The moment a retiree moves a lifetime of savings from an employer plan into a brokerage IRA is the single most lucrative moment in the retail brokerage business, and firms organize around it. Americans about to move abroad are especially exposed: the rollover often happens in a hurry, before departure, on the advice of whoever was nearest. Variable annuities inside an IRA, proprietary managed accounts with layered fees, and illiquid alternatives sold at rollover are recurring sources of claims — and the recommendation to roll over at all is itself subject to a best-interest standard.
Recognize it
You may have this claim if
- A variable or indexed annuity purchased inside an IRA
- A managed account with an advisory fee on top of fund expenses
- A rollover recommended without any comparison to leaving the money in the plan
- Illiquid products — REITs, private placements — bought with rollover money
- A broker or advisor who initiated the rollover conversation
The rule
What the firm owed you
Rollover recommendations are covered by Regulation Best Interest and, for advisory accounts, the Investment Advisers Act fiduciary standard. FINRA has repeatedly identified rollover recommendations as a supervisory priority. The products bought with rollover money are separately subject to suitability.
From abroad
Why distance does not matter here
The rollover paperwork, plan statements, and IRA statements are the record. We review them wherever you are.