10 ways your broker can pick your pocket

Check out any television advertisement for a full-service brokerage firm, and the same words tend  to pop up: trust, integrity, relationships. Last year, Morgan Stanley ran ads that depicted a broker cheering wildly on the sidelines of a soccer game -- that of his client's kid.
        But look for the fine print on any full-service brokerage's Web site and you'll see the following: "Our interests may not be the same as yours." That's because, when it comes right down to it, brokers are salespeople.
        There's the rub. Some brokers may try to pitch you products that will earn them higher commissions. "They aren't committing fraud, but it's not necessarily good advice for the investor, either," says Barbara Black, who previously founded the Securities Arbitration Clinic at Pace University School of Law and now is the director of the Corporate Law Center at the University of Cincinnati. Here are the Ten ways your broker can pick your pocket

1	Selling you bad brokerage funds
2	'Flavor of the month' funds
3	Putting you in Class B shares
4	No reduced sales charge for large investments
5	No discounts -- Period
6	Not telling you stocks may be a better option
7	Putting you in a wrap account
8	Variable annuities
9	Switching to another family of mutual funds
10	What fees?

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Tags: stock broker, online brokerage, stocks, brokerage funds