Available 24/7You have worked hard to save for retirement. However, your retirement could be in jeopardy because of the actions of an unscrupulous broker, insurance agent, or advisor. If you lose money based on advisor conduct, you may be able to file a claim or lawsuit. The retirement benefits loss attorneys at the Investor Law Center work on behalf of consumers and retirement investors who have lost money.
There are several reasons why you may file a claim against an advisor or insurance agent acting as a financial advisor for your retirement funds.
Brokerage Account Mismanagement
Investors trust their brokers to manage their accounts. However, not all brokers live up to their own obligations when recommending securities to investors. A broker may over-concentrate their client’s investments in one particular security, adding risk and costing them money. When an investor needs to take a conservative approach, the broker may invest in riskier securities.
The broker has an obligation to know their customers and only recommend Investments that are suitable for them on multiple levels. If you have lost money because a broker has mismanaged your assets or management has failed to supervise the individual broker, you may be able to file a claim against the broker.
Self-Dealing and Conflicts of Interest
Certain investment advisors may owe you a fiduciary duty. There are two parts to this duty: exercising reasonable care and due diligence and avoiding conflicts of interest. An advisor may receive compensation from a sales contest or recommend products from their employer that have high fees or do not make sense for you. An advisor could recommend a security that pays them a higher commission while not being the right vehicle for you. When a broker is too aggressive to recommend in-house investment products, oftentimes because they are being paid, it is a breach of the fiduciary duty that they owe you.
The advisor may also have charged you excessive fees, lining their own pockets at your expense. This behavior is also a breach of the fiduciary duty, and the broker could be liable for losses. When a broker acts in their own interest instead of yours, you can file a claim or lawsuit.
401(k) and Rollover Losses
You may have come to an advisor because you have a 401k from a prior job that you need to roll over into new investments. Your advisor may make recommendations for how to invest these assets. Advisors are bound by the rules of suitability, both in terms of the security they recommend and how much they recommend to buy. The advisor may be negligent and fail to research the security before they recommend it to you, potentially making them liable for investment losses if they result from the broker’s misconduct. Insurance agents pretending to be financial advisors may make recommendations that you move your retirement accounts into expensive insurance products such as indexed universal life policies that they claim will provide “tax-free retirement income.” Do not be fooled. This can be an expensive lesson to learn.
Elder Financial Abuse
Seniors are particularly vulnerable to financial abuse. They may not understand the securities the advisor has recommended or know how to monitor their investments regularly. A advisor may gain the seniors’ trust while misappropriating assets without their knowledge. By the time the senior or the family realizes that the advisor has engaged in theft, most or all of the account assets could be gone.
Seniors who are in a state of cognitive decline are the most vulnerable to financial abuse. By this point, the family should have executed a power of attorney to give decision-making authority to someone else, but many of them do not. If a senior is the victim of elder financial abuse, they may file a lawsuit against the advisor.
How Our Retirement Loss Lawyers Can Help You
You may have received a statement that indicates you have sustained large investment losses, and you do not know what happened. You may have asked your advisor the hard questions, but you may not be getting answers. The first step in a retirement investor lawsuit is simply learning how you lost the money.
An experienced attorney can help you understand what happened, so you can learn whether you may have a legal cause of action against your advisor.
Your lawyer would then help you develop the case to file. Depending on whether your advisor was registered with FINRA, you may be able to file an arbitration claim or a lawsuit against them. Either way, your lawyer would continue to develop your case during the litigation process by requesting information from the other party. We may seek to negotiate a settlement on your behalf with the broker to compensate you for some or all of your losses. If we do not reach a settlement agreement, we may argue your case in front of an arbitrator or a court.
Investment loss litigation can be complex, and you are often up against some of the most experienced and brightest attorneys in the business. You need an attorney who is unafraid to take on the biggest corporations and their lawyers on your behalf. That is exactly what we are prepared to do at the Investor Loss Center.
Contact a Retirement Loss Attorney Today
If you have suffered large investment losses in your retirement account and you believe that your broker or financial advisor was to blame, you may be able to take legal action. Contact an experienced retirement loss attorney at the Investor Loss Center today to learn more about the next possible steps.
We will review the facts of your case and explain your legal options. We offer free consultations to prospective clients. You can schedule one with one of our attorneys today by calling our office at (803)-805-7546 or by sending us a message online.