STAY AWAY! RUN WITH YOUR MONEY!!
Absolutely, absolutely horrible. I had the biggest nightmare of my life with this guy. In my 20 years, I have met many financial advisors - from those working for Ameriprise and such to individual agents and I have not met one poorly informed dumb guy like Tony.
I had approached Tony a year back for advice with my financial situation. I wanted him to manage my 401k and individual account. I had close to half a million in my 401k and I wasn't getting enough returns from Fidelity. I had close to a million dollars in my individual account and I wanted some good advice so I could grow the money and slowly prepare for retirement.
Tony struck me as uninformed from the very first day. I asked him if he had a strategy in mind and what he would advise me given my financial goals. I have a teenage daughter that wants to go to college. Tony's response was to put the money in the stock market and he said he had over years gotten people good returns. I asked if he had specific sectors in mind or a specific strategy and I didn't get a good answer. He said Bank of America and Citigroup would do well the next year and so would McDonald's. He said he trusted Coke because Buffett had money in it. I asked for some rationale and logic but he said gut feel was an important factor and these stocks had done well in the past. I left with a lot of unanswered questions and a weird feeling but I thought the coworker that referred him must have had good reason.
A year later, I am left with half my money in both accounts. He never consulted me, never cared to seek my approval, didn't give me any reason for what he was investing the money in, and I am unsure of where the money went! Apparently he lost the money in some stocks of his choice and some foreign stocks.
Needless to say, I am furious! It's one thing that you get to become a financial advisor in some of these places with so much as just a GED; it's another thing that one has the balls to burn their clients' money so indiscriminately!
RUN, RUN, Run away. If you want to give him any money, better go into a cash-only position!
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