Renee Hanson (Ameriprise) Review 2024 – Selfish and Greedy
Renee Hanson Ameriprise is a private wealth advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services LLC. She is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
While most advisors flaunt their achievements and accolades, some of them do so to distract consumers from their flaws. To help you make a well-informed decision, here are the prominent red flags present in Renee’s disclosures:
About Renee Hanson Ameriprise
Renee Hanson is a financial planner based in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a part of Ameriprise Financial Services LLC and her office is located at 7010 E Chauncey Ln Ste 200, Phoenix, AZ 85054, US.
Her office opens from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM on business days and from 7:30 AM to 2:00 PM on Fridays. The contact number of her office is 602-923-9800.
Renee Hanson has CFP, BFA, CEP, ChFC, and CDFA certifications. While she claims to offer personalized advice to clients, her disclosures suggest her clients aren’t her biggest priority.
Here are the most prominent issues present in her disclosures:
Problems in Renee Hanson Ameriprise’s Disclosures You Should Know
Multiple Disputes with Clients
The FINRA BrokerCheck profile of Renee Hanson Ameriprise shows that she has had 2 disputes with her clients. Her first dispute was in 2007 when a client alleged that redemption was processed on his account without his authorization.
The client had requested $5,114 in damages however the firm said that Renee had followed company policy regarding the redemption in question so they denied the dispute.
Renee’s second dispute is quite recent as it happened in 2019. The client alleged that he wasn’t made aware that the RiverSource RAVA 4 Variable Annuity he purchased in April 2010 was a proprietary product and that he was charged account termination fees for accounts he didn’t agree to open.
In this dispute, the client requested $5,941.50 in damages. Again, this dispute was denied.
Note that both of these disputes were denied because of company policy, not because the client’s allegations were based on unfounded claims.
Selling Commissioned Products
Skilled private wealth advisors rarely have any customer disputes on their FINRA BrokerCheck profiles. A big reason why Renee has two disputes listed there could be the fact that she sells commissioned products to her clients.
According to her disclosures, Renee can earn commissions from the sale of certain investments. This can introduce a lot of bias in her recommendations as she might prioritize her wallet over her clients’ interests.
What’s worse is many clients are unaware of this fact and think they are getting suitable advice when they aren’t.
Charging Extra Fees
Renee Hanson Ameriprise charges 12b-1 fees on some products. The 12b-1 fee is a marketing fee that generally goes into the pocket of the advisor. Some investors might think that just because this fee increases an investment’s cost, it might offer some benefits.
But that’s not the case here.
There is no difference between the returns of an investment charging 12b-1 fees and one which doesn’t charge this fee, according to an SEC study.
This fee increases the cost of investment significantly, which may affect your portfolio negatively.
What is a Red Flag?
A red flag serves as a signal or sign that there may be an underlying issue or danger associated with a company’s stock, financial statements, or news reports. These indicators can come in many forms and are often identified by analysts or investors as any notable undesirable trait.
The incentive for Ignoring Clients’ Interests
As a part of Ameriprise Financial Services LLC, Renee Hanson can recommend many proprietary and affiliated products to her clients.
Proprietary investments limit the recommendations an advisor can make. They compel the advisor to suggest suboptimal investments as more suitable securities might not offer good commissions.
In these cases, the client ends up getting the bad end of the stick. Your advisor might say that a certain proprietary investment is the most suited for you but that would only be out of the available proprietary investments.
Putting Clients at Excessive Risk
Finally, a huge issue in Renee Hanson Ameriprise’s services is that she offers products that charge performance-based fees.
When your advisor charges a performance-based fee, they earn only when they outperform a certain benchmark. This approach forces the advisor to follow high-risk strategies regardless of their client’s requirements.
The performance-based fee is heavily looked down upon in the wealth management industry. That’s because the risky strategies it forces an advisor to take can wipe out significant chunks of an investor’s portfolio instantly.
Moreover, if you lose your investment, you can’t take any action against the advisor. As seen before, Renee Hanson’s company will simply say “You understood all the risks”.
This is a huge red flag and makes it very difficult to trust this private wealth advisor.
Conclusion
Renee Hanson Ameriprise isn’t the option available in Phoenix. Her disclosures suggest she has a lot of incentive for ignoring your interests and requirements, which is never a good thing.
Trusting such an advisor with your financial future and security would not be a wise decision. After all, you must ask yourself this question before doing business with her, “What comes first for her: my interests or her wallet?”
Why wasn’t he prosecuted? And others also. They will get on with the frauds as long as nobody started the process against them.