Category: The Cons of Wall Street

Mutual Fund Past Performance Monkey Business: BEWARE

By Bryan Binkholder on Jul 26, 2010 in Brokerage Firm Games, Featured, Investing, Mutual Funds, The Cons of Wall Street

Soon to be released study from the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (Sept. 2010) shows that Mutual Fund Past Performance means nothing but is used to seduce and swindle investors. In this video and attached report, you will see exactly why looking at past performance of mutual funds is a cardinal sin (possible an unforgivable [...]

The 5 Star Wealth Manager Scam

By Bryan Binkholder on Mar 30, 2010 in Featured, The Cons of Wall Street, The Name Game

Bryan Binkholder and Blue Ocean Portfolios have been announced as proud winners of the ‘5 Star Wealth Manager Award’ and were featured in St. Louis Magazine in the Month of March 2010. Unfortunately, this entire award is a scam designed to help Financial Salespeople win the trust and admiration of consumers. I was contacted by [...]

Financial Coach Code of Ethics Pledge

By Bryan Binkholder on Mar 28, 2010 in Investing, The Cons of Wall Street

Due to the recent news that Brokerage Firms have persuaded Congress to continue to allow their reps to act in their best interest and not clients, The Financial Coach and Blue Ocean Portfolios wants investors who listen or deal with our firm to know that we will always abide by the following rules. Before [...]

Congress Rejects Bill To Force Stockbrokers/Advisors To Act In Clients Best Interest

By Bryan Binkholder on Feb 28, 2010 in Broker or Investment Advisor, The Cons of Wall Street

Jason Zweig from the Wall Street Journal discusses how the Congress rejected the bill requiring stockbrokers and insurance agents to put consumers interest first. The only people giving independent advice conflict free are Registered Investment Advisors.

The “Experts” Stock Picks for 2010–Yeah Right

By Bryan Binkholder on Jan 07, 2010 in Investing, Stock Pickers & Gurus, The Cons of Wall Street

Experts are always telling us what stocks to buy and sell. For most investors, we view this as what John Bogle of Vanguard Funds called it, “Investtainment.”
There has been NO PROOF that stock pickers, market timers or analyst can accurately and predictably predict the market and achieve above average returns.
The best way to [...]

Merrill Lynch, UBS, Morgan Stanley Paying Big Bucks For Reps

By Bryan Binkholder on Nov 15, 2009 in The Cons of Wall Street

The big guys are paying 330% of a reps past 12 months commissions to ‘lure them over.’
http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091113/FREE/911139975/1094/INDaily01
Updated Story: The recruiting & bonus war continues. I wonder how this helps consumers when companies are ‘buying’ brokers to bring their block of business to the firm.
http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091115/REG/311159961/1094/INDaily01

Brokerages Should Prepare For A Fiduciary World (putting clients first)

By Bryan Binkholder on Nov 10, 2009 in Broker or Investment Advisor, Brokerage Firm Games, The Cons of Wall Street

Great ‘insider article’ describing how currently brokers and brokerages must act in a ’suitable world’ in which they just have to show that invest recommendations they made were suitable, although not necessarily the best for an investor. In addition, when it comes to special offerings, IPO’s and other specialty items that brokerages create or are [...]

Worst First Quarter Ever! (Originally Posted 4.21.09)

By Bryan Binkholder on Nov 09, 2009 in Investing, Retirement Planning, Stock Pickers & Gurus

The Market was killed in the first quarter of 2009 and most investors fled for the exits. The Financial Coach on April 21, 2009 related the worst first quarter and the Business Week article by bringing up the facts of how markets work and how as an investor you cannot fall prey to fear [...]

Beware! Mutual Fund Dishonesty Is On The Rise

By Bryan Binkholder on Nov 09, 2009 in Mutual Funds, The Cons of Wall Street

Originally Posted on April 16 2009.

The coach pounds away on the con game used by mutual fund firms and brokers to create the illusion of good performing funds. The video originally posted April 16, 2009 discussed the launch of Putnum’s Absolute Return Funds. Subsequent video’s show how Bryan was right on when he [...]