Trust Requires That Your Words Match Your Actions
The Investor Protection Initiative is an investor protection advocacy group that believes that financial services firms, governments, and regulators should live up to their own public statements, play by their own set of rules, and act quickly and decisively to protect investors from the hundreds of billions of dollars lost to a fixable and disclosable problem in our stock market called “Buying a Dividend.”
Buying a Dividend:
What it is and Why It Matters
A little-known problem in global stock markets called "Buying a dividend" is a backward, flawed, and antiquated accounting practice costing investors billions. If this is the first time you have heard of this problem, you are not alone. Buying a dividend causes investors to purchase fewer shares and pay higher fees because of artificially inflated security values. It also results in substantial losses because investors will be forced to pay taxes on income they never earned.
Questions Every Financial Services Firm Should Consider
Every financial services company, government, and regulator mentions some combination of Trust, Fiduciary Duty, and Transparency on their websites and in their marketing materials. To these institutions, we ask the following questions.
ONE
Trust: “Putting Investors First”
Is “putting investors first” a promise made by a fiduciary to an investor or a “marketing tactic” used to obtain their business? If it is a promise, what steps have you taken or what steps will you take to protect them from the harm of buying a dividend?
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TWO
Fiduciary Duty: Acting in an Investor’s “Best Interest”
Fiduciaries and industry gatekeepers have a legal obligation to act in the best interest of investors. Is selling investors overvalued securities, resulting in billions in losses, acting in an investor’s best interest?
THREE
Transparency: “Hidden Costs”
Is it acceptable that tax liabilities are being secretly attached to income-producing securities and sold to the public without adequate disclosure resulting in the over-taxation of hundreds of millions of people annually? Pending regulations will make hidden costs illegal. Are you ready for this?
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Knowledge is Power
Educate Yourself – Keep More of What You Earn
While we advocate for industry reforms, your best defense is to be informed. You must educate yourself about “buying a dividend” so that you can keep more of what you rightfully earn. Check out our educational videos and blogs. Coming Soon!