In an article from the New York Times, October 18th., 2011, John Wasik writes that if you’re concerned about whether an adviser’s parent firm is going to survive a crisis or if you’re not happy with your portfolio, there are some important questions to ask before you make a change to a new wealth manager. […]

The following article was found on FINRA's website: Tradespot Markets Inc. (CRD #29683, Davie, Florida) and Mark Bedros Beloyan (CRD #1392748, Registered Principal, Davie, Florida) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which the firm was censured and fined $25,000, and Beloyan was suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for one month […]

It was announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to UBS regarding secondary market trading of closed-end funds sold in Puerto Rico in 2008 and 2009.  USB sold $2.9 billion in bonds in 2008. UBS was a former financial adviser to Puerto Rico's Employees Retirement System that provides pensions for […]

In an October 2nd, 2011, InvestmentNews.com article, Bruce Kelly writes that stockbrokers who sell products that promise high returns without the approval of their broker-dealers once again have become a leading concern for state securities regulators. This practice is known as “selling away,” and is one of the most common difficulties that independent and franchisee broker-dealers face in […]

In a report from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's website, it was announced on August 10, 2011, the SEC charged Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., a St. Louis-based broker-dealer, and former Stifel Senior Vice President David W. Noack with defrauding five Wisconsin school districts by selling them unsuitably risky and complex investments funded largely […]

 Josh Funk, a business writer for the AP wrote that  TD Ameritrade has agreed to a $10 million settlement for failing to properly supervise representatives who misled investors about the safety of a money-market mutual fund that "broke the buck" in 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. Funk writes that TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. customers who still hold […]

It was reported that on July 22, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a report from its Life Settlements Task Force which recommended that the SEC urge Congress to amend the federal securities laws to include life settlements as securities. The SEC report also recommended that the SEC monitor brokers and providers to assure […]

Securities Attorney, Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, would like all investors to take note of the warnings coming from both FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission this past week. FINRA has warned all investors to watch for structured products that are callable, promise principal protection or have returns […]

The following article was posted on FINRA's website: WASHINGTON — It was announced that The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have issued an investor alert called Structured Notes with Principal Protection: Note the Terms of Your Investment to educate investors about the risks […]