Jonathan Micah Gurney (CRD#5829803)

Claim Date: 12/20/2022

“?Statement of Claim Date: 12/20/2022 ?Settlement Date: 05/11/2022 ?Total Settlement: $25,000 The Draft SOC sought after statutory damages; interest, disgorgement of investment and advisory fees; punitive damages; attorneys‘ fees and costs; and such other and any further relief. Please note that nothing contained within this letter is to suggest that the claims or allegations have any legal or factual merit. Gurney Financial, LLC Response: The allegations against Gurney Financial, LLC were 1) Gurney Financial was taking more risk than Claimant desired, and 2) Gurney Financial charged excessive fees. THESE ALLOGATIONS WERE 100% FALSE. Let us first examine the timing of the accusation: December 2022. 2022 was one of the worst years in history across the entire stock market, Bonds and Stocks alike. The Claimant claimed the losses incurred while utilizing our strategy were due to taking higher than the Claimant‘s desired risk tolerance. Gurney Financial used 3x‘s Leveraged ETFs, but did not utilize more than 33.3% of a 3x‘s Leveraged ETF, which amounts to being 100% invested in the benchmark or S&P 500; within the Claimant‘s risk tolerance. The Claimant‘s accusation of high turnover trading and use of Leveraged ETFs does not imply more risk. In August of 2021, an indicator was triggered stating “take shelter and REDUCE RISK“ as we were about to encounter several big swings! This trigger was communicated via text, phone, email, and through explanatory videos weekly with the Claimant. The strategy was communicated via phone call four times and the Claimant cancelled two-face-to-face meetings explaining that the strategy was an attempt to REDUCE RISK per the originally agreed upon 30 stock portfolio. This levered ETF strategy was a “take cover“ warning to get your client to reduce risk, which was the correct decision. 2022 had 118 1% swings: one of the highest in history. The goal was to use the levered ETFs to take small gains in and out. No more than 100% of the Claimants‘ portfolio was invested in the S&P 500; which is less risk than a 30 stock portfolio. The manner in which Gurney Financial used the levered ETFs was A REDUCTION IN RISK TOLERANCE. During the period of trading the strategy, we outpaced the benchmark by 6.2% and were taking less risk than was agreed to upon assessment. The strategy, results, and game-plan were communicated on a regular basis through email, text, & phone (daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly). For reference, a 60% equities/40% bonds portfolio was down over (30)% at one point in 2022. This was the largest decline in 60/40 portfolio in 100 years. The Claimant sold at a bottom in October 2022, when Gurney Financial advised not to. As it relates to the “excessive fees“ claim, the Claimant was charged less than 0.175% a year (17.5 basis points; not a typo) over the course of our 5-year relationship. The average industry fee for Claimant‘s size of portfolio is ~1.0% – 0.75% annually; Gurney Financials‘ annual fee for the Claimant was LESS THAN 0.175%. Prior to the Claimant transferring assets to Gurney Financial, the Claimant was being charged on average 0.75-1% annual fee on top of an initial 5.0%-5.75% on every initial and new dollar invested. Bottomline, the market had a difficult 2022 year and things did not go as desired for the Claimant. As a result, the Claimant got emotional attempted to find any possible avenue for blame despite the evidence again them. Gurney Financial, LLC takes pride in our competitive fee structure and keeping a progressive communication strategy with all clients. ALL CLAIMANT ALLEGATIONS WERE 100% FALSE.”

This claim, as of this posting, is currently Settled with a claim amount of $25,000.00 .

The investor was paid $25,000.00 by the brokers’ firm.