You may be familiar with The Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS if you are looking for a wealth advisory firm in the Coral Gables area. It is a well-known company in the area that is known for exploiting its customers in unethical ways in order to get a financial advantage.
The analysis that follows will assist you in gaining an understanding of how they achieve this:
UBS Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team Background and Information
Financial advice can be obtained from the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team of UBS, which is located in Coral Gables, Florida. Their telephone number is 786-394-2920, and their address is located at 550 Biltmore Way, Coral Gables, Florida 33134, United States.
The company asserts that it places a primary emphasis on comprehending the requirements, objectives, and difficulties faced by extremely prosperous business owners and their families.
They provide a wide range of services, such as access to their Family Office Solutions Group and their Advanced Planning Group, as well as family and charity advisory services.
The staff at UBS asserts that they are experts in assisting business owners in managing their companies and warding off the regret of selling their companies too soon. Ghislain Gouraige and Jared Kaplan serve in this capacity as the company’s managing directors.
Michaelangelo Dooley and Claudio Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet are a couple of the other well-known employees at this company.
Despite the fact that this company has earned a great deal of respect in the sector, it makes inappropriate use of the praise that it has gained. They do this to divert the attention of their customers away from the questionable small print that is included in their terms and conditions.
It is essential that you are aware of these problematic provisions so that you can make a decision that is better informed and prevent yourself from making a significant monetary error.
Legal Disputes and Predatory Provisions of the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS
Ghislain Gouraige and his $9,300,000 Lawsuit
The FINRA BrokerCheck profile of Ghislain Gouraige shows a major legal dispute. It’s still pending.
In the year 2020, a complaint was lodged against Gouraige by one of his clients. They claim that he traded their accounts excessively and inappropriately, that he exercised discretion in their accounts despite lacking the appropriate authority, and that he charged commissions that weren’t disclosed to them or were misrepresented to them.
The time frame for this complaint is from 2011 – Present. They requested $9,300,000 in damages.
In response to these allegations, Ghislain Gouraige said that all of these claims are false. He claims that all the fees his firm charged were reasonable and all the trades were suitable for the client.
There’s a good chance that this client isn’t the only one who faced misrepresentation and received unsuitable recommendations. That’s because the terms and conditions of the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team have many problematic provisions which incentivize them for giving unsuitable advice.
A financial incentive for taking more risks with one’s customers
One of the most problematic aspects of the disclosures made by the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS is the fact that the company bases its fees on performance. The practice of charging clients fees depending on their performance is severely frowned upon in the business of finance, and it should never be done.
If financial advisor bases their fees on performance, then they will be compensated for outperforming an index. This provides them with an incentive to implement high-risk strategies regardless of whether or not they are suitable for your portfolio and the constraints you have outlined. It’s possible that high-risk methods will help the fund outperform an index, but substantial returns are much less likely to result from their use.
These kinds of tactics have a very poor success rate. This indicates that they typically produce low returns for the investment or lead the investor to experience losses. In addition, you are not able to hold your advisor accountable for any losses that you incur as a result of engaging in these high-risk methods.
When you pass over your account information to the Gouriage Kaplan Ravinet Team at UBS, you are required to sign a number of disclaimers. Because of the waivers, they are exempt from any responsibility, which is one reason why it is extremely risky to entrust them with your money.
According to research conducted, mutual funds that base their fees on the funds’ performance are more likely to increase their exposure to risk and produce subpar returns. If you have a sizable portfolio or are looking for security over a longer period of time, then the fee structure that we have in place is not the best option for you.
Charging Hidden Fees
Another huge issue present in this firm’s disclosures is that it charges 12b-1 fees. The 12b-1 fee is a marketing fee that companies pay to advisors for promoting their investment products.
This fee raises the overall cost of protection but adds no benefit to the protection itself. The fact that it is a variable fee makes matters even worse because it allows the advisors the option to charge additional covert costs.
The fact that there is a hidden cost is a major warning sign. Because you don’t find out the reason why you’re paying such much higher charges until it’s too late, this is perhaps the most significant problem that the wealth management sector faces.
In addition, the charge associated with form 12b-1 is a percentage fee. The size of your portfolio will determine the amount of the fee that you are responsible for paying. Because of this, it is especially negative for investors who have huge portfolios because these individuals are required to pay additional fees.
This fee, to put it more succinctly, drives up the price of an investment, paves the way for the advisor to imposing hidden fees, is calculated based on the size of your portfolio, and provides absolutely no benefits. It’s a horror that you need to stay away from.
Conclusion
After looking into the recent disclosures and the ongoing disputes, it is clear that the Gouraige Kaplan Ravinet Team UBS is a horrible wealth advice business. Gouraige Kaplan
You need to choose an alternative wealth management company that has provisions in its terms and conditions that are both safer and more appropriate for your situation.
