The Investor Protector
Today we welcome David Meyer. He's the managing principal of Meyer Wilson and the national law firm that he founded to represent investment fraud victims and their fight against deceptive brokers. Meyer Wilson is one of the nation's leading investment fraud firms recovering millions of dollars for clients throughout the last 20 years. He's currently the president of two Bar Association's named one of the best lawyers in America and he's been also named twice lawyer of the Year by publication in this practice, area, and location.
Now, what are security investment fraud attorneys, stockbrokers, and financial advisors, who have a duty to recommend investments that are appropriate and beneficial for you based on your specific circumstances? Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. A lot of times they act on it for their own benefit. And some of the things they do or unauthorized trading, excessive fees, churning Ponzi schemes, and more. We're going to talk about what we can do and how we can fight back. Also, we’ll be discussing his number one Amazon bestseller, “The investor protector”.
In this episode, we’re discussing…
[2:40] Why we should be fearful for fraud and cautious
[3:31] About his book, the investor protector, stories of triumph over financial advisors who lies, cheats and steal
[6:13] What to do before you hire a broker and the difference between an investment advisor
[9:31] What happen to people who don’t know how to choose a licensed investment advisor
[12:30] The importance of a large brokerage firm where to invest safety
[14:18] The website where you can check every financial advisor in the country if they are properly registered with FINRA or the SEC
[18:47] The kind of fraud you can face depending on the amount, risk tolerance, goals, and age
[23:05] Some advice on the ways that we can protect ourselves from fraud
[28:18] What should be the investor advisor responsibility
David Top Tip’s
“My day job is to fight against the advisor and the brokerage firm to recover the money lost at the hands of a bad broker. And it's rewarding to fix my problems. But it would be even better if I could stop this fraud before it happens. By writing this, my goal is to prevent the devastating financial loss before it happens”
“I didn't see it in a book put together by someone who's actually been in the trenches for 25 years, fighting an investment fraud. So, with the advice I give in the steps, and then the stories, I hope it's a compelling read, that will really help people, so they'll never need a lawyer like me”
“There's a huge difference between a stockbroker and an investment advisor. They're regulated differently, they have different standards of care, if you have a claim against them, the process to recover that claim is different. Most people don't know that. And that's really the first step how can you decide how can you make a good solid decision about where to trust your life savings”
“The large firms are my recommendation, I've represented over 1000 investors, I've recovered 10s of millions of dollars for my clients, and so the tips in this book, if you follow these things, even if you don't know every difference between a fiduciary a registered representative and best interests and all the standards that seem to change every time, make sure your advisor is licensed, make sure that person holds the license”.
“My word of wisdom is going with someone who's not only licensed as a clean regulatory record. But also as with a large firm, a large firm that you've heard about, and you know about it, make sure they're actually affiliated with them at the time that you invest with them”
“If you pulled up this gentleman's record, you would see 75 complaints on his CRD on broker check. This broker left that firm went to a new firm, a tiny firm, one of the ones that I recommend not going with. And then he started getting engaging in a Ponzi scheme. And a lot of his clients and new clients join him at the new firm, and ended up getting caught in this Ponzi scheme, the guy ended up going to jail”
“What you must expect of your advisor is for your advisor to recommend and implement an investment portfolio that's appropriate for you, given your investment experience, your age, your risk tolerance, your goals, and if you're 65 years old, and you have $400,000 to your name and you need that to last for the rest of your life, then you need that money to be it reasonable amount of growth and also safety”
“If you're 35 years old, 30 or 40 years to go to work, and you understand that you're willing to be a growth or an investor, and you're willing to accept significant market declines, that's different. But for retirees on a fixed income, with little investment experience, and zero and very little risk tolerance, it's not appropriate to put 80, 90% or portfolio in an aggressive in that point tech investment portfolio”
“I care what actually happened, I care what the investment objective actually is not what somebody convinced my client to sign. So no one should have a false sense of security, or insecurity, in my opinion, that having clients sign these forms means that it's, it's appropriate, because it's what actually is going on, not with just the form, say,
Mike Top Tip’s
“All of our listeners out there that do their own syndications you should look at Don't be greedy, just get anybody's money. Just because of their credit. And just because you're able to, pay attention to what David says, if you're still working, you're an executive, and you want to diversify. Go ahead”
Resources from David
ABOUT DAVID MEYER
David P. Meyer founding partner of Meyer Wilson, a leading Security Fraud Law Firm. Mr. Meyer has earned a national reputation for successfully representing investors who are victims of investment fraud. He has represented approximately 1,000 individual investors from across the country in securities arbitration and litigation against all major brokerage firms and has won verdicts, judgments, and settlements of hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients.
Mr. Meyer is continually recognized among the top in his field by peers and professional organizations and has been named a "Lawyer of the Year" by U.S. News-Best Lawyers for 2021. Mr. Meyer is also a passionate advocate for the protection of individual investors and currently serves as President of PIABA (Public Investors Advocate Bar Association), an international bar association of attorneys who represent investors in disputes with the securities industry.