Investor Watchdog Wants to Change Wall Street Sales Practices

SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Investor Watchdog's (http://www.InvestorWatchdog.com) free, online tools help investors select, monitor, and replace financial advisors. A team of professionals that was lead by Jack Waymire, author of the highly regarded book, Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor (ISBN 0471476994), developed Watchdog's website.

Waymire observed, "It is common knowledge that Wall Street is dominated by a toxic sales culture that damages millions of individual investors. Even its most prestigious firms are notorious for advertising trust and abusing it to maximize profits and executive bonuses. Wall Street has gotten away with this duplicity for years because investors need its planning and investment services."

It would be naive to assume Wall Street is going to change its sales practices any time soon. It spends millions of dollars a year protecting current practices. Therefore, investors must be the catalysts for changes that level the playing field when they buy investment products and follow the advice of financial representatives. However, investors are not about to do this on their own. They need help developing a process that protects them from the industry's most predatory sales practices.

Investor Watchdog's help is based on studying the way institutional investors (pension plans) interact with advisors. Then it modified institutional tools for use by individual investors. For example, there are tools that investors use to research advisors at any U.S. firm and compare them side-by-side on Advisor Scorecard. Another Watchdog tool monitors key advisor information each quarter. Plus, there are Performance Benchmarks and a tracking system that produce advisor track records.

Waymire said, "Watchdog tools include a new set of practices that individual investors use when they select and retain financial professionals. For the first time, advisors will have to follow business practices that favor investors if they want to sell investment services and products to Watchdog Users. If advisors resist the new paradigm, they will be unsuccessful winning and retaining Watchdog Users as clients. Eventually there will be Watchdog Users and everybody else."

About InvestorWatchdog.com

Investor Watchdog is an information services company that provides free online tools, data, and guides to individual investors who use the services of financial professionals. Visit Watchdog's website for more information.

Media Contact:

Debbie Freeman
Media Relations
916.253.3334
[email protected]

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SOURCE Investor Watchdog