about from fund to fund every 3 or 4 years He spoke in clichs and canned paragraphs with little substance and a lot of self-promotion.
Unfortunately my friend who was a very nice and timid lady, thought that her advisor was a "nice" man and opted not to make the changes that would have made her a great deal of money by now.
A medical doctor, also a friend was "managed" into the same fund family When I showed her what her losses were and what the potential gains could be, she moved her money to a self-managed account with Scottrade and used Motley Fool analysis service. At the end of the first year she was delighted with the gains on her investments.
A third friend, a teacher in Indianapolis had done business with a "financial consultant" who was also a teacher in the same school. He too was being ripped off by the typical misdirection into loaded funds and in addition to that, some of his monies were tied for some 10 hence. He moved all of the money he could without severe upfront loss and plans to move the rest.
I have a nephew who is a "financial consultant" and who is typical of so many. He is arrogant, self-centered and callous about any losses his clients incur and of course he is not a registered/licensed fiduciary. Additionally he is ignorant of many of the details and truths of investing and the nature of Mutual funds in particular.
This scandal needs to be brought under control. It's costing millions of relatively poor people, very high losses.
Sincerely,
Paul Steffen