An increasing number of securities firms are marketing and offering securities-backed lines of credit, or SBLOCs, to investors. SBLOCs can be a key revenue source for securities firms, especially in times of solid market returns and growing investment portfolios, when investors may feel more comfortable leveraging their assets. Firms market SBLOCs as a type of…

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has released its list of the top threats to investors in 2016.  NASAA urged investors to be particularly careful when approached with unsolicited investments, especially those involving promissory notes, oil and gas deals and real estate investment opportunities, including non-traded real estate investment trusts. “Investing is serious business,”…

The Texas State Securities Board has reprimanded and fined WFG Investments Inc. $175,000 for failing to determine whether the sales of alternative investments exposed clients to excessive risk. Specifically, the Disciplinary Order, entered Sept. 3rd by Securities Commissioner John Morgan, found WFG violated supervisory procedures it established to make sure its registered agents were selling…

When a market correction occurs (such as what appears to be occurring over the last several days), the question that many investors find themselves asking is “Are my losses just ordinary losses? Or is something else at play here?” Certainly, the vast majority of losses suffered by investors during a market downturn are just that…

U.S. stocks continued a week-long slump late in the trading session on Friday as the S&P broke below the 2,000 level, closing at 1973.78 and the Dow slipped closer toward correction territory, closing off more than a 1000 points for the week, as fears of a China-led global slowdown shocked the markets. This sell-off has…