Broker gone bad

Are you one of those investors who doesn’t pay attention to your statements? Now would be a good time to change that.

Human nature being what it is, many people simply file their monthly statements from their investment advisors or brokers, or simply open them, take a cursory look and file them away or shred them. When times are good and the market is strong there may not be much reason to look.  When things are going well it may not be evident that your broker or advisor is undertaking investments and trades that are not suitable for you and your situation, or worse yet, taking your investment money for his or her personal use.

Taking a customer’s money for personal use was just the subject of a recent FINRA Disciplinary action against a Milwaukee Broker, Chris Raymond Kubiak, who was associated with Freedom Investors Corp from 1989 through 2017, American Global Wealth Management for part of 2017 and thereafter at Caltomn & Associates,Inc., until he was barred by FINRA.

The current climate, being what it is, with all of the warning signs being bandied about by the prognosticators, we would suggest that your interest should be piqued.

Make sure that your broker or advisor is doing what you want, and acting in your best interests and not converting your money for his or her own use. Pay attention to your account statements and communications or lack thereof from your brokers or advisors. If you suspect that things are amiss, you are experiencing unanticipated losses and that your broker or financial advisor is not been doing what you have directed, and not acting in your best interests or taking your money, take the time to get a second opinion from an unrelated broker or advisor, and consider consulting a lawyer in the event that you have sustained losses based upon misconduct of your broker or advisor.