Spot rogue financial advisors and find out if your banker has your best interest in mind

If you agree with one or more of the following statements, it is worth reconsidering the strategy of your portfolio and how your banker has advised you: 

• You do not understand the market behaviour of one or more investments in your portfolio.
• Supposedly safe investments have suffered considerable losses.
• Your contact person changes at short intervals and no longer enjoys your trust.
• Your advisor will contact you always whenever he wants to sell you a new product.
• In difficult stock market situations, on the other hand, you are left alone just as often as your are left alone with demanding questions about the market, investments, investment strategy or pricing.
• Your account contains at least one investment that bears the name of your bank or asset manager (we refer to the question if the bank has sold you their own products, like DWS funds from Deutsche Bank or UBS or Credit Suisse Funds from UBS or Credit CS)
• You wonder whether your portfolio is also equipped to cope with times of crisis.
• Overall, you are not satisfied with the performance of your investment portfolio or investment or have no indication whether the bank or asset manager has achieved a better or worse result than your friends, an estimated return or your benchmark that you folio. A dubious financial advisor or inadequate advice may mean that your money is not invested effectively.
• Your custody account contains at least one investment that bears the name of your bank or asset manager.
• You do not know the total fees (TER) that your bank charges in addition to the open custody account and transaction fees (hidden costs).
• You have not made a separate agreement on so-called retrocessions (kick-backs) with your bank or asset manager. If such an agreement exists, you do not know what percentage and in what period of time possible retrocessions will be passed on to you.
• You do not know whether expensive retail products with higher costs or better institutional products were used for your certificates, funds or fund-of-funds. 
• You wonder whether your portfolio is also equipped to cope with times of crisis.
• You do not know the weighting of the regions and currencies in which you are invested.
• You do not know the weighting of the investment styles (Growth, Value, Blend, Small Caps, Mid Value etc.) in which you are invested.
• You do not know the rating structure of your bonds (investment and non-investment grade)
• Your bank only provides you with a single performance figure for the entire portfolio and no performance attribution at the level of each asset class.
• Overall, you are not satisfied with the performance of your investment portfolio or have no indication whether the bank or the asset manager has achieved a better or worse result for you in relation to an objective, weighted benchmark (e.g. 50% Barclays Euro Aggregate 1-10Y, 50% MSCI World USD in Euro) and peer group.
• You are so busy at work or at home that you can spend less than two hours a week on your investments.