Financial Advisors paying up for bad decisions

2007 was a poor year for investors in finance companies but it was a worse year for the financial advisers who directed those investors. Many investors, or more accurately, clients are taking legal action against their advisers. Some of the stories are quite unbelievable with advisers directing money into investments which struggled to meet any kind of benchmark relating to their clients risk parameters and investment goals.

Sadly many financial advisers have little market experience and come from the selling side of the business. It’s the old “churn and burn” mentality. They can’t manage risk because they don’t know much about it. They simply direct the traffic into a range of investment choices differing marginally in yield.

Many advisers are now paying clients out in full to avoid legal action. Fair enough. They act in a position of trust and supposed expertise and should be accountable.

Why it is necessary to have confidence in the banking system

The recent Bank of England action is completely necessary though wrong in terms of moral hazard. In order to understand why this is the case i exhort you to read John Tomlinson’s paper which is in the research section or here. In his paper  he explains how a bank works in terms of taking in deposits and lending out money. He dissects carefully the balance sheet of Barclays Bank and shows how solvency is merely a trick of the imagination.

Of course readers of this blog will already know that money is merely a ficition, one with a deep and dark history. As Trevor commented in the previous post, the general public relies on he integrity of the system and the honesty of those who operate it.

Can we have confidence in those people? I think not. Not because they are dishonest  but because they refuse to acknowledge a system that is unstabl, inequitable and ultimately inefficient.

Please read and ask questions, comment, spread the word and ponder.  What does your money mean? Do you really have any savings, wealth or assets? Don’t rely on the system to support you. It has failed regularly since the Bank of England was first formed and wil l continue to do so until some serious surgery has been performed.