Ameriprise Financial – Trying Their Free Consultation
So I was strolling through Costco, contemplating buying a 10-year supply of pancake mix for six bucks, and I see some guys handing out chocolates with a ‘Free $25 Costco Cash Card’ sign. Obviously, I go check it out. Turns out they are from Ameriprise Financial, formerly American Express Financial Advisors. If I agree to a “free” consultation, I get a $25 Gift Card. I chat, eat the chocolate, and somehow give them my phone number and take a brochure. I tell him late next week is a good time.
I already knew that AmEx had some issues. Turns out they recently settled with the SEC for $30 million for improper “revenue sharing”. In layman’s terms, their advisors would push products that give them the best kickbacks, even though they have a fiduciary (legal/ethical) responsibility to act in the client’s best interest. Hmm… Should I go?
I probably won’t go for their stuff, but it’s free, and maybe I’ll learn something. But, I have heard stories of intelligent people going in, and coming out with a new financial planner. I am curious to see what kind of questions they ask to form a proper plan, and what kind of things they’d recommend. These guys must have some official training right? I would also find out how pushy they are, and if they disclose that they will be making most of their money making trades and commission of the mutual funds they sell me. Because, that is exactly how they make money (see how they push their own in-house funds). Sure they’ll charge you ~$500 a year too, but each individual broker makes most of their money off every front-loaded fund they sell, and even off some no-load funds. Not that there is necessarily something evil with that. That’s how cars are sold, how software is sold to businesses, how lots of things are sold. But will they tell me?
That’s it. I’m going to go. Wish me luck. Oh, and I bought the pancake mix.
Find more in Retirement | 12/10/05, 8:34pm | Trackback
December 11th, 2005 at 12:40 am
Hehe, Good Luck.
I would treat this as if it was any of those get money for testdriving cars deals. They want to push lots of useless crap onto you, and you want to get that $25
December 11th, 2005 at 5:24 am
Good luck – they do get basic training that really focuses on sales techniques but leave the heavy analysis to the back office team, computer modeling etc. Helping you plan for the future is their big thing – I had an advisor that kept trying to convince me that paying a load for mutual funds was no big deal. As with any plan if you follow through you’re going to be successful. They focus on helping you set goals – retirement, education, buying a house, second home etc and then try to convice you that if you’re serious you’re going to need their help. Good Luck – they are very persistent. I’ve enjoyed your Blog for the past few months – you do a great job with it.
Good luck in reaching your goals.
December 11th, 2005 at 6:39 am
Jonathon,
I have heard that these types of advisors can chew up your time, but sometimes it’s entertaining to hear a pitch from someone.
It reminds me of a time when some window salesman came to my house and wasted about an hour of my life. When it came down to the quote, he said that it would be $60,000, but he was just going to give me 50% off right off the bat. This, of course, was still 5 times the normal price a window shop would charge.
So I pulled out a contract estimator’s book and showed him the price I would expect to pay. He literally didn’t know what to do. He did the call in to the boss routine. Finally, he just admitted that there was nothing they could do.
It was obvious that this sales pitch preys on the unknowledgable and some financial advisors operate under the same method.
It might be interesting to see if they push insurance products like variable annuties to you. Also, what will they say if they push their loaded funds on you and you said you simply wanted low-cost index funds. And, will they push C-class shares instead of A or B?
December 11th, 2005 at 8:18 am
If I hear the word ‘variable annuities’ without some REALLY convincing words on why, I’m gonna stand up and walk out the door =). I’m not really worried about signing up – I may be a pushover for a lot of things, but not when it comes to opening my wallet.
December 11th, 2005 at 8:24 am
Amex and variable annuities watch out
link
December 11th, 2005 at 8:36 am
AmExp was my first exposure to financial planning. Being an unknowledgeable rookie I literally signed up for everything they were selling. Only after a year did I start learning about what I had bought. I discovered the conflict of interest was so profound it gave me a bad taste for all brokers/financial sales reps. Fortunately I have corrected any damage they had done to my savings and investments. I intend to continue to share how I learned to ?do it myself.?
