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) | April 27, 2009 | Illegal Schemes & Scams, Investor Information, Wall Street Ethics

Wall Street companies know everything there is to know about investors.  They know your hopes and dreams, your fears, and the types of sales messages you respond to.  They use this information to craft sophisticated sales tactics that maximize the probability they will gain control of your assets.  

Here’s an example.  Wall Street knows you want a competent financial advisor.  It also knows you have no way to measure the competence of advisors.  Financial professionals don’t provide track records or any other form of documentation that describes the results they produce for current clients.  This opens the door for some deceptive sales tactics that can damage you.  

In the absence of documentation, Wall Street companies know a high percentage of investors equate competence to experience.  But, that creates a marketing problem for Wall Street because companies hire thousands of new advisors every year.  Who wants to buy investment advice or products from a brand new advisor? 

Their solution is to hire older advisors who “look” experienced.  That 40 year old advisor you assume is experienced may have been selling used cars as recently as three months ago. Do not equate chronological age to competence!  You should always require advisors to document their education, certifications, and years of experience in writing, then check their records at FINRA.org to verify the information.