Q: My wife and I invested our life savings with a financial planner. At high point our portfolio was near 440,000.
Today our portfolio is valued at 75,000. We are retired and this has greatly impacted our retirement. I can’t believe a planner would loose this staggering amount for a couple in retirement. I know there were risks but that is why we trusted a planner. Our record keeping has not been great. But is there any legal recourse against our planner to recovery all or some of our lost funds. Or at least share his poor performance with other potential senior clients. Tks
A: You need to reach out to Tracy Stoneman at Stoneman Law in Westcliffe, Colorado. She and Douglas Schulz literally wrote the book on how investors can get screwed by those they trust with their money (https://www.amazon.com/Brokerage-Fraud-Tracy-Pride-Stoneman/dp/0793145554)
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A:
Stock trading is a risky business. That being said, financial planners typically are licensed and are subject to liability under a negligence standard. So if the financial planner was grossly negligent such as investing all your money into a single high-risk stock without telling you then they could potentially be liable. Most financial planners today will invest in a large fund mimicking the S&P 500. The stock market has not collapsed in the last two years to my knowledge. But, it all depends. Maybe they had you invested in Ukrainian businesses. Joking aside, a drop of 400k in a 440k account seems odd.
Unfortunately, you most likely assumed some of the risk so recovery may not be possible. This is why it is extremely important to find a reputable financial planner. They are hard to find.
But the skinny is that you need to contact an attorney experienced in malpractice to discuss, pull your records, and review your case.
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