I (29/F) don't know how to vet financial advising professionals but this guy who found my elderly mom (70/F?) says he does work for free and gets paid from the advertising on his website... I think he's just an insurance salesman of some kind... but she won't stop talking to him because he's "nice" to her. My mother is extremely gullible and falls for scams regularly and has been talking to this guy for over a year. My dad (they're separated) says she bought some of this "advisor's" products already - I think extra life insurance as well as invested tens of thousands of dollars in SOMETHING that she can't touch for 10 years. She can't remember what the investments are called or what all the details are other than he says she's making money. She's nearly broke and wants my dad to sign some paperwork from this guy that releases her 401k in lump sum. My dad does not want to sign it because NOBODY trusts this advisor. Mom is in her feels that we (the family) don't trust her financial decisions and she is trying to prove us wrong... When she does this she always fails miserably; this isn't the first time she's tried to "prove" herself. She's so loving and wants to trust all humans (except she won't listen to her family).
My uncle (divorced from family but he's still okay-ish talking to me) says when he looked this "finance" guy up by the info on the business card, he couldn't find any licenses. Idk if that's changed in the last few months and my uncle is busy with his actual family and I don't want to bother him further...he's helped enough already and my mom's a headache to handle.
A friend of a friend is a lawyer and suggested I find someone who works for a real financial advising firm (is firm the right word?) and have them file a complaint with either the state insurance commission (Florida) or the FL office of financial regulation, Division of securities, or possibly the SEC. But I need to find someone to do this with and soon.
Thoughts, opinions, suggestions preferred. I also have the guys business card but idk how to post images here yet.
Edit: she's not retired yet, she's on long term disability and thinks she will work as a nurse again. We would love this for her but it's not realistic or at all likely with her mental diagnosis that we won't get into. That being said, we don't want to take over her finances or become a guardian - we just don't want her to squander her retirement.
Submitted July 20, 2021 at 07:58PM by M0ntressa https://ift.tt/3xPenfj
