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) | December 14, 2011 | Bad Financial Advice, Bad Products & Services, Deceptive Sales Practices, Ponzi Schemes

Everyone has read about illegal Ponzi schemes and Wall Street’s fraudulent investment scams that have resulted in major fines to companies.
What you don’t read about are legal investment scams that impact millions of investors. Following are examples of frequent abuses.
Definition: Legal scams benefit the advisor or the advisor’s company more than they benefit you.
Advisors sell [...]

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 3, 2011 | Deceptive Sales Practices, Who Can I Trust?

An investor asked this question on the Watchdog website today. He was told a financial advisor’s services were free because the advisor was paid by third parties. This is a false sales claim that is designed to make this investor believe he will get something for nothing.
First, the advisor is not an advisor if [...]

By: Evor VattuonecloseAuthor: Evor Vattuone Name: Evor Vattuone
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: evor@aspire.biz
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=2758
About: See Authors Posts (3) | November 5, 2009 | Bad Products & Services, Illegal Schemes & Scams

Using reverse mortgages to fund annuity premium payments has become an increasingly used scam by unscrupulous loan officers and annuity salespeople. Usually a reverse mortgage is for seniors who need the money for living expenses, not deferred annuity payments.
But, with the attraction of hefty commissions on annuity sales, there are a growing number of [...]

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 [...]

By: Daniel ChencloseAuthor: Daniel Chen Name: Daniel Chen
Member: Member Paladin
Quality Rating:
Email: dcstrategies@yahoo.com
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=1893
About: Dan's specialty is delivered by his Wealth Management Practice with a core competency in Fianancial Planning. The ability to deliver services for a fee eliminates the potential conflicts of interest created by the commission only type of aproach. He maintaines his office in Ocean N.J. however serves a clientel base from coast to coast. Dan believes that the basis for a great life is planning for it. Dan offers a no obligation meeting to decide if his services are appropriate for your needs.See Authors Posts (12) | May 14, 2009 | Bad Products & Services, Financial Advisors, Investment Performance

This is one issue that is being raised more and more as investor’s lack of confidence in the markets become more apparent. Or is it because advisors are losing confidence in their traditional investment solutions? Most advisors have only experienced a bull market, as a result, there is this belief that markets will only go [...]