Ameriprise Financial

I bought into a number of "alternative investments" in 2015 after explaining to my advisor that I was looking to offset the volatility of the public stock exchanges with growth investments that were less volatile. I communicated I was willing to trade return rate for stability but wanted to do better than fixed income returns. She recommended a number of these private equity vehicles, most paying a periodic dividend until fund closing at which time the shares are liquidated and paid out - obviously at a rate intended to be higher than when purchased.

They are in business to make themselves $$. Ameriprise claims that most clients belIeve their advisors cares about them. Advisors are well trained to act like they care. What they really care about is extracting enormous fees for their pretense. Stay away from all financial management services.

Under a previous advisor, who retired, I was under an annity plan that I had no issues with until his replacement said it was no longer supported so I had to select another; that was technically not true as I later found out it was just a rider to the plan that was retired. Nevertheless, under the impression a plan I liked was gone, I sought something similar as a replacement and the advisor selected a plan which I assumed met that criteria. It did not; it actually increased payout to Ameriprise and put a cap on my gains. I found out only after a superior called, as part of a routine call, to confirm my selection and my questions soon unearthed the duplicity of the advisor including that there were other plans that better mirrored my needs that was never mentioned.

My employer gave my an option of 3 third party service providers for my 401k. 2 of those options were Ameriprise advisors. I called all 3 options to discuss the fees that I would be charged to use them for my 401k. I ended up selected one of the Ameriprise advisors, specifically The Permanence Group. Dan who I spoke with over the phone told me that I would have a self-directed brokerage account with no asset under management fee, a $100 annual fee, and that I would have to pay $6 per trade. I was told that I would have access to trade essentially anything: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, etc. These fees were already a bit high compared to what I am used to paying with Vanguard or Fidelity, but it was the cheapest of the options I had available. My intention was to make recurring automated purchases of low-cost mutual funds or ETFs, so paying $100/year plus $6/month seemed acceptable.

I gave Ameriprise some money with the intent of getting a small but steady growth and maintain the capital. They said they invested in a safe mutual fund. My advisor moved to a new role and I am not sure who was monitoring my account. After two years, my account is below the initial amount I invested. Ameriprise made money by charging me their quarterly fees though. I would not trust them again.

In my experience a true fiduciary is better for peace of mind. Please do your homework and seek multiple views before deciding on an advisor. My experience was to give more money to my advisor during 2020 who put me in fund and notes that had higher fees and lower returns while churning/selling off assets I already had, as well ones they had previously purchased (Sold many at a loss to watch them skyrocket later). The end result was poor returns, while their site stated 10-12 percent, I wound up