A suitability claim isn't about hindsight. It's about a recommendation that was wrong for you at the moment it was made — too risky, too concentrated, too illiquid, or too complex for your stated objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance. When an unsuitable recommendation produces a loss, the firm can be held to account.
Under FINRA Rule 2111, Regulation Best Interest, and the fiduciary duty owed by investment advisers, a recommendation must fit the specific investor. Suitability is judged at the time of the recommendation, against the objectives and risk profile the firm itself recorded.
A single position or sector holding a disproportionate share of your liquid net worth — often exceeding 25% — that no prudent adviser would have allowed, exposing you to a loss diversification would have prevented.
Non-traded REITs, BDCs, private placements, and interval funds recommended to investors who needed access to their capital — a recurring suitability problem given the products' cost and lock-up features.
Structured notes, market-linked CDs, and leveraged or inverse ETFs held far longer than their design intends — complexity and leverage sold to investors who were never in a position to bear it.
A stated 'conservative' or 'moderate' profile paired with a portfolio of speculative, volatile, or alternative positions the investor never authorized and did not understand.
Unsuitable-investment claims are proven from the record — much of it created by the firm itself. The discrepancy between the documented profile and the actual portfolio is frequently the foundation of the case.
The IPS and account-opening documents record the objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance the firm assigned you — the benchmark against which the actual holdings are measured.
Trade history and holdings show the concentration, leverage, illiquidity, or drift that a suitable portfolio would not contain, and quantify the loss it produced.
Supervisory records, compliance correspondence, and product disclosures often show the firm knew — or its own procedures required it to know — that the recommendation did not fit.
Where the unsuitable product carried outsized commissions or revenue-sharing to the firm, that conflict is frequently what explains the recommendation.
Initial inquiries are reviewed personally and treated as confidential whether or not we ultimately work together. We respond to substantive case inquiries within one business day. There is no cost or obligation associated with the initial review.
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