New Way To Bet On Oil Wipes Out Billions In Investor Savings

[Purveyor]

NEW YORK (AP) -- When Karen Robinson's husband died, she worried she wouldn't have enough money to raise her two young girls and save for retirement.

Then she met a financial planner, Tom Parks, who told her about investment partnerships that would allow her to ride the boom in U.S. oil and gas production while receiving a steady stream of payments to help pay her bills.

"He showed me this picture of the United States, and said they were getting oil out of shale, and energy was the way to go," says Robinson, a high school teacher from Cranfills Gap, Texas. She liked that Parks seemed so confident. "I trusted him."

Two years later, her partnerships have plunged in value and Robinson has lost more than half of the $202,000 she invested, according to a complaint filed with regulators against Parks and his firm, Ameriprise Financial Services. Parks did not return phone calls and emails; Ameriprise declined to comment.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BAD_OIL_BETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-26-16-14-04

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Yup!!!!

Got to just love those Financial Advisers,Yup,such honest folks,just looking out for your needs.

[Human101948]

2. Fiduciary responsibility is not included in the financial advisor creed...

High commissions on questionable investments are the way!

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Been down that road,we got lucky and

only loss twenty per cent. Talk about a guy getting his ass handed to him,when my Spouse got done with this Guy,and a complaint filled against Schwab and with NASD,this Guy went packing. Arbitration ended with a net loss of ten per cent,you know you are lucky to get half. The Game is so f===n rigged.

[Purveyor]

6. Rule of thumb is never hired a financial planner that earns commissions on his/her recommendations.

ALWAYS use a planner where you pay then a flat fee for their expertise and nothing more.

[Fred Sanders]

3. Karen Robinson investing all her savings in the stock market to fund retirement is an example of

why Capitalists in America have been having wet dreams about ending Social Security for generations....money is never "lost" in the stock market, someone is always profiting.

I have to ask: Social Security - why is replacing, rather than enhancing it, even a topic?

"I trusted him". The tragic, magic words beloved of all "investment advisors".

[cprise]

7. Yes, a cautionary tale against Social Security privatization

Good catch.

[n2doc]

5. Fleeced n/t