Watson Ameriprise – Accused of Audacious Disputes and Unethical Tactics
Would you work with a financial advisor who hides their actual name because of a client dispute? Chances are you won’t. If so, you should avoid dealing with Drew Watson Ameriprise.
He is a shady wealth advisor who uses unethical tactics to leech funds off of his clients. His disclosures have too many issues which make it difficult to trust him as a financial advisor.
Furthermore, he is using a changed name to operate because of a major dispute he faced in his early career. Drew doesn’t want people to know about this dispute as he knows no investor would want to work with him after that.
The following review will expose Drew and his shady tactics:
Drew Watson Ameriprise: Firm’s Details and Services
Drew Watson Ameriprise is a financial advisor based in Kentucky. His office is located at 2708 New Hartford Rd, Owensboro, KY 42303, US and the contact number is 270-684-8424.
Drew Watson is the Chief Executive Officer of Align Wealth Management. He claims to focus on understanding the markets and what’s important to his clients. Drew also boasts of being among the top performers in Ameriprise for offering personal finance advice.
Did You Know/
Align Wealth Management employs 14 financial advisors and 14 staff members. The company claims of managing $1.1 Billion client’s assets and has offices in Owensboro, Marion, Harrisburg & Paducah.
He claims to offer personalized recommendations for a diversified portfolio. Some of the services you can expect include retirement plan distribution, investments, wealth preservation strategies, saving for education, and tax planning strategies.
Even though he makes so many attractive claims about his service and expertise, Drew Watson Ameriprise is not a guy you can trust easily. His disclosures and professional history suggest that he has no regard for his clients’ financial successes. Drew’s sole priority is his own financial well-being.
The next section of this review will shed more light on these issues so you can understand Drew better:
Why You Must Avoid Drew Watson Ameriprise:
$90,000 Dispute for Unsuitable Investments and Overcharged Fees
There’s a big reason why Drew Watson uses an alias to operate in the finance industry. His full name is William Andrew Watson and should be using this name. Instead, he uses an alias.
Financial advisors rarely do such a thing because they have nothing to hide. This begs the question, what is Drew Watson Ameriprise hiding from investors? The answer is, his terrible professional history.
According to the FINRA BrokerCheck listing of Drew Watson Ameriprise, he had a major client dispute in 2004. Here, the client alleged that Drew overcharged wrap fees, invested in unsuitable investments and recommended investments based on high commissions. The client suffered losses of more than $90,000. Hence, they requested the same amount in damages.
Drew settled the case for $9,440.39. They refunded the client a portion of the incurred fees to settle the matter.
Drew hasn’t shared any additional details on the dispute. However, it’s a huge red flag.
This dispute shows that Drew has a history of recommending unsuitable investments and making recommendations based on the commissions they generate. You should avoid dealing with such selfish wealth advisors as your funds wouldn’t be safe with them.
Selling Proprietary & Affiliated Products
Drew Watson Ameriprise’s disclosures show that he is still earning commissions from selling investment products. He can recommend proprietary and affiliated investment products. This is a huge issue, considering his past legal dispute with a client.
Earning from commissions introduces bias in an advisor’s recommendations. They have monetary incentive for giving preference to a specific investment regardless of its suitability for the client.
So, it becomes extremely difficult to trust such advisors. It would be difficult to figure out whether the advisor is recommending an investment because it’s good for your plan or because it’s good for their wallet. Also, different investment products offer different commissions.
Hence, the advisor might ignore some products entirely no matter how suitable they are for your portfolio.
When you work with advisors like Drew, you can miss out on many positive returns simply because he didn’t recommend the right securities to you. After all, his firm has no incentive for recommending investments that don’t generate commissions for them.
Giving Cookie-Cutter Advice
Drew Watson Ameriprise and his team perform side-by-side management. This means they manage large funds and small retail accounts at the same time. Side-by-side management is particularly detrimental for investors with small and mid-size accounts.
That’s because you can’t expect to get proper personalization from the advisor.
Advisors who perform side-by-side management allocate most of their resources to their larger clients. This leaves little to nothing for their mid-sized and small clients.
Such advisors tend to prepare a set of cookie-cutter recommendations and give them to all of their smaller clients. Keep in mind, they may still claim to offer “personalized advice” when they are clearly not.
Conclusion
From using an alias to facing a lawsuit for ignoring his clients’ requirements, Drew has done it all. It’s obvious that Drew doesn’t care about his clients and their well-being.
Due to these reasons, it would be best for you to find a different wealth advisor and ignore Drew Watson Ameriprise.