December 11th, 2005 at 9:29 am
They had provided my dept. at work a free lunch, in exchange for some contact info of course. Seemed in our case they were really focused on how to diversify investments and savings to lower the taxes on them. Still contemplating whether I want to go in for their free consultation. Let me know how it goes.
December 11th, 2005 at 9:54 am
Sorry, not lower the taxes on them, but lower the amount of tax you’ll end up paying…which I’m sure will be made up in fees you pay the fin. advisor =P
December 11th, 2005 at 12:02 pm
I did the whole recruiting thing to become an American Express Financial Advisor (before they were Ameriprise). In the end I decided not to do it because I knew I would be cheating people out of their money. Most of the people that work there are lifelong salesmen and they use hard sell tactics to prey upon financial noobies. I would advise you NOT do their “free consultation” because it will most guarenteed be a waste of your time. They have no finance knowledge whatsoever, and they rely 100% on their software.
Another tactic they use is the Fish Bowl-Business Card-Free Lunch. A lot of restuarants have fish bowls where you put in your business card for a chance to win a “free lunch.” Amex goes through the cards and picks out the people they think are high net worth to buy them a meal and have them sit through a sales pitch. It’s pretty ridiculous.
December 11th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
If you bought the Krusteaz 10lb bag you will NOT regret it. God Bless Costco for bringing Krusteaz to the east coast. (Just don’t say it out loud…cuz it does sound gross)
I think you should have fun with your “Free consultation” … and then blog about it! Those folks in particular are pretty shady IMO (that free lunch thing cracks me up and I see it *everywhere*) so I bet sitting through their pitch and making them sweat would make for some fun reading…for us
December 11th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Yes, it was Krusteaz! And I had it today, I agree, very tasty =) Maybe I should’ve bought the 2 gallon jug of maple syrup too…
December 11th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Interesting.. .I found out about this recently too through an ameriprise marketing survey. I took the survey to be entered into a drawing where the winner will be paid $1,000. I was bored.
I’m interested in hearing about the “free consultation” as well.
December 11th, 2005 at 11:23 pm
oh man.
everytime I see their commerical, it makes me laugh. they did NOT change their name for nothing.
that lil problem with the SEC was a big impact.
good luck. I think I would be too annoyed to sit and listen to some BS flung at me.. heh.
okay sorry that came out a bit wrong.
December 12th, 2005 at 8:20 am
After I left my job as a developer for a brokerage firm, I started dropping my new business cards into the free-lunch-and-financial-consultation fishbowls. I’m going to eat lunch anyway, so why not get some entertainment at the same time?
One lunch in March 2003 for a group of 6 of us yielded this gem from the lips of the Amex Financial Consultant:
At some point after this we told him that we’d all worked in the finance industry for an average of 5 years. Watching his face drop as he realized we knew more about investing than he did was priceless.
After this, he was actually quite nice. He gave up on the sales pitch and just shot the breeze with us. All that to say, it was an entertaining lunch. It’s also a good exercise for you. See how many things you can spot that are wrong / bad / sub-optimal / shady.
December 12th, 2005 at 11:22 am
This to me is no different than one of those Timeshare seminars that you attend to for those $50 Gaming Chips.
Expect to waste lots of time on this and get the GC..personally i’d haggle for a bigger GC? i dunno.
December 12th, 2005 at 11:55 am
Remember, free = ain’t worth a piece of cr*p. But go and have fun anyway. Maybe you’ll get some good blogging material. Maybe the guy will say something really bad and you can say, “oh, by the way, I have a blog that gets 80,000 visits per day. I’m going to tell my readers all about you. Have a nice day.”
Go ahead, have some fun.
December 12th, 2005 at 11:57 am
I went to one of their free consultation and it was a waste of time. They were very arrogant. They questioned why I did certain things and that I was wrong and they are always right. I also tried to get an idea on fees but all they said was the consulting fee was $500 and you can get a refund if not happy as long as you charge it to AMEX. They were not forthcoming. I declined but they still called and finally they got the hint and gave up.
December 12th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Like James, I did the whole recruiting thing with them. My impression (and what they essentially said) is that they are salespeople. They receive some training in finance and have to pass the Series 7 exam. However, they are primarily salespeople, which is evident in the settlement with the SEC. The interview process was interesting. It was more like a sales presentation followed by the easiest test I’ve ever taken. I then went back for an interview and call simulations. While they claim not to do cold calls, it’s not much of a leap from that.
Oddly enough, a coworker of mine did win the fish bowl drawing recently, and we had lunch on them. What the guy probably didn’t expect was that we all work at a financial consulting firm! Of course, we don’t specialize in personal finance, but I imagine that we really threw him for a loop.
In general, I’m certain that they do have some good advisers, but I’m sure the quality varies greatly in the company.
December 12th, 2005 at 1:43 pm
I went for the free consultation, on the first day itself they charged my card for 475$ after upto 150$ discount for executive costco members.
After that the process was very slow, they started asking what are the benifits from my employer based on that they can plan further, I asked them to follow up with my employer regarding that. but I felt no quick results for 475$, I cancelled it. they have not sent me 25$ gift card also.
December 12th, 2005 at 3:58 pm
well…the way i read it (in some random article a few months back) AmEx basically kicked them to the curb…so they HAD to get a new name
April 23rd, 2006 at 5:38 pm
I have recently become employed with Ameriprise.
Believe me, as a new Financial Advisor I do not make minimum wage. My base pay is 30K + commission. I believe this is in place so employees won’t take advantage of clients. The entrance testing is extremely difficult, good thing I’m an Accounting major. The training to become proficient as a Financial Advisor is extensive. Everyone can’t pass those series of tests. Ameriprise’s goal is to hire top quality, trainable individuals with entrepreneur spirits. Oh yeah, did I fail to mention that I am the founder of my own Scholarship Fund? Ameriprise provides excellent support to new FP’s so clients never have to worry about having an inexperienced FP. Ameriprise really does focus on helping people achieve their financial goals. They have an excellent benefits package to encourage their employees to finish their education. There are plenty of positions up their corporate ladder. Those positions as well as the FP position encourages the employees to become Certified Finacial Plannners. Maybe you should do more research before making comments about a company that has been able to successfully remain in business for over 90 years. Their products are excellent whether they’re on the low spectrum of affordability or the higher. The products have proven to do what they say they will.
May 7th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I would like to say that i just went though the recruiting presentation and i possible will work with AmeriPrise as a Financial Advisor. I will tell you this, this company has some of the highest credibility, its a legitimate company. There will always be some one or a bunch of people that will argue or complain about any company. I have freinds that work there and they do not over charge their clients or charge them crazy fees. Infact, some of his clients who were in horrible financial situation are doing very well today because of that free consultation.
I care about helping people with their problems, and i know i will direct my clients to the right direction. I know i will treat them well, respect, and help my clients have a great financial success.
I think you have to do more research and think about what you say before complaining, unless, there are thousands of financial advisors with AmeriPrise and unfotunately, you might have gone to a financial advisor that did not give you the right advise. That is why you should get a 2nd or 3rd opinion as well from other advisors in the industry.
I do believe that you all have the wrong image or picture of AmeriPrise.
December 14th, 2006 at 7:42 am
I have got an Ameriprise interview upcoming this week .Can anyone please tell me what shall be asked in the interview and what this career presentation will be about..In the same blog , one person says that the interview will be easy , one says that it will be tough.. I am confused.Also dont have a finance background..please suggest me ..I have an engineering background.
January 25th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Final thoughts:
Ameriprise may include many great advisors. I don?t doubt it. The main point is that they have a built-in conflict of interest, much like many other brokers. That is, they get paid commissions based on what you buy. You may still get sound advice, but it is less likely. Ameriprise (formerly American Express financial advisors) has already been fined and reprimanded by the SEC for such actions, so it?s really hard to argue otherwise.
To avoid this conflict, my suggestion is to find a good fee-ONLY (not fee-based) financial planner who is not based on commission. For some references, see NAPFA.org.
I am not a crusader against Ameriprise, these are simply my opinions from my own experiences. To continue this argument, please use the many other message boards out there. Thank you.