Were You Sold an Unsuitable Investment?

If a broker or financial advisor recommended an investment that did not fit your age, financial situation, investment goals, liquidity needs, or tolerance for risk, the recommendation may have been unsuitable.

Former Broker & Investment Adviser. Now Representing Investors.

Speak Directly With Attorney Glenn Mazer

How Unsuitable Investment Recommendations Can Cause Losses

A financial advisor should consider whether an investment fits the customer’s age, financial condition, investment experience, objectives, need for income or liquidity, and tolerance for risk. Problems can arise when recommendations ignore those factors. Warning signs can include:

  • Investments that were far riskier than you understood
  • Illiquid products when you needed access to your money
  • Concentrating too much of your savings in one investment or strategy
  • Speculative investments placed in retirement accounts
  • Products that did not fit your age, income needs, or financial objectives
  • Recommendations driven by high commissions or sales incentives
  • Failure to explain significant risks, surrender charges, or restrictions
  • Repeated investment changes that did not serve your interests

When an Investment Recommendation May Be Unsuitable

Depending on the facts, responsibility may extend beyond the individual financial advisor. The brokerage firm, investment advisory firm, insurance company, bank-affiliated investment program, or other financial institution may also be responsible if it failed to supervise the recommendation, ignored warning signs, or allowed an unsuitable investment to be sold

 

  • The individual broker or financial advisor
  • The brokerage firm responsible for supervision
  • An investment advisory firm involved in the recommendation
  • An insurance company or agent involved in the sale
  • A bank-affiliated investment program
  • Other firms or entities involved in selling or supervising the investment

 

Who May Be Responsible for Unsuitable Investment Losses?

If you believe your investment losses may have resulted from bad advice or broker misconduct, take steps to preserve the information that may be important to your claim.

  • Gather your brokerage statements, account records, and investment documents
  • Save emails, text messages, letters, and notes of conversations with your financial advisor
  • Write down what you were told about the investment, including its risks and expected returns
  • Identify when you first discovered the loss or problem
  • Do not assume that a market loss means you have no legal clai
  • Speak with an attorney experienced in investment-loss and securities cases before important deadlines expire

Mazer Law Firm can review your investment records and help determine whether broker misconduct or brokerage-firm supervision failures may have contributed to your losses.

How Can You Recover Investment Losses?

Many investment-loss claims are brought through FINRA arbitration against the financial advisor, brokerage firm, or both. Depending on the facts, claims may involve unsuitable recommendations, misrepresentations, excessive trading, failure to supervise, breach of fiduciary duty, or other misconduct. In some situations, claims may also be pursued in state or federal court.

The right path depends on how the investment was sold, who recommended it, the agreements governing the account, and the deadlines that apply. A careful review of the account records and communications is often the first step in determining whether a recoverable claim exists.

 

What Can Show an Investment Was Unsuitable?

Account statements, new-account forms, risk-tolerance information, investment objectives, emails, text messages, disclosure documents, and supervisory records can help show whether the recommendation matched your financial circumstances and whether the risks were properly explained.

Talk With an Attorney About an Unsuitable Investment Claim

If you lost money because a broker or financial advisor recommended an unsuitable investment, Mazer Law Firm can review the recommendation, the risks involved, what you were told, and whether the advisor or financial institution may be responsible. Speak directly with Attorney Glenn Mazer about what happened.

No Fee Unless We Recover for You.