Retiree Sues LPL and Ameritas over Annuity ‘Misrepresentation’
June 21, 2023 by Glenn Koch
LPL Financial and Ameritas Investment Co. are facing a lawsuit from an investor who claims that his retirement nest egg was broken by an advisor’s misrepresentation of annuity products.
The suit’s plaintiff, Peter Parrino, a retired emergency medicine physician in his mid-50s, was counting on an investment account totaling about $1.43 million to fund his retirement, according to the suit’s complaint, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Click HERE to read the full story via Financial Advisor IQ
Moore on the Market: Seems like we have a couple of different issues manifesting in this lawsuit.
1. Sounds like it was an unsuitable sale.
Based on the description, it sounds like a fixed annuity would have been the better choice for a guaranteed lifetime income instrument.
2. Sounds like the annuity purchaser did not understand how the living benefit works.
I always say that living benefits are very complex instruments. No matter how much due diligence you put into properly explaining these riders, the purchaser often walks away with an inaccurate understanding.
Did the agent misrepresent the annuity? He could have, but it could have just as easily been that the customer just did not understand and recall.
This is the second case I’ve read about this week, where the market’s performance was mentioned along with the non-performance of the annuity. I wonder if there is a correlation between positive market performance and incidence of annuity lawsuits?
Thanks to Glenn Koch at Financial Advisor IQ for the coverage on this one. -sjm
