Retirement Industry Trust Association (RITA) Shares Top Tips to Help Investors Avoid Investment Fraud
Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) May 09, 2014 -- Retirement Industry Trust Association (RITA) – Since 1987, the leading non-profit trade association for self-directed retirement plan providers has been working closely with the SEC, FBI, IRS, DOL & Treasury to help identify fraud trends & educate financial professionals on the latest rules and regulations pertaining to alternative assets in retirement accounts.
RITA has made available a "Check Before You Invest" publication to help investors understand the role of IRA custodians and third party administrators.
Sadly, fraudsters come in all flavors including cybercrime, BitCoins, real estate scams, art and financial fraud to name a few. While it's tragic to learn of Ponzi schemes and fraudsters like Madoff, investors can be proactive and perform due diligence on their advisers, brokers, custodians and TPAs before making investments in non-retirement and retirement accounts. At a recent RITA conference in DC, the FBI and SEC mentioned in a panel discussion that affinity groups are an area of rising trends for potential fraud.
"Check Before You Invest" is an investor education awareness campaign created by the Retirement Industry Trust Association. The purpose of this initiative is to promote investor awareness through educational materials and resources provided by state, federal, and private agencies. Investors are encouraged to utilize this checklist and additional resources on the RITA website when contemplating any self-directed investments in retirement accounts. The document also identifies red flags to be aware of before investing retirement funds. Readers can download a complimentary copy using the link below.
http://www.ritaus.org/assets/documents/checkbeforeyouinvest.pdf
Some of the tips for investors include:
• Be sure your IRA investment is consistent with your investment goals
• Understand that any investment outside of an FDIC-insured product is subject to risk including loss of principal
• Understand that neither your IRA custodian nor any governmental agency endorses, guarantees or recommends investments
• Watch out for fraud red flags including but not limited to: guaranteed investment returns, high pressure sales techniques and too good to be true statements
• Utilize information and resources from: the Securities and Exchange Commission (http://www.investor.gov) the National Association of State Securities Administrators (http://www.nassa.org) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (http://www.saveandinvest.org)
Financial advisers, compliance officers and professionals involved in the retirement industry are encouraged to attend the IRA Institute program by RITA which provides a 2-day in-depth training program. The upcoming sessions are listed on the website, http://www.ritaus.org.
About Retirement Industry Trust Association (RITA)
Retirement Industry Trust Association is a non-profit trade association formed in 1987 which represents trust companies, banks, attorneys, accountants and other service providers in the self-directed retirement plan industry.
Mary Mohr, Retirement Industry Trust Association, http://ritaus.org, +1 (941) 724-0900, [email protected]
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