Launching your own registered investment adviser (RIA) firm is an exciting, but complicated, new chapter in your career as a financial professional. From drafting the ADV to communicating with regulators, registering a new RIA firm can be an overwhelming task. Although online document template services are cheap and simple to use, those services don’t come without their drawbacks. This past …
AdvisorLaw’s new “Rideshare Program” helps financial advisors expunge customer disputes and U5 termination disclosures
AdvisorLaw is now offering a “Rideshare Program” for financial advisors seeking to expunge customer dispute or U5 termination disclosures for the entire month of December. With over 40 million visitors to BrokerCheck® every year, you and your teammates can’t afford to lose a client over a meritless disclosure on your record. But we can help to restore your good name. If you …
Expungement Week 2020
Over the last five years, Doc Kennedy and AdvisorLaw have been dubbed the “800-pound gorilla” when it comes to FINRA arbitration cases. That reputation has been earned by absolutely dominating the FINRA arbitration landscape. Maybe it’s the quarantines, the lockdowns, or the imminent FINRA arbitration fee increases, but the gorilla is eager to help this year. Doc has decided to give back …
Advisors pursuing customer dispute expungements before September will pay a fraction of the new cost.
As published in the Federal Register, on June 1, 2020, the SEC approved FINRA’s proposed Rule changes to the customer dispute expungement process. Release No. 34—88945; File No. SR—FINRA—2020—005. In short, the following provisions of the recently-approved Rule apply to all matters in which expungement of a customer dispute disclosure is requested as a claim or counterclaim: The minimum filing …
Is A Social Media Post Worth Your Job?
Lately, AdvisorLaw has been hearing from more and more financial advisors who have imperiled their careers with social media posts and comments. We like to say that “it’s a free country,” and it is — the First Amendment guarantees that the government won’t put you in jail or punish you in any way for what you say. However, it does not guarantee …
Will old investor complaints have to be disclosed after the SEC’s Reg BI takes effect?
Will investment advisors with customer disputes over ten years old have to disclose them on their Form ADV under the new SEC Regulation Best Interest Rule that’s taking effect after June 30, 2020? The short answer is, yes. Advisors will be required to disclose these old investor complaints on their ADV Part 3.
The Other Costs of Having FINRA U4 Disclosures on Your BrokerCheck
Losing potential business due to customer complaints on your BrokerCheck report is bad enough, but it isn’t the only cost of having FINRA U4 disclosures on your CRD. Today, most clients search online before setting up an initial meeting with a financial advisor. I’ve heard people say, “You don’t go to lunch in a new part of town without …
How One Law Firm Handled Three out of Five Broker Expungement Requests in 2018
A Denver-based law firm appears to have made a cottage industry out of clearing broker records — and its founder is in no way apologetic about being the leader in a field some critics say could harm investors, according to news reports. Dochtor Kennedy, 39, founded AdvisorLaw in 2016, and the firm now handles the bulk of broker expungements, InvestmentNews writes. Kennedy …
How to Save Your Reputation After a Meritless Customer Complaint
Original Article: wealthmanagement.com/marketing/how-save-your-reputation-after-meritless-customer-complaint Many wealth managers have spent years, if not decades, of their lives crafting a distinguished image of their practice. Words like “planning,” “trust,” “experience,” “service” and “satisfaction” consume the landscape of a financial advisor’s marketing message. Over their tenure, an advisor’s “brand” can develop significant equity. This equity, embodied through their personal and business reputation, pays dividends …