Jon Newman Ameriprise Financial Services: Greed never meets
Finding a skilled and reliable financial advisor takes a lot of effort. But if you know which advisors you should avoid, you can narrow down your search more easily. One advisor that you should definitely avoid is Jon Newman Ameriprise.
At first, Jon seems like any normal advisor but his terms and conditions contain many predatory provisions that put you in a detrimental position. Furthermore, he has faced multiple legal disputes with his clients because of these provisions.
The following review will shed light on what these provisions are and why you should be extremely cautious if you’re working with Jon Newman Ameriprise:
Who is Jon Newman Ameriprise?
Jon Newman Ameriprise is a financial advisor based in Greenwich, Connecticut. His office is located at 51 Church St, Greenwich, CT 06830, US and his contact number is 203-861-1700.
Did You know/
Jon Newman is a part of the Newman Associates, which is a firm with four financial advisors and four support staff who claim to provide comprehensive financial services.
He has the CFP certification and runs Newman & Associates at Ameriprise Financial Services. Jon claims to offer high-quality and disciplined service to an exclusive and targeted client base. Jon and his team offer multiple services including financial advice on your goals and progress, investment advisory solutions, annuity solutions, cash management solutions, and progress meetings among others.
Even though Jon Newman makes such boastful claims about his reliability, his disclosures suggest that he doesn’t care much about his clients.
There are plenty of drawbacks to working with him and his team which he tries his best to hide from you and his other prospective clients. For example, did you know that Jon Newman Ameriprise has faced three different legal disputes? I have highlighted this information and more in the next section of my review.
Legal Trouble and Shady Provisions of Jon Newman Ameriprise
Multiple Legal Disputes with Clients
It’s vital that you always look up a financial advisor on the FINRA BrokerCheck database. You can find out a ton of critical information about the advisor there such as their qualifications, their experience, the exams they have passed, their state licenses, and the legal disputes they have had in their career.
When you look up Jon Newman Ameriprise on FINRA BrokerCheck, you find three disputes listed on his profile.
The first dispute occurred in 2001. Here, the client alleged that Jon invested their portfolio in products unsuitable for their financial goals and risk tolerance. Jon settled the case for $12,000.
His second dispute also occurred in 2001. The clients’ SOM had alleged on behalf of the clients, that their investments were unsuitable and as a result, caused them a loss of $222,000 in a year.
They requested $222,000 in damages. However, the firm claimed that they had given them full disclosure of the risk so they denied the claim.
This is a popular strategy among shady advisors for rejecting their clients’ claims. Greg Fullmer Morgan Stanley also uses this method to escape responsibility.
Jon’s third dispute happened in 2003. Here, the client alleged that their investments were unsuitable for their risk tolerance and age. They demanded $5,000 in damages but Jon Newman denied the claim by saying that the client could’ve changed the risk profile but didn’t.
These disputes show that Jon Newman Ameriprise doesn’t put his client’s interests ahead of his own, a huge red flag for any investor. Furthermore, they indicate that Jon has a history of giving unsuitable recommendations to his clients.
Why does he give unsuitable advice to his clients? He does so because he has an incentive for the same. The following provisions in his terms and conditions will tell you why you should be wary of working with him.
Putting Clients at Excessive Risk
Jon Newman and his firm, Newman & Associates, charge performance-based fees. When an advisor charges performance-based fees, it means their pay depends on the performance of your portfolio against a benchmark. So, if your portfolio outperforms a set benchmark, your advisor can charge you more.
To enhance the performance of their client’s funds, advisors tend to double down on the risk, which yields to poor returns. On paper, following a performance-based fee structure seems like the perfect choice but in reality, it’s the worst thing possible for most investors.
This fee structure incentivizes the advisor to pursue a high-risk strategy. High-risk strategies generally yield poor or negative results (losses) for the investor.
Furthermore, if you suffer losses because of your advisor’s implementation of high-risk strategies, you can’t hold them responsible for it because of the various waivers they make you sign at the beginning of your professional relationship. This is why Jon Newman was able to deny most of the claims his clients had made against him.
Studies also show that advisors who follow a performance-based fee structure generate poor returns for their clients.
Earning Commissions from Investments
Another thing you should keep in mind if you choose to work with Jon Newman Ameriprise is that he “sells” investments instead of “recommending” them. Ideally, your financial advisor should recommend investments solely on the basis of their alignment with your goals.
However, when he earns commissions from certain investments they start ignoring your requirements to make an extra buck. That’s why it’s quite difficult to trust advisors who earn hefty commissions.
Earning commissions from investment products is among the biggest reasons why advisors give unsuitable recommendations to their clients.
Conclusion
After going through the disputes and the shady provisions in his disclosures, it’s obvious that Jon Newman Ameriprise is a selfish and greedy advisor. He doesn’t care about his clients’ growth and requirements as his main focus is always on his own finances.
You should look elsewhere and find a more caring and serious advisor. There are plenty of options available.
Thank you whoever wrote this post. You have saved my parents a lot of money.