by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC RSP CLTC
TD Ametitrade steered a disabled couple looking for a managed account to chat rooms where they lost about half a million dollars, according to the clients’ FINRA arbitration filing and a report in Financial planning magazine
Kevin and Natalie Flynn, neither of whom had been able to work for years, accused TD Ameritrade of
- violating FINRA’s “know your customer” rules, as well as unsuitable investments and
- a failure to supervise — two of the most frequent client claims.
Kevin Flynn visited a Manchester, NH branch of TD Ameritrade in June 2010 looking to invest their disability settlements, according to their statement of claim. Kevin Flynn struggled daily attempting to copy the trades executed by the leaders of the chat rooms, he says.
“We were looking for somebody to manage it, and the rep told us about these chat rooms where you just do what they do,” says Kevin Flynn, 60. “It was very fast, the way that they traded.”
Referring a settlement recipient to a chat room is not financial or settlement planning
It comes under the category of “Financial WTF”. It is clearly a cookie cutter approach to gather assets using a digital cookie cutter, no more appropriate than executing a six pack of beer stock recommendation from Uncle Vinnie at Schmucks’ family picnic.
The Flynns could have used a settlement planner so they could have been better prepared to make an informed decision
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