I am 56 years old . I have been through 5 financial advisors . Everyone of them has lied to me . At present I have lost over 200 thousand dollars because of there lying These so called professionals have lied manipulated and tricked me into investing my money with them . The last one got me for over 100 thousand dollars .The present one eagerly took 515 thousand dollars and was very aware of my prevoiusly losses. . He assured me during his 6 visits my moiney was safe with him and I would make at least 7% . Since he has taken my money 5 years now he has sucked commissions out of me. My account at present is down 50 thousand dollars and I have to pay taxes on the few funds that did make money that total in the thousands .When I originally met this guy he talked me out of investing the money in cd"s at that time were 5.75 % Because of him I have lost all that money I could have made in cd" , and am getting screwed by him . He now is being rude to me .He backtalks me and makes excuses all while showing me his new truck and car . I am angry and I don't know what to do . I need help from a lawyer or someone. Can someone please help me or direct me in the right direction.

Thanks B

This is a legal issue, not an accounting issue. Even if you wish to make this a financial issue, it's about investing, not accounting. (Accounting is not about investing.)

I do have some comments, however. I can tell you are frustrated - that's pretty obvious. Vent if you like, I don't care. However, I also have to wonder how much is these people "cheating" you and lying to you, and how much is just not understanding the market, stockbrokers, etc. (I know that isn't what you wanted to hear.)

Some of what you are describing sounds like scamming. I have to wonder how you keep picking advisors that are scamming you. Advisors do have their own interests in mind; however, they aren't all scammers. They just aren't always out to do the best they can for you. But those are two different things.

If anyone had tried to guarantee me a 7% return, I would have run the other way immediately. No one can guarantee you anything. Someone can give you a historical record of long-term returns for past clients (assuming they're actually including everyone), but can never make a guarantee of the future. That kind of talk makes me suspicious. Maybe you should be more suspicious.

Then you turn around and say things like your account is down 50,000. I don't know what that is relative to your portfolio, but EVERYONE's accounts are down, or haven't you been paying attention? Someone who is in safe stuff might not be down, but putting everything into "safe stuff" to guarantee no losses isn't really investing. You're too young to be in 100% safe stuff. (Though perhaps your risk tolerance says otherwise. Nothing wrong with that.) My cash is fine. All my mutual funds are down from where they were. How "down" relative to what you put into it will depend on when you did it.

And I too have taxable income from my investments, even though everything is down from where it was. That's because I have some income funds that pay good dividends (even though the price is down), and there's still capital gains within my mutual funds (even though the price is down). So yup, that happens.

I too had a lot of CD's when they were paying that kind of amount. (Well, maybe 5.25%.) And I was slowly working on cashing those in and getting them into mutual funds. That's because I was investing for the long-term. Do you think I was attempting to scam myself? Of course not! I don't know your financial situation, so I can't say whether that was good or bad advice -- the only thing I can say is that I don't necessarily consider that some advisor was lying or screwing you over because of this move. Someone may honestly have thought it was the best thing to do. Do you think he KNEW we were going to have the worst crash ever since the depression and planned for it to happen this way, and lied to you intentionally? I doubt it seriously. Good/bad advice cannot be judged by what ultimately happens - only by what info you have available at the time. NO ONE CAN PREDICT THE MARKET. Investing is a great place for the adage about hindsight being 20/20. (If I could've predicted the market, I would've shoved all my money into my emerging markets fund in Dec of 08.)

So now that makes me wonder exactly what you mean by some of that and if you're getting hung up in the short term. In other words, it makes me wonder if you're expecting to get a good return every single year and think your advisor is lying if you have a loss in any year, or if you think you only have to pay taxes when your pocketbook actually has more money in it. (There's realized and unrealized gains/losses.) Or if you think they can't screw up, or if you think they really can predict the market. Or worse, if you're the kind who likes to invest when things are good and sell when things are bad. (Did you sell that stuff, or let it ride through 2009 and watch a nice chunk come back?? )

I don't know. There's not enough details here, but enough comments that I have to question how your thinking is going.

So I see two sides here. Someone who says your money is "safe" with them and you'll get 7%, like it's some kind of guarantee, is either a liar, stupid, or perhaps just exaggerating. On the other hand, a lot of that sounds like you don't "get" the market, and it's a bit suspicious to find 5 scammers in a row.

In the end, bad advice isn't illegal. If you think there really was some scamming going on, then hire a lawyer. There is really not enough detail here for anyone to really know what the situation is or whether you'd have a case or not. Many lawyers allow free consultations to see if you have a case. What I see here is your view of the situation, and a very sketchy situation at that. Well, really what I see is the frustration, but I see the "rant" and not the reality of what actually happened. Not that I mind you ranting, but it does make it difficult to know what's going on.

I had to read your post 3 times to try and understand what transpired and what you are asking for. I find it interesting that you invested 500k and only met with your advisor 6 times over a 5 year period. As already mentioned, there is no such thing as a GUARANTEED INVESTMENT.

If you are considering legal action, I hope represent yourself better verbally than in writing. Virtually everyone has lost money in the markets over the past 5 years, so I'm not sure what legal grounds you would have unless you can prove some sort of misrepresentation.

You are young enough to continue with an investment strategy that fits your needs. It sounds like you need to seek an advisor that you are more comfortable with, but don't do it with a chip on your shoulder.

Be thankful that you have your health.