Lower Brule Sioux Tribe

There are many questions that Lower Brule Sioux tribal members need to be asking. Here's some for the Lower Brule Sioux membership to bring to the next Council meeting.

What independent firm or advisory shop did the due diligence on the Westrock transaction? What is the experience of the firm that did the due diligence? What were the terms of the transaction? How do we know we got the best price for the Tribe? How was the deal structured? If the deal was purportedly in the works for three years did we or did we not "pay up" for the "new" institutional trading desk and asset management unit that was started a month ago? Why did we a buy a small Broker-Dealer based in New York instead of conducting a national search for available Broker-Dealers to buy? What ramifications will there be with insurance issues of owning a Broker-Dealer? Where will FINRA suits come into play against the firm and the Tribe with tribal sovereignty issues? Did the Tribe consider a joint venture with another Sioux tribe to cut in half the risk of the investment and further diversify into other business lines? Did the Tribe speak to the professionals at First Nations Development Institue for help on the deal? Who is looking after our investment that is independent and unbiased and A)understands the securities business B) understands the institutional trading business and C) understands the asset managment business or do we simply rely on what we are told by Westrock? What is the compliance record of Westrock with FINRA and the SEC? Given that most retail brokers gross production levels are off significantly from 2007 after the 2008 financial debacle did we agree to lower price terms over the course of the negotiations or did we wind up paying top doller for this revenue stream? What liabilities, if any, did we inherit upon closing? How can this acquisition help ALL of the Lower Brule Sioux tribal membership and why is the Tribe using brokers to help tribal members when they probably should be using fiduciaries like Registered Investment Advisory firms instead of salesmen-brokers to cut trading costs and commissions for tribal members. There are many reasons that Lower Brule Sioux Tribal members need to be careful in who they entrust their hard-earned investment portfolios. Here are some things for the Lower Brule Sioux members to contemplate. Forget them at your financial peril.

Your stock broker is not a fiduciary. Their best interests are not your best interests. They are employees of brokerage firms who work for the benefit of their brokerage firm, not your financial outcome.

Your stockbroker’s fancy title is not awarded for achieving above average investment results for clients’, it is for charging clients big fees and commissions no matter how well your portfolio performed.

Do you think it’s responsible and prudent to trust your “financial life” in retirement and your portfolio and serious money to a salesman rather than a fiduciary?

Stockbrokers worry about generating income for themselves, before worrying about your results. If they don’t, they lose their job even if market conditions warrant doing nothing with your portfolio. They still need to churn your assets.

Stockbrokers who call themselves financial planners are usually far more concerned with planning their commissions and fees from your portfolio rather than planning your financial future.

When was the last time your broker made any serious money for you or any money at all? Brokers are not trained to trade stocks, they are trained to gather assets and sell investment products. Few brokers have made themselves serious money in the stock market.

A stockbroker's goals are based on "gross production sales credits" which are the fees and commissions charged to clients and not the performance of their client’s investments.

A financial advisor compensated via commissions is really a salesman with huge conflicts of interest with the client and it is in his best interests to keep his client ignorant.

These reasons are provided courtesy of Chippewa Partners, Native American Advisors, Inc. a Registered Investment Advisor. The firms founder, Dean T. Parisian, began his Wall Street career in 1982.