Case Studies - Investments

In 2014, Mr. M was gravely ill. At the time, most of his assets were held in a sizeable RRIF account, with his three sons designated as beneficiaries. His existing will provided that each of his three adult sons would receive an equal share of his estate outright, but this no longer matched his wishes because he felt that two of his sons were not capable of responsibly managing a sizeable inheritance.

Mr. D was a terminally ill senior. He had named his daughter, Ms. M, to be a substitute decision maker for him in a POA. In early 2018, she contacted his investment firm and told the firm that her father had requested that she sell his mutual funds.

Mr. P opened a managed account with his investment firm in 2012. He agreed to pay monthly fees. His advisor, Mr. A, carried out various option strategies in his account on his behalf. Options trading is a sophisticated, higher risk investing strategy. 

Ms. G sold her home in 2015. She had no investment experience. She had recently been introduced to a financial advisor by a mutual friend. Ms. G decided to invest the proceeds of the sale of her home with the advisor’s firm.

Ms. K had a family RESP for her four children. She began withdrawing from the plan in 2009 as her children started to attend university.

In late 2014, Mr. and Ms. J inquired about a non-arm’s length mortgage (NALM) at their bank. A NALM is where you lend money from your registered savings plans or locked-in savings plans to yourself as an individual or as a co-borrower with someone who is related by blood or marriage. 

Mr. and Ms. S invested in an exempt market fund.  The fund was comprised of a pool of mortgages.  The fund experienced financial and management difficulties.  As a result a large number of investors tried to sell their shares causing the value of the fund to plummet. 

Mr. and Ms. L set up an RESP for their son with a Scholarship Plan Dealer in 2004. During the winter of 2005 the couple received a Canadian Education Savings Grant (CESG) application from the firm to fill out on behalf of their son.

Mrs. P had a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and several other accounts with her investment firm, but was a relatively unsophisticated investor. Her husband, on the other hand, did have a good understanding of investment concepts and strategy, and regularly traded stocks in a self-directed account.

OBSI received multiple complaints over a short period about an investment firm and Mr. V, an investment advisor and branch manager. The complainants had no connection to one another other than having Mr. V as their advisor.