Kimberlee Orth: Is She Hiding the Shady Past?
You should be extremely careful while searching for investment advisors. Picking the wrong option can lead you to financial ruin. Hence, you should avoid suspicious advisors at all costs. One such advisor is Kimberlee Orth of Ameriprise.
Kimberlee has legal disputes with numerous clients. The people complained about her as she was misleading and tried to deceive them. It would be better to be aware of financial advisor scams. These advisors mispresenting qualifications in order to target numerous Individuals.
At a glance, Kimberlee seems like a reputed financial advisor with several years of industry experience. However, her firm has many predatory clauses present in its terms and conditions which trap her clients in unfavorable agreements.
In the following review of Kimberlee Orth, you’ll learn about these problematic provisions and the legal disputes she has had with her clients.
Who is Kimberlee Orth?
Kimberlee Orth is a financial advisor of Ameriprise Financial Services in Delaware. Her office is located at 3513 Concord Pike Ste 1000, Wilmington, DE 19803, US and her contact number is 302-475-5105.
You can visit her office between 8 AM and 6 PM on weekdays, although I would advise against it.
Kimberlee is a private wealth advisor with CFP and CKA certifications. She runs the Orth Financial Group and has received many accolades and awards from the industry.
However, many people put too much emphasis on these accolades and ignore the fine print. Kimberlee is among the advisors who use their achievements to distract their clients from the shady clauses present in their terms and conditions.
She claims to offer personalized financial advice to her clients by following the Confident Retirement approach. Some of the services available at her firm are:
- Investment recommendations
- Comprehensive financial advice
- Annuity solutions
- Cash management solutions
- Progress meetings
- Insurance solutions
And more.
In the next section of this review, I have highlighted the primary issues present in her disclosures. Additionally, I have pointed out the past legal conflicts she has had with her clients. She will inform you about her accolades but she wouldn’t share the following details with you, that’s for sure:
Legal Disputes and Shady Disclosures of Kimberlee Orth of Ameriprise
Kimberlee Orth’s $500,000+ Disputes with Her Clients
When you start looking into a financial advisor, it’s best to check their FINRA BrokerCheck profile. It’s a vast database where you can learn about their professional experience, state licenses, the exams they have passed, and the disputes they have with authorities and clients.
The FINRA BrokerCheck profile of Kimberlee Orth shows two legal disputes. Having two disputes is a huge red flag because skilled advisors rarely have one dispute in their careers.
The first disputes occurred in 2005. Here, the client alleged that Kimberlee made unsuitable recommendations which didn’t align with her risk tolerance, causing her to suffer loss. The client requested $53,000 in damages.
However, the firm denied the claims by saying that the investments were indeed suitable.
Kimberlee’s second dispute occurred in 2016. Here, the client alleged that the variable life insurance policy they purchased in February 1995 was misrepresented as a retirement investment. They requested $450,000 in damages.
The firm denied this claim as well without citing any reasons.
Keep in mind that it’s extremely difficult for such disputes to end in the favor of the investor. That’s because advisors like Orth make you sign multiple waivers at the beginning of your professional relationship with them. These waivers free them of any accountability and help them
Kimberlee isn’t the only advisor who uses this terrible tactic to get away with misrepresentation. Another example of using such shady tactics for avoiding responsibility is Renee Fourcade UBS.
She used this method to avoid paying more than $40,000 in multiple disputes.
Putting Clients at Excessive Risk
The disclosures of Kimberlee Orth show that she charges performance-based fees. This fee structure incentivizes her to put you at unnecessary risk as it can help her charge more.
Research shows that investments that follow this fee structure offer poorer returns to their investors. Moreover, if you lose your invested capital because of the high-risk strategies of your advisor, you can’t hold them responsible for the losses.
On the other hand, if you get any returns from the implementation of these strategies, your advisor can charge you heavily. In simple terms, it’s a terrible deal for any investor.
Earning Commissions from Insurance Products
A lot of Kimberlee’s revenue comes from selling insurance products. When your advisor earns commissions from selling insurance products, they have incentive for recommending costlier ones.
In many cases, they recommend unnecessary insurance products to their clients. The premiums of these unnecessary insurance products can ramp up your costs substantially and makes things extremely difficult.
Be extremely cautious if your advisor earns commissions from selling insurance products. Kimberlee is one of them.
Conclusion
Kimberlee Orth has too many red flags to count. First, she has a history of legal disputes with her clients which you shouldn’t ignore. Then, her disclosures have multiple provisions that put her clients in difficult positions.
All of this suggests that it would be best to avoid working with her and find a different advisor in Delaware. Luckily, the market has many options available.
