The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of securities broker Michael Scott Nixon. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Michael Scott Nixon has been the subject of a customer dispute.
Michael Scott Nixon is an Iowa based securities broker. He has worked in the securities industry for ten years. During his career, he was registered with three different securities firms.
His Registrations
- Securian Financial Services (2009-2012)
- Proequities (2012-2016)
- Bankers Life Securities (2016-Present)
The Allegations
In November 2018, a customer alleged that Michael Scott Nixon pressured her into liquidating certain IRA assets and using the opened up funds to purchase an equity-indexed annuity. This case was settled for $211,190 in damages.
Equity-Indexed Annuities
Annuities are investment vehicles that individuals utilize in order to receive income during their retirement. An investors spends a pre-determined amount of time paying scheduled premiums. After this has ended and the individual has retired, they begin receiving scheduled distributions to act as their retirement income. There are multiple types of annuities. In a fixed annuity, the amount the investor receives during their retirement is entirely dependent on how much they paid in premiums–plus interest. In a variable annuity, the premiums that the annuity holder pays are invested into the actual equities market. Thus the amount that they receive in distributions is entirely dependent on how well the invested premiums performed. An equity-indexed annuity has properties from both. The investor receives the amount they paid into premiums during their retirement; however, the interest they were also set to receive is then invested in equities. It is specifically invested to mirror the success of a particular index like the S&P 500. However the index performs over the life of the annuity determines how much the investor will receive. These types of annuities are marked to individuals as a way to see investment returns without exposing their principal to any risk. However, most individuals are not told that these products are accompanied by incredibly high fees and commissions for the brokering agent which are higher than those for regular fixed and variable annuities. These fees make it very difficult for the investor to actually see any investment returns.
Oakes & Fosher Can Help
Many investors are unaware of the legal recourse available to them after losing money due to securities broker fraud and/or negligence. The truth is that investors who have lost money in this fashion may actually be entitled to damages.
Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with Michael Scott Nixon, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.
