Your stockbroker may be more than over charging you.

Everyone has heard about the hazards of unexpected fees, lurking in complicated payments, squeezing money out of people by deliberately confusing them or through outright dishonesty.

The Financial Industry National Regulatory Authority, or FINRA  has discovered fee abuses at a number of brokers dealers and has slapped them with more than $900,000 in total fines to s...

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Wall Street’s most recent synthetic investments, despite the catchy names, offer more risk that your broker is likely to disclose. The retail market for structured notes or equity linked notes, with principal protection has skyrocketed in recent years. Why? Because they are easy to sell to unsuspecting investors, offer high commissions, and have names that make them at least appear safe.

These products often have misleading names such as "Read Full Article

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Arbitration Panel in the matter of Fahs v Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc., FINRA-DR Arbitration No. 09-06623 awarded a Connecticut man one hundred percent (100%) of his net out-of-pocket compensatory losses, plus interest at the rate of 6% per annum over a period of approximately three years, together with attorney’s fees of $30,000.

The claim relates to the conduct of his former stock broker, Read Full Article

Reverse convertible notes are highly risky investments.

Many of these securities have stated coupons, which entice unsophisticated investors, but that are a trap for investors, because stockbrokers and other investment professionals fail to disclose that when the price of the securities to which the reverse convertible note is linked, increase in value the investor's return is limited to the stated coupon on the note.  However, when the price of the security to which the note is linked, decreases in value, investors are left holding the bag.

Corporate America controls the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. These are the same people that want tort reform, and to limit the liability and responsibility of corporate America, and everyone else, for polluting the environment, selling defective products, price fixing, financial fraud, and otherwise screwing consumers, every chance they can get away with.

So when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticizes FINRA, you know things must be really bad.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a report yesterday that the Dodd-Frank financial reform laws fail to address transparency a...

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