018: How Invested Are You? Portfolio Protection You Need to Know About Brokers and Advisors

In this episode of Absolute Trust Talk, Kirsten welcomes attorney Bob Gonser to the show. Bob’s practice focuses on matters involving disputes between investors and their financial advisors. Bob typically works on a contingent fee basis and has successfully handled hundreds of cases for his clients whose investement accounts have been mismanaged resulting in the loss of irreplaceable assets.

 

Kirsten and Bob discuss many topics surrounding his specialty, beginning with who is most likely to be victimized by financial advisors who do not act in the best interest of their clients.. Bob then shares the different types of situations he sees his clients in and how they decided they were in over their heads and needed legal help. Later Bob weighs in on the do’s and don’t’s when looking to hire an advisor or broker and what you should regularly do to stay on top of your portfolio.

 

Top Take Aways from Episode #018:

1. Remain aware of your situation
2. Remain involved
3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions
4. Keep your children involved or (if you’re the kids) make sure you stay involved in your parent’s finances so you know how to put all the pieces together

 

Time-stamped Show Notes:

3:02 – Bob shares why senior citizens are the most common group of people he works with in regard to the loss of money in investments

4:20 – Kirsten asks Bob to share how clients come to the ultimate conclusion that they are in enough trouble and they need legal help

5:17 – Why senior citizens should not have volatile investments

8:44 – Bob discusses the different types of situations he sees and the types of advisors responsible for taking advantage of investors

11:08 – What “suitable” means regarding an industry standard for advisor-client relationships

15:00 – Bob defines the difference between the fiduciary and suitable standards in terms of responsibility of advisors to their clients

17:03  – Kirsten asks Bob to share what else he sees advisors doing wrong in his practice

19:56 – This is the most important thing you can do when looking to hire an advisor or broker

24:27 – Bob highlights what an investor should stay on top of when they finally hire an advisor or broker

 

Episode #018 Freebie:

It’s great to have a financial professional to turn to when it comes to making investment decisions, but it’s also important to maintain involvement in your portfolio activity. Absolute Trust Talk guest and attorney Bob Gonser is sharing exclusive access to his portfolio maintenance tool called the Investment Portfolio Check-Up. This questionnaire is designed to help you see any red flags or things you might not recognize in your portfolio. To help ensure the safety of your financial investments we urge you to listen in to this episode and then download the Investment Portfolio Check-Up tool here.

 

Resources/Tools/Links Mentioned in This Episode:

Finra.org – Broker Check