The Bennett Hurwitz Group is a New York-based financial advisory firm that has ties to UBS. Location: 1285 Sixth Avenue, New York, New York 10019.
Although it appears to be a straightforward service provider on paper, the company is mired in several ethical dilemmas.
You, the investor, need to be aware of the potential conflicts of interest lurking in the fine print of a financial advisor’s agreement. You’d be better equipped to weigh your options and choose an advisor who works for you if you had this.
Bennett Hurwitz Group: A Quick Overview
New York City-based financial consultancy The Bennett Hurwitz Group. They provide financial aid for further education, retirement, and planning for multiple generations.
Among the notable employees of this firm are:
Brian Bennett
Brian Bennett is in charge of managing the company’s fortune as the managing director. In 2012, he started working with UBS Financial Services. Before that, Brain was a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley.
Many people have acknowledged his achievements. They were recognized as one of “Forbes America’s Top 250 Wealth Advisors” and “Best in State” by Forbes.
Marc Hurwitz
Marc Hurwitz has been working in the field of finance for the past 17 years. He worked at Morgan Stanley before moving to UBS and is now a partner with The Bennett Hurwitz Group.
He has been certified as a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist (CRPS).
Indeed, this company’s financial counselors have garnered widespread acclaim. However, in many instances, such recognition can lead to investors losing focus on what matters.
For instance, there is a possibility that a lawsuit will be filed against Brian Bennett and Marc Hurwitz. Why? Learn more in the next paragraphs.
Class-Action Litigation Against The Bennett Hurwitz Group?
A few years ago, UBS introduced a program called Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES).
Many UBS advisors pitched the YES program to clients as a way to earn additional returns without taking on additional risk. But the reality was far different.
The YES program saw a 20% drop in investor value in the fall of 2018. This was a devastating setback.
UBS’s YES program came with hefty commissions and fees. Consequently, numerous advisors recommended this investment product even though it didn’t meet their clients’ needs. Any investor seeking a low-risk portfolio should avoid this investment.
The YES program resulted in the loss of investment funds for around 1500 investors.
Many of those investors are now suing UBS Financial Services and their financial advisors for allegedly providing them with inappropriate recommendations and false promises.
UBS is a partner with The Bennett Hurwitz Group. If you’re a customer of theirs, you might have lost money due to the YES program. You should check to see if your investments forced you to buy into the YES program. If that’s the case, it’s time to call in the lawyers.
UBS settled this dispute with an investor for $90,000 in December 2020. According to the FINRA Dispute Resolution Services panel, the investor was not a good fit for the YES strategy.
Verify that no Bennett Hurwitz advisors have taken undue advantage of you in this way. There’s still a chance that you can save some of your investment money.
The Possible Reasons Why You Should Not Work with Bennett Hurwitz Group
There are numerous moral dilemmas embedded in the terms and circumstances set forth by the Bennett Hurwitz Group. Investors often fail to see these biases because they are too preoccupied with the advisor’s track record of success.
However, you need to be familiar with the terms of service that your advisor offers. By doing so, you’ll be able to anticipate the advisor’s tactics.
Clients may receive inferior financial advice from Bennett Hurwitz due to the firm’s inherent ethical issues. Ignoring the client’s financial situation when making advice would be more profitable for them.
That can’t be beneficial for you in any way.
The most significant conflicts of interest in their terms of service are as follows:
Make Commission
The Bennett Hurwitz Group is a commission-based company. This means that they will earn a fee based on the client’s investment amount.
It’s like haggling with a car salesman. When a client invests with Bennett Hurwitz, the advisor earns a commission, similar to that of a car dealer.
Financial advisors are incentivized to put commissions ahead of their client’s best interests by the current compensation system. It can harm your bank account.
Broker-Dealer
Broker dealers are the firm’s advisors. Several potential conflicts of interest can arise from this, including the sale of proprietary products, revenue sharing from mutual funds, and the acceptance of commissions for cross-selling.
An advisor can sneak in extra costs if they’re also a broker-dealer. You’d be much worse off financially as a result of this.
It is immoral to charge investors fees they are unaware of, and many investors fall victim to this practice. In addition, Bennett Hurwitz’s advisors are broker-dealers who stand to gain more if you use their recommendations to put your money to work.
It all comes down to whether or not the advisor puts your financial needs ahead of their commissions.
Add on Costs
This company’s advisors provide 12b-1 fee mutual funds. Brokers typically keep the 12b-1 charge, which is made up of distribution and marketing costs.
The issue with 12b-1 fees is that they add unnecessary expenditures without providing any value to the investor. The Securities and Exchange Commission commissioned a study to determine whether or not 12b-1 fee mutual funds performed better than their no-cost counterparts. They discovered no distinction.
Because of their increased expenses, mutual funds that charge 12b-1 fees offer lower returns.
In other words, you’ll pay more to work with the consultants at Bennett Hurwitz, but you’ll get the same returns.
Insurance Broker
Insurance services are provided by The Bennett Hurwitz Group. That’s because they get paid in commissions when they offer you insurance.
This seemingly innocuous practice can backfire if it leads an advisor to push unneeded insurance products to maximize their commissions.
Even though you trust your counsel, they may just have their financial interests in mind. Having insurance that isn’t necessary will drive up your premiums and cut your profits.
Sell Proprietary Investments
UBS provides a wide variety of banking services. Bennett Hurwitz employees, in their capacity as UBS advisors, would be incentivized to recommend UBS investments regardless of their client’s objectives.
Advisors who also sell their proprietary investments are inherently biased. For their benefit, the advisor may not care about your financial needs or objectives.
The fact that they weren’t UBS goods also means you can miss out on hearing about a lot of successful investments.
Fees Based on Performance
Fees at The Bennett Hurwitz Group are depending on achievement. To put it another way, they get paid if and only if they outperform some index.
In the world of finance, charging clients based on their performance has a terrible reputation. This is because many brokers who base their fees on performance will put their clients at undue risk to outperform the market average.
According to the research, brokers that use this type of pay system put their consumers at risk and provide lower quality services than those who do not.
In a weak market like the present one, taking on too much risk might be disastrous for one’s financial well-being. Before 1985, RIAs weren’t even authorized to request compensation based on performance.
Therefore, it’s clear how risky this method is.
Advisors at this firm are incentivized to increase their clients’ exposure to risk so that they can collect more fees.
Side-by-Side Management is Provided by the Bennett Hurwitz Team.
Side-by-side management indicates that the company deals with both large accounts (like hedge funds) and small retail accounts.
Advisory firms risk neglecting their smaller clients in favor of their larger ones as a result of this practice. For smaller businesses, this can lead to unfair treatment that completely ruins the experience.
Financial advisors often provide clients with generic recommendations before conducting a thorough needs analysis. They shorten the process for their greater clientele as a result.
It’s not a good idea and is frowned upon by most professionals in the banking and investment industries. If you want to succeed financially, your advisor must pay close attention to your needs.
Propose Investments With a Connection
UBS is a major global financial services provider. Brian and his advisors will earn more commissions now that UBS is handling the investments they recommend.
You should know that this has the potential to affect the advice they give you. For instance, they may steer you toward assets that don’t meet your needs because doing so will result in more commissions for themselves.
The YES program is a good illustration of this tension. Because the YES program paid advisors more, many of them put the needs of their clients on the back burner. The investors lost a significant amount of money, but the advisors kept the commissions.
Recommended Securities Trading by the Bennett Hurwitz Group
The firm’s disclosures show that their advisors engage in trading activities related to the investments they propose to clients. It’s like “eating your cooking,” but it causes a lot of moral problems.
The advisors can use the client’s money for their benefit. One such practice is known as “front-running,” in which an advisor proactively buys or sells a security before recommending it to a client.
Financial advisors must disclose their holdings to their clients. However, they rarely reveal this information to their customers.
Be sure to inquire about the investment that Bennett Hurwitz has for their clients. They could be playing with your money (and the money of other customers) to increase their profits.
Conclusion
There are numerous conflicts of interest inside the Bennett Hurwitz Group. There are other financial advisors out there whose conditions of service are just as unfair. UBS also employs Richard Abrams, an advisor who has experienced similar problems.
Identifying potential avenues of exploitation by your advisor will allow you to take preventative measures.
Please examine your investments in light of this new information if you are a Bennett Hurwitz Group customer. Even if the assets they recommend are profitable, they may fall short of your expectations.
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