Investment Performance Category

Financial advisors, planners, and sales representatives do not have track records, in particular records that are audited by independent third parties. In the absence of records, less ethical advisors use deceptive sales tactics to create them. For example, they show you the results of a hot mutual fund and tell you they started recommending the fund before the performance occurred. This is a deceptive sales tactic.

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@InvestorWatchdog.com
Site: http://www.investorwatchdog.com
About: Jack entered the financial services industry as an institutional consultant and later as vice president at Warburg, Paribas, Becker in 1976. From 1983 to 2003 he was the President of Lexington Capital Management and related companies. In December, 2003 John Wiley published his book "Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor". In 2004, he founded PaladinRegistry.com, a website that educated investors about financial advisors. A national Registry of pre-screened, five star rated advisors was added to the website later in 2004. In 2009, he founded InvestorWatchdog.com, a website that provides tools and information to investors who use the services of financial planners and financial advisors. Since 2004, Jack has been frequently quoted in the media on topics about financial advisors, Wall Street firms, investment scams, and the financial services industry (BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger, Washington Post, etc.).See Authors Posts (59) | November 20, 2011 | Financial Advisors, Investment Performance

Notwithstanding clever advertising by Etrade, Schwab, Scott Trade, and Ameritrade managing your own money is not easy. It is a time consuming process that requires specialized expertise. So my immediate response to this question is you should NOT manage your own money!
However, it depends on your definition of money management. My definition is picking the [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@InvestorWatchdog.com
Site: http://www.investorwatchdog.com
About: Jack entered the financial services industry as an institutional consultant and later as vice president at Warburg, Paribas, Becker in 1976. From 1983 to 2003 he was the President of Lexington Capital Management and related companies. In December, 2003 John Wiley published his book "Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor". In 2004, he founded PaladinRegistry.com, a website that educated investors about financial advisors. A national Registry of pre-screened, five star rated advisors was added to the website later in 2004. In 2009, he founded InvestorWatchdog.com, a website that provides tools and information to investors who use the services of financial planners and financial advisors. Since 2004, Jack has been frequently quoted in the media on topics about financial advisors, Wall Street firms, investment scams, and the financial services industry (BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger, Washington Post, etc.).See Authors Posts (59) | November 13, 2011 | Investment Performance

According to the Wall Street Journal, some companies are raiding their pension plans. This may create a hidden risk for you. Read the article titled Who Killed Private Pensions?
You accumulate retirement assets four ways: Social Security, company retirement plans, personal savings, and investment performance. Once you have accumulated a critical mass of assets, performance is [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@InvestorWatchdog.com
Site: http://www.investorwatchdog.com
About: Jack entered the financial services industry as an institutional consultant and later as vice president at Warburg, Paribas, Becker in 1976. From 1983 to 2003 he was the President of Lexington Capital Management and related companies. In December, 2003 John Wiley published his book "Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor". In 2004, he founded PaladinRegistry.com, a website that educated investors about financial advisors. A national Registry of pre-screened, five star rated advisors was added to the website later in 2004. In 2009, he founded InvestorWatchdog.com, a website that provides tools and information to investors who use the services of financial planners and financial advisors. Since 2004, Jack has been frequently quoted in the media on topics about financial advisors, Wall Street firms, investment scams, and the financial services industry (BusinessWeek, Forbes, Kiplinger, Washington Post, etc.).See Authors Posts (59) | October 26, 2011 | Deceptive Sales Practices, Investment Performance

Three investors on the same day asked me if it is reasonable for them to expect their financial advisors to “beat” the performance of the securities markets.
The best answer I could give them was it depends on what they were sold. If advisors convinced them to pay higher fees on the basis the performance of [...]

By: Darren Munn, CFAcloseAuthor: Darren Munn, CFA Name: Darren Munn, CFA
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: darrenmunn@munnwealth.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=1468
About: See Authors Posts (1) | June 29, 2009 | Annuities, Bad Products & Services, Investment Performance, Investor Information

It doesn’t take a genius to understand that investments with lower fees will produce higher returns for the investor, all else being equal.  So it is natural for us all to be attracted to low-fee investments.  A simple formula to keep in mind is:  Gross Return – Expenses – Taxes = Net Return.
 But what about [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | June 8, 2009 | Bad Products & Services, Financial Advisors, Investment Performance

Arthur is a frequent visitor to the Watchdog website. During a recent visit he described an investment scam that was presented to him by a Chicago financial advisor.
The advisor said he had developed a complex investment algorithm that could predict the future performance of the stock market. He also said investors would need a PhD in [...]

By: Jack WaymirecloseAuthor: Jack Waymire Name: Jack Waymire
Email: jack@paladinregistry.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com
About: Jack writes for the InvestorWatchdog website and Worth magazine. He worked in the financial services industry from 1976 to 2004. For twenty of those years he was the president of a Registered Investment Advisory firm and a Broker/Dealer. Jack is the author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor and is a co-founder of PaladinRegistry.com.See Authors Posts (87) | June 8, 2009 | Bad Financial Advice, Financial Advisors, Illegal Schemes & Scams, Investment Performance

The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a former financial professor at Texas A&M and a Houston attorney who was also a CPA.
The SEC charged Robert Watson, the professor, and Daniel Petroski, the attorney, with "raising" $19 million from investors who were told they could earn annual returns of [...]