Posts belonging to Category Options
Posted by J. Boyd PageonApril 23, 2013
If your broker or financial adviser told you he was moving to another brokerage firm and asked you to move your account there, would you want to know if he was being paid thousands or millions of dollars to make the move? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) thinks so, and is proposing a new […]
Categories: Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), Exchange Traded Products (ETPs), Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Hedge Funds, High Yield (Junk) Bonds, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Limited Partnerships, Misrepresentation/Omission, Mortgage Securities & Collateralized Debt Obligation Problems, Non-Traded Business Development Companies, Nontraded REITs, Oil & Gas, Options, Private Equity Investments, Private Investments/Reg D, Promissory Notes, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Structured Notes, Tenant-in-Common Interests, Unsuitable Recommendations
Posted by J. Boyd PageonApril 19, 2013
According to financial advisers, do not be fooled by the recent market in stocks into believing that we are in for a continuing period of sustained low volatility. Those advisers want you to expect lots of volatility and market corrections and to invest accordingly. In light of the foregoing, investors should adopt alternative investment strategies […]
Categories: A General Overview, Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Church Bonds, Closed End Funds, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Crowd Funding, Derivatives, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Exchange Traded Products (ETPs), Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Hedge Funds, High Yield (Junk) Bonds, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Limited Partnerships, Misrepresentation/Omission, Non-Traded Business Development Companies, Nontraded REITs, Oil & Gas, Options, Preferred Stocks, Private Equity Investments, Private Investments/Reg D, Promissory Notes, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Structured Notes, Unsuitable Recommendations
Posted by Page PerryonSeptember 10, 2012
The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures exchange-traded note (VXX), supposedly a hedge against stock market volatility, crashed last week losing over 10% of its market value. The sharp drop, which sent the VXX to an all-time low, occurred as positive economic news in the U.S. and Europe sent the S&P 500 stock index sharply […]
Categories: Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Misrepresentation/Omission, Options, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Unsuitable Recommendations
Posted by Page PerryonJune 9, 2012
Financial advisers need to know that dangers lurk in the complex world of alternative investments and they must disclose these dangers to their clients. At present, many investment advisers are under pressure to sell alternative investments and are doing so in greater numbers than ever before. Alternative investments can include virtually any investment that is […]
Categories: Alternative Funds, Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Closed End Funds, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Credit Default Swaps, Derivatives, Elder Abuses, Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Hedge Funds, High Yield (Junk) Bonds, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Life Policies/Viatical Settlements, Misrepresentation/Omission, Non-Traded Business Development Companies, Nontraded REITs, Oil & Gas, Options, Private Equity Investments, Private Investments/Reg D, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Structured Notes, Unsuitable Recommendations, Variable Annuities and Equity-Indexed Annuities
Posted by Page PerryonNovember 30, 2011
In another example of brokerage firms catering to retail investors’ worst instincts, supposedly investor-friendly firms like Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade are focusing on expanding their trading business beyond traditional investment like stocks and bonds into alternative investments like options because the commissions are so high. (“‘Easy Money’ Options Pushed by Online Brokers,” Bloomberg).
Categories: Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Commodities and Futures, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Misrepresentation/Omission, Options, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, TD Ameritrade, Unsuitable Recommendations
Posted by Page PerryonJuly 27, 2011
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued an investor alert warning against chasing yield with structured products, junk bonds and floating-rate bank-loan funds. The alert was prompted by “significant recent inflows” into high-yield products. Investors may find enhanced yields attractive in the current market environment of low yields on conventional fixed-income investments and higher […]
Categories: Alternative Investments, Ameriprise, Bonds, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investor Alerts, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Options, Promissory Notes, Regulatory Developments, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Structured Notes, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonJuly 22, 2011
The Georgia Securities Commissioner has launched an investigation into sales of structured products called reverse convertible notes made by broker-dealer firms to Georgia residents. The brokerage firms under investigation include UBS AG, Morgan Stanley and Ameriprise Financial. The investigations were begun after the Commissioner received complaints from investors who lost money in these purportedly safe […]
Categories: Ameriprise, Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investor Alerts, Morgan Stanley, Options, Regulatory Developments, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Structured Notes, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonJune 15, 2011
In one of the largest dollar awards to date in a Lehman note case against UBS Financial Services Inc., a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel “walloped” UBS, ordering it to pay former Philadelphia 76ers President Pat Croce more than $2 million for losses in so-called “100% Principal Protected” Lehman notes that were sold […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Elder Abuses, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investor Alerts, Investor Rights, Lehman Brothers, Options, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Structured Notes, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonJune 13, 2011
Retail investors in structured products that were sold as safe and secure investments have lost at least $113 billion, according to a report by the nonpartisan policy center Demos and The Nation Institute. “In my three decades of Wall Street experience, I have not seen any other product as absurdly destructive as retail investments linked […]
Categories: Bank of America, Brokerage Firms, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Elder Abuses, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investor Alerts, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Options, Regulatory Developments, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Structured Notes, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonJune 3, 2011
Simply stated, senior investors (in fact, all investors) should be very leery of high-risk structured products. Author John Wasik, in conjunction with Demos and The Nation Institute, has published a white paper entitled “How Safe Are Your Savings? How Complex Derivative Products Imperil Seniors’ Retirement Security.” The paper’s focus is on structured products and how […]
Categories: Asset Backed Securities, Bank of America, Barclays, Brokerage Firms, CDOs, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Credit Default Swaps, Derivatives, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, Goldman Sachs, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investor Alerts, J. P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Keegan, Morgan Stanley, Mortgage Backed Securities, Mortgage Securities & Collateralized Debt Obligation Problems, Options, Reverse Convertibles, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Smart Investing Tools, Structured Notes, UBS