Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS – A Nightmare for Investors
If you’re looking for a wealth advisory firm in Coral Gables, you might have heard of The Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS. It’s a prominent firm in the region that uses unethical tactics to leech funds off of its clients.
The following review will help you understand how they do so:
About the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS
The Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team of UBS is a financial advisory firm in Coral Gables, Florida. Their address is 550 Biltmore Way, Coral Gables, FL 33134, US and their contact number is 786-394-2920.
The firm claims to focus on understanding the needs, goals, and challenges of ultra-successful entrepreneurs and their families.
They offer various services here including access to their Family Office Solutions Group, their Advanced Planning Group, and offering family and philanthropy advisory.
The UBS team claims to be an expert in helping entrepreneurs handle their businesses and avoid the regret of selling it early. This firm has two managing directors, Ghislain Gouraige and Jared Kaplan.
Other notable people at this firm are Michaelangelo Dooley and Claudio Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet.
Even though this firm has received a lot of recognition in the industry, it uses its accolades for the wrong purpose. They use it to distract their clients from the shady fine print present in their terms and conditions.
It’s vital to know about these problematic provisions so you can make a better-informed decision and avoid making a major financial mistake.
Legal Disputes and Predatory Provisions of the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS
Ghislain Gouraige and his $9,300,000 Lawsuit
The FINRA BrokerCheck profile of Ghislain Gouraige shows a major legal dispute. It’s still pending.
Did You Know?
FINRA BrokerCheck is an online tool, that aids the investors in gaining information about financial firms and brokers, before making investment. Also, The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is the largest financial asset regulator firm of The United States.
One of his clients filed a complaint against Gouraige in 2020. They allege that he traded their accounts excessively and unsuitably, exercised discretion in their accounts without proper authority, and charged commissions that weren’t disclosed or misrepresented to them.
The time frame for this complaint is from 2011 – Present. They requested $9,300,000 in damages.
In response to these allegations, Ghislain Gouraige said that all of these claims are false. He claims that all the fees his firm charges was reasonable and all the trades were suitable for the client.
There’s a good chance that this client isn’t the only one who faced misrepresentation and received unsuitable recommendations. That’s because the terms and conditions of the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team have many problematic provisions which incentivize them for giving unsuitable advice.
Incentive for Putting Clients at Extra Risk
The biggest problem in the provisions of the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS’s disclosures is that it charges performance-based fees. Charging performance-based fees is a highly notorious practice in the finance industry and is never recommended.
When an advisor charges performance-based fees, they get paid for outperforming an index. This incentivizes them to implement high-risk strategies regardless of their suitability for your portfolio and requirements. High-risk strategies may help the fund outperform an index, but they rarely generate impressive returns.
Such strategies have a high failure rate. This means they usually generate poor returns or cause the investor to suffer losses. Moreover, if you suffer losses because of these high-risk strategies, you can’t hold your advisor responsible for it.
The Gouriage Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS makes you sign multiple waivers when you hand them your account. These waivers free them from any accountability which is why it’s quite dangerous to trust them with your funds.
Research shows that funds that charge performance-based fees tend to double down on the risk and generate poor returns in most cases. If you have a large portfolio or are looking for long-term security, then this fee structure would be highly unsuitable for you.
Charging Hidden Fees
Another huge issue present in this firm’s disclosures is that it charges 12b-1 fees. The 12b-1 fee is a marketing fee that companies pay to advisors for promoting their investment products.
This fee increases the cost of security but doesn’t reflect any value. What’s worse is that it’s a variable fee and gives the advisors an opportunity to charge hidden fees.
The hidden fee is a huge red flag. It’s probably the biggest issue in the wealth management industry because you don’t learn about the reason why you’re paying such higher costs until it’s too late.
Furthermore, the 12b-1 fee is a percentage fee. So, how much fee you pay depends on the size of your portfolio. This is particularly detrimental for investors with large portfolios because they have to pay extra.
To put it simply, this fee ramps up the costs of an investment, allows the advisor to charge hidden fees, is based on the size of your portfolio, and offers no benefits whatsoever. It’s a nightmare you should avoid.
Conclusion
After checking the ongoing disputes and the current disclosures, Gouraige Kaplan it’s obvious that the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS is a terrible wealth advisory firm
You should look for a different wealth management firm that has safer and more suitable provisions in its terms and conditions.
