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With stock market volatility dominating Main Street news headlines since early 2020, interest in investing has seen a dramatic increase. According to Bloomberg News, downloads of investment apps rose by 20% in 2021 from the year prior while actual time spent on these apps jumped by 90%. Most Millennials and Gen Z-ers are using social media sources for information about investing rather than relying on more traditional sources of investing information such as brokerage or investment advisory firms, or regulatory agencies.

Influencers have taken notice, and social media has become more saturated with financial content than ever before, leading to the rise of the financial influencer, or “finfluencer.” Viral videos claiming that an investment opportunity will “go to the moon this year!” have proliferated, as have social media postings promoting easy plans for paying off your house, car, or student loan debt using language such as “Five easy tricks to financial freedom.”

This investor advisory explains what financial influencers are, how they are compensated, what you should keep in mind when you are exposed to financial influencers’ content, red flags to watch out for, and resources available to you.

Promissory notes can be appropriate investments for certain investors. However, promissory notes that are sold broadly to individual investors are often scams and are a leading source of investor complaints received by securities regulators.

Cease and Desist Order, Notice of Civil Penalties, Order for Rescission, and Notice of Right to Request a Hearing

A private placement is a securities offering that is not required by law to be registered with federal or state securities regulators. Private placements allow companies to sell stocks, bonds, or other securities to investors without completing the rigorous disclosures necessary in a registered offering.

Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Order to Summarily Suspend Investment Adviser Registration, Notice of Proposed Order to Revoke Investment Adviser Registration, Cease and Desist Order, Notice of Civil Penalties, Order for Rescission, Notice of Reservation of Commissioner's Authority to Amend Order, and Notice of Right to Request a Hearing

Stop Order Summarily Suspending the Offer and Sale of Federal Covered Securities, Cease and Desist Order, Notice of Civil Penalties, and Notice of Right to Request a Hearing

With interest rates on the rise, more investors may be considering an investment in bonds or bond funds, and in researching alternatives or talking to a financial adviser, may have come across bond credit ratings.  Credit ratings usually appear in the form of alphabetical letter grades (for example, ‘AAA’ and ‘BBB’) and are an estimate of the relative level of credit risk of a bond, company or government.  Credit ratings are issued by third parties and are not an assessment by the issuer of the bond or by securities regulators.

Credit ratings can be useful when evaluating an investment.  But when considering credit ratings, you should understand their limitations.  You should not base your investment decision solely on a credit rating or treat a credit rating as if it were investment advice.