You just keep shaking your head, wondering how you now find yourself in arbitration. Some say arbitration is better than going to court. But is it really if the outcome is the same? Across the table is your disgruntled client, arms folded in akimbo with her advocate, prosecuting attorney Ilya Lerma, defender of the disenfranchised and the guardian of the geriatric. She’s unyielding, unrelenting in her pursuit of client suitability. Attorneys who specialize in senior fraud are particularly … [Read more...]

There’s always some carrier culpability in bad recommendations from advisers, who shop manufacturers not for client centric contracts but for high compensation. The temptation is just too great for producers to sell high compensation products, who are financially needy or just plain greedy. At the bottom of every poor recommendation by an adviser or agent lies the overwhelming need for personal revenue. This is really evident in income life insurance sales using participating whole life and … [Read more...]

It’s an uncommon to find the finances of most advisers in order, much less a role model that their clients can follow. Often financial advisers and insurance agents don’t address the indebtedness of their clients, not because they are not paid to manage it (although that’s true), but that they don’t manage their own financial liabilities. Personal inconsistencies among the professional ranks of advisers and agents are scandalous. Their public persona of their own stewardship of money is … [Read more...]