Recent Posts in Investor Alerts Category
Posted on Feb 24, 2012 By Heidi VonderHeide
FINRA issued an investor alert this week reminding investors to carefully review their brokerage statements and trade confirmations. The alert breaks the statements down by segment, carefully ...
Continue reading "FINRA Issues Investor Alert On the Importance of Understanding Brokerage Statements" »
Posted on Jan 28, 2012 By Heidi VonderHeide
Email hacking has become increasingly common in recent years. So much so that most people either have been victims of this or know someone who has. These hackers somehow obtain and use your email ...
Continue reading "FINRA: Email Hacking Endangers Brokerage Accounts." »
Posted on Jan 22, 2012 By Heidi VonderHeide
A FINRA arbitration panel recently awarded a group of 40 investors $9.1 million in compensatory damages and attorneys fees arising out of the sale of failed non-traded private placements. The award ...
Continue reading "REIT Private Placement Awards Continue to Roll In. Actual Recovery in Remains in Doubt." »
Posted on Jan 5, 2012 By Heidi VonderHeide
The Wall Street Journal online has an interesting article this week on securities often called tenancies-in-common, or "TICs," TICs are fractional-ownership type investments where several ...
Continue reading "WSJ: The Risks of TIC Real Estate Investments." »
Posted on Dec 4, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
On November 29, 2011, FINRA announced that it had fined eight of its member firms and ten individuals for selling inappropriate private placement securities. According to the Notice , the firms and ...
Continue reading "FINRA Sanctions Eight Member Firms and 10 Individuals for Selling Troubled Private Placements" »
Posted on Oct 25, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
FINRA's latest Investor Alert warns investors of the risks of investing in companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Specifically, the Alert addresses misleading and fraudulent ...
Continue reading "FINRA Issues Investor Alert: Companies in Bankruptcy Rarely Make Blockbuster Investments." »
Posted on Oct 5, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
Yesterday, FINRA issued new Investor Alert warning investors to be wary of the risks surrounding the "publicly registered non-exchange traded real estate investment trust (REIT)" or ...
Continue reading "FINRA Issues New Investor Alert: Public Non-Traded REITs-Perform a Careful Review Before Investing" »
Posted on Sep 26, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
On September 7, 2011, FINRA announced that it had fined five broker-dealers for charging customers additional commission charges that were “mischaracterized” on trade confirmations as ...
Continue reading "FINRA Announces Fines Issued To Five Broker-Dealers for Charging Customers Commissions Mischaracterized as Ancillary Fees" »
Posted on Sep 17, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
FINRA recently issued an investor alert warning investors about selling traditional, lower-risk investments in order to invest in higher-risk, highly complex investments such as high-yield bonds, ...
Continue reading "FINRA Issues Investor Warning About Chasing Returns in Non-Traditional Investments" »
Posted on Sep 17, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
The SEC and FINRA have issued an Investor Alert warning investors about investing in structured notes with principal protection. The Alert warns that these types of investments, despite their ...
Continue reading "FINRA, SEC Warns Investors About Investing in Structured Notes with Principal Protection." »
Posted on Sep 17, 2011 By Heidi VonderHeide
On August 24, 2011, FINRA issued a new Investor Alert titled "Gold" Stocks—Some Investments Mine Your Pocketbook.” With the price of gold recently hitting an all-time high, the ...
Continue reading "FINRA Issues Warning on Gold Stock Scams" »