Financial Advisor Fiduciary Duty — A Sad Story!
In May 2013, I gave Merrill Lynch an IRA worth $103,000. The VP/Senior Financial Advisor on the account was a personal friend of mine. 44 months later, I closed the account and transferred the total $103,070 to Morgan Stanley. During this 44 month period, the Dow Ind. Average increased by about 33%. An investment in an exchange traded fund for the Dow and no other guidance would have been effortless on M/L's part and profitable for me. My question: Do I have any legal recourse against the Financial Advisor? I am pretty sure his personal portfolio did somewhat better than mine. He bought 4 Porches during that period. Any Legal Firm suggestions? Thanks for the help.
Terry Says
Well, that's quite a story. It reminds me of the classic book about Wall Street -- Where Are All the Customers Yachts? written in 1940 and still available on Amazon.com! Only these days, I guess it's Porches! I seriously doubt that you have a legal course of action against your broker. You didn't actually lose money. You just didn't make money. But it's awfully difficult to sue for money you should have made. There's an old Savage Truth: The lessons that cost the most, teach the most. I'm trying to give my readers the lesson about fiduciaries without making them pay for it! I hope your experience confirms my advice to thoroughly check out the salespeople trying to give you "advice" upon rolling out of your 40l(k) and into an IRA. You paid in commissions that ate up any profits, as well as in bad investment advice.
