Investors Group

SIG screwed us over by not investing the money we instructed and we ended up lost over 100k. Theres no compensation whatsoever on them not following investors instructions and no apology on anything they did.

My consultant is in regular contact with me and has given me great recommendations on mutual funds and on how to manage my taxes. More proactive than anyone I've ever dealt with at the banks!

This review is simple. Under no circumstances should you give them even 5 pennies EVER IN YOUR LIFE. You will be sorry.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!

You will not be able to get it back out when you want without getting run around for a month and then get hit with 2% fees and all sorts of other BS.

JUST GO SOMEWHERE ELSE to invest for RESP or anything else.

!I told my advisor to sell my portfolio when the COVID crash started and he was not able to do that. He sold most of it but there were 20.000 or so left that could not be sold.

He said he would get in touch with me about when I wanted that sold.

Next thing I know money is coming into my Scotia account out of nowhere. I email my advisor and asked him if he sent me money (a bit upset because I was hoping to pick a time that was opportune for me where the investment had not been so much in the red. He promised he would find out and next thing he is fired.

Now I am getting people from IG telling me so sad because now I am not a client any more. Very cavalier way of dealing with other people's money for which they get paid royally!!!!

This my long ongoing experience with Investor Group Morinville (IGM) and Investor group St albert ( IGS ),regional manager office and NOW head office in Winnipeg. Because it makes sense to make a family and a lawyer deal with a office ,1300 kms away on a 1 888 phone number with a person you never met.

When your family has only ever dealt with 1 person at his local office for the past decade and its 15 kms away.

Sadly this started when my step father ( John ) passed away Dec 2 /19 We start to deal with IGM , to retrieve his life saving . For his spouse (donna ) ,rest of his family, beneficiary, and fulfill his wishes as stated in his will . Including a donation to the Stollery fund . Before John passed , I had dealing with IGM , been appointed his power of attorney for john as he was in care .This was to maintain all finances and most importantly to john was a monthly trust account he set up prior for donna ( which is diagnosed with dementia).

I tried contacting the 1 person that john dealt with over the passed decade at IGM . But to this day has never return a phone call , NOT even to offer his condolences to our family. His associate has been the only contact from that office and only got back to me later after I had question . But did have the boldness to send me email ( QUOTE ) to remind me of my duties and reponibilities

as a power of attorney.

After John passed ,I went to john lawyer that did his will for guidance and direction . He was very clear , anything beneficiary or successor holder, very simply , without a lawyer and immediately can be transfer to name person. Along with that we filed the paper work for probate and for IG to release all information of investment at there firm . Knowing this I went to all financial institution and had No problem transferring ownership.

UNTILL I went to IGM , which in a email dec18/19 (QUOTE ) as it now stands all johns fund are frozen from us WOW , this is dead wrong! for any beneficiary designated fund ! I made countless efforts at IGM to work this out , to no reply. I then went to IGS and talked with the regional manager.

He assured me he look into this , along with took a copy of all paper work to transfer beneficiary designated fund to donna. Till this day , he has NOT return phone calls or emails. He did tell me before I left his office ,that I could seek legal advice and also I could file a complaint. So till this day I have no idea if this has even been filed !

The worst is still coming ! on dec23 /19 IG head office sent the legal (estate settlement details for investment held at IG wealth by john) simply stated john has 4 accounts with them

1 IGFS with beneficiary estate

2 TFSA with beneficiary as Donna successor holder

3 non registered with beneficiary estate

4 LIF with beneficiary as Donna

So again with this paper work , I try again at IGM and IGS , BUT told NO ! IGM told me this paper work from head office is WRONG and the new amended version will be sent to your lawyer. To this day nothing has been released to Donna, no idea where any paper work is at , nothing forwarded to the lawyer .

another bad part of this, the lawyer , has filed for probate, notice out to all in the will ,etc... I;ve tried to get as much info from head office but keep they telling me it would be best to talk to your consultant . I also received a statement from head office for a account under Donna name cashed in feb 6 /19 . head office tells me all the paper work with this is at your local branch and should talk to your consultant .

