By: Matthew Arndt, CFA, CPA, CFP | July 22, 2009 | Annuities, Wall Street Ethics
When I first entered the investment advisory business I promised myself I would not reduce myself to being a commission sales rep and sell trash to investors even if I were dying of starvation.
The proliferation of new ways to package and repackaged garbage in the form of fixed annuities, variable annuities, equity-indexed annuities, and structured [...]
Read full article | No Comments »
By: Jack Waymire | July 20, 2009 | Conflicts of Interest
Wall Street makes more money when investors do not know much about investing or its products. That lack of knowledge makes you dependent on financial advisors and easy prey for less ethical sales representatives who sell lower quality products with high expense ratios.
What you need is complete transparency from Wall Street that starts with the person who [...]
Read full article | No Comments »
By: Jack Waymire | July 19, 2009 | Sales Representatives
In the not too distant past, when Wall Street firms hired new stockbrokers, they hired recent college graduates who had people skills. This strategy worked for decades when brokers, sometimes called Customers’ Men, focused on providing services such as research reports, investment recommendations, and execution of trades. Back then, fixed prices meant competitive advantage was based on service, service, and more service.
That all changed when commission rates, [...]
Read full article | No Comments »
By: Jack Waymire | July 18, 2009 | Financial Planners
Did you know anyone can call themselves a financial planner? That’s right anyone regardless of knowledge, experience, or licensing. It is a popular title in the financial services industry because it doesn’t sound like a sales role. Consequently, the use of the planner title has become another deceptive sales tactic.
Years ago, insurance agents found their label had a negative impact on [...]
Read full article | 2 Comments »
By: Jack Waymire | July 18, 2009 | Wall Street Ethics
If you are relatively new to investing, you may still believe Wall Street’s TV ads and other hype that emphasize knowledge, trust, and performance. On the other hand, if you are a more experienced investor you know hype is a sales tactic that has nothing to do with you.
You also know the biggest names on Wall Street have paid billions of dollars of [...]
Read full article | No Comments »
By: Jack Waymire | July 17, 2009 | Investor Information, Wall Street Ethics
What we know about the financial meltdown, which started in late 2007, is that Wall Street executives took insane levels of risk to maximize their companies’ short-term profitability. A series of really stupid decisions caused the demise of big names like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America.
Part Two of this [...]
Read full article | No Comments »
