My mother is 89 and her health is failing. I have 4 siblings. She has annuities through my brother in law. Me and 3 of my siblings (not including my sister, the wife of the adviser) have become aware that he is making decisions on money matters without consulting with us. We want to move the money to Fidelity or Vanguard. The annuities have been with him for more than 10 years so there should be no surrender fees. However I am concerned about creating a situation for my mother and my sister who is married to the adviser. My brother in law has quite a temper. My thought is to hire an independent financial expert to review what's been going on. If the review shows that things aren't right, then a meeting would be scheduled with the expert, the adviser and all siblings but not my mother. I feel that if we are all there looking him in the eye he'll have to tell us the truth. In the past we had a couple conference calls but they weren't very worthwhile. Looking for some guidance in a sticky situation. Appreciate any and all thoughts. Thank you.
If he doesn't, then the person who has it needs to sit down with him in mom's lawyers office.
If there is no POA, I think you need to consult mom's lawyer on how to proceed.
Is your brother-in-law Mom's financial Power of Attorney? If yes, then it is up to him to manage the accounts. It is better not to give any advice, since his profession is that of a financial adviser. He knows best what to do.
If any of the siblings start stepping on his toes, you or one of the other siblings might wind up with all the finances in your lap to take of... could you manage it on your own? Then you would need to do your Mom's income taxes, too. Your brother-in-law has had this "job" for ten years maintaining Mom's funds, so apparently he is doing a good job.
Now, if you see the accounts starting to drain big time, then it would be time to hire someone to audit the funds to see what has been happening. I see Mom is living in Assisted Living, that is expensive each month.
What is his reputation as a financial adviser?
He is that touchy that no one can ask him nicely about things or say you would like to invest those annuities elsewhere? I would think the would go into a rage if you hired an independent financial expert to review his actions if his temper is that bad.
These are NOT apples to apples. It's apples to ice cream…..
My first ? would be just what is your BIL?
Annuities are an insurance product. Your State Farm agent can sell you annuities. So is BIL a RIA?; a broker with a series 7? OR is he an insurance agent that basically does product sales (with hefty commission) but touts himself as a FA? Why this matters is his licensing is will be important if you are to file a complaint. Like for a broker with a wire house, they have a whole compliance section plus the client can go to FINRA. But an insurance agent means going to your state insurance commissioner for a complaint.
If BIL is an insurance agent, yeah, he's gonna be peeved that you are asking him about things he cannot do…. he isn't licensed for securities. He does product sales that insurance companies pre-package & gets a hefty commission from sale of product.
My second ? to you is what are the annuities? Deferred or Immediate?
What are contact terms and when do they mature? Mom could get whacked up to 10% for folding before maturity plus fees. There is someone on this site who had a family member sell their parent annuities that matured on the backside of 90! and she as DPOA for her parent has been dutifully taking the maximum minimum from the annuity principal each year to get out of the annuity. BIL could be irritated if he has explained terms to mom & family over a decade, that folks don't realize you can't simply change the annuity. Or he could just be a PIA type.
You mention Vanguard & Fidelity, they aren't imo interchangeable. Vanguard is kinda about mutuals & ETF's; they are a leader in low cost but just who is going to manage this for the 89 year old owner?? Fidelity is more mixed…mutuals, benefits, 401k, plus other products. Again just who is going to manage this $?
At 89 & in failing health, it's past the time to do things that involve risk or have penalties for withdrawals. Mom could be just best off by staying the course with the annuities; but I'd press BIL to give mom some of that hefty commission he has gotten paid for a decade plus.
Whomever is the DPOA can pay for a portfolio review to be done. If I had to get this done, I would ask your elder law atty for a name of a couple of RIA's (registered investment advisor) they work with to do the review. There will be a couple of RIA's who do valuation of portfolio's for probate or divorces or other legal routinely for atty's.
I don't think there need necessarily be anything sinister about someone's having 'quite a temper' with people who have no idea what they're talking about but are very happy to question him and then don't understand the answers. Having said that, it's regrettable that he hasn't the forbearance to explain his rationale - but, as has been pointed out, we don't know that the non-investing siblings have any business meddling. I wonder where they got the idea of these two preferred companies from?
Anywhhhhhhooooo, we will just have to hope it all turns out well.
And thank you Igloo for that canter through some of the issues - most informative.