Believe me I;ve tried and quess what nobody want to talk to me ! and for the final email from IGM (QUOTE) I thought that I would letyou know that we,The Chevalier Group, can no longer answere question nor field any future request. On top of all this investor group stop the monthly deposit out of john accounts for donna care !

this is Very broken ! and probably long from been over.!

BUT as for another ( QUOTE ) from the IGM with my past experience as guidance, this never quick. Investor group is still charging fees on all john account too!

Sorry so long ! will keep updating ,Thank you Stuart

Investors Group Buyer Beware

About twelve years ago we transferred our savings to Investors Group on the recommendation of a colleague. The two people we were assigned to completed a risk survey.

We attended bi-annual meetings to discuss how the markets were faring, as well as what our investments were earning. It was stressed that our portfolio was designed individually for us and that our funds would be moved about when they began to show signs of weakening. We were told the movement of funds would be done at no cost to us. We were invested in four Deferred Sales Charge Products at that time with a seven year pay-off schedule.

As far we were concerned, there would be no other DSCs purchased and I often commented on how much I disliked these kinds of locked-in investments. After reading an article in the Globe and Mail last year about how Investors Group charges some of the highest management fees (mostly hidden) in the country and that they sell mainly their own products which are often cloned from better performing products in the open marketplace and that the people working at Investors are trained to sell packaged products based on the risk group you fall in, we decided to move to a more transparent company. When we asked for a detailed breakdown of our investments and the fees attached to them, we were shocked to see that our portfolio managers had purchased eleven DSCs within one year, all of them with seven year repayment schedules, rather than three. Clearly, we hadnt been paying enough attention and, oddly, they were purchased in 2009.

We subsequently learned that DSCs pay an upfront fee to the person selling them. DSC's have now been banned in almost every province except Ontario. After meetings with the local manager and our investment duo, we were faced with heavy penalties or we could stay locked-in until 2016 and avoid the penalties or appeal with Investors Group own Compliance arm. We appealed and, of course, Investors found against us.

Weve meanwhile moved on and are pursuing an appeal with the Ombudsmans Office that investigates investment fraud. The main person we worked with at Investors claims he received approval to purchase these eleven DSCs and produced handwritten notes to prove this. We never initialed such notes to say wed read them, nor have ever received copies of these notes, nor do we know when they were written. If you are working with Investors Group and havent already done so, ask for a complete breakdown of all your investments with a table of attached fees, both hidden and open.

Ask to see any notes that are being kept on you and insist on dated copies being sent to you. I question the legality of private notes being kept on clients and the lack of open disclosure regarding all fees.

Before my Dad passed away he wanted to liquidate his investments. His consultant tried to manipulate him into leaving them and was uncooperative.

We had to constantly call to initiate paperwork. We were misinformed and had to seek consultation elsewhere.

Instead of guiding us though a difficult time, they created more stress. This company has the highest fees and is good at holding your money hostage.

Pissed at me because I came to my senses and got out....now dragging out the process and not returning emails.

Grand THEFT is the legal charge in the courtroom, both for the Advisor and the criminal BANK in Montreal.

Horrible business model, why would you a limited product shelf which is made up of poor performing funds. Better lower cost options

I have been trying to reach them by phone for more than one week. Sent an email.

Someone called and left the same stupid number to call. Again I am trying to reach them!!!

through my experience I do not recommend dealing with investor group at all as they have the worst financial advisor who mislead clients and not forgetting that the management does not care about the firm reputation. all what those thugs do that they take our money lock it in an account for the longest period they can then they go vacation. at the end they do not care because they take their fee no matter what happens to the money (can you imagine that the financial advisor earn around 300- 500 k

pls

report your complain to go public at

gopuplic@***.ca

which will help to stop all those firms from doing what they do now.

I got sucked into 7 years locked in investment with these people. I made $28,000 on Our LIRA.

After reinvesting I have made $169,000 in the same time with Guardian Capital.

I have since learned I can make even more using ETF with WealthSimple.

IG has some of the highest MERs in North America. Do the research folks, they have very fancy buildings and promotions all at your expense.