For 14 years I have used a financial investment advisor for all of my
retirement (SEP) and other investment accounts (stocks, mutual funds).
He has moved from one major company three times, taking our accounts
with him. He made 99% of the trades (and they were frequent) without
informing me---I thought that was the way investments worked. He
called about once every two weeks, but the conversation centered
around personal things. I received the details of the buying and
selling after they were finished, in the mail. There were no
discussions before that.

Today he resigned, several days prior I had received a letter from his
superior asking about the way transactions were carried out. He called
me after I spoke with his company, saying that I got him in trouble
and he could even be fired. Then this happened.
I don't know the law with regards to investments. I just went along
with his "way of doing things". I have paid a large amount of money
over the years in fees and had trouble understanding the process. What
are my rights regarding his departure and all the commissions that I
have paid? I trusted (yes I did) his management of all of my savings
for retirement and I am extremely upset with what has gone on.

Any information about my concerns would be appreciated. I have been
told that his moving from Smith Barney, to PaineWebber and onto
Wachovia (that's where his was now) and taking my accounts with him
each time is suspect to his practices and he has probably lost his
license. When he moved from one company to another, he would tell me
that he was only allowed to take a few accounts, so I was lucky.
Thanks again for any help. I live in NJ, my husband and I have our own
business that is not incorporated. My investment advisor was in PA.

As I said, I did not know that he had to inform me of any information
on trading. He just did it and we received the document several days
later in the mail. He did a great deal of trading.

Sarleo

"I have been told that his moving from Smith Barney, to PaineWebber and onto
Wachovia (that's where his was now) and taking my accounts with him
each time is suspect to his practices and he has probably lost his
license. "

I was a licensed broker, and I have never heard of this practice being
dubbed unethical, provided that you had the option to refuse.

Did you sign a discretionary trading agreement?  This is a very
specific piece of paper that says that he is allowed to make
unsolicited transactions.

Do you feel that he lied to you?  None of the specific conduct that
you allege is illegal(afaik, consult licensed attorney) or even
immoral.

The proper avenue for a complaint is the SEC:
http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml

*please please please*
consider this carefully
The moment that you click "send," your broker will have a black mark
on him that will never go away.  He will likely never be a broker
again.  You have the power to destroy him.  He is guilty until proven
innocent and then he is still guilty.

However, if you are certain that he lied to you and stole from you,
and you believe that he will repeat this behavior, then perhaps you
have an obligation to report him.


ps - Learning basic investment techniques may be the best thing for you to do.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=389629

best wishes

Did he lose you any money?  Do you want the commissions back?

I don't trust financial advisers. Instead I use www.StockRing.com to
monitor my stocks and mutual funds. StockRing generates "Buy", "Sell",
"Hold" ratings for my stock and mutual fund portfolios and alerts me
once a week with a rating report.

Thank you all for your comments. I know have a list of questions to
ask when I speak to the company my broker has worked for. I will be
talking to them today and have already been setting up appointments to
get settled with a new advisor. I really don't know the circumstances
of his departure. Yet, I had had questions raised for the past two
years from my accountant. It is difficult because I had such a good
relationship with my advisors. I don't remember signing any forms, yet
that does not mean I didn't. I don't believe that he took our money. I
don't think that he committed a crime and I have no intention of
"reporting" to the SEC. Yet, I intend on trying my best to get
commissions back.

I have learned an important lesson as Just4fun2 and daytrader_7_6 have
told me-get involved and learn about my investments. The statement
that my husband says, "Why bother meeting with him when I don't know
what he's talking about anyway." I met with him a month ago, because
we felt we couldn't find a large sum of money. He tried for four hours
to explain to me, but in reality, when I tried to explain it to my
husband, I was babbling on and on and didn't make sense.
Stockmarketguru, I am going after commissions.
A new advisor is going to talk to me as a bridge until I chose someone myself. 

Lord, I hope that I know what questions to ask a candidate. At least I
didn't lose money.
Thanks once again.
Sarleo

9-1-2004

Visit the National Association of Securities Dealers website,
www.nasd.com and click on the CHECK ON A BROKER link to see if this
man has received complaints from other clients.  His over frequent
dealings with your account might be considered "churning" which is
illegal, and a complaint can be filed to have your account and this
man's actions investigated..

4KEITH (I'm NOT a GOOGLE Researcher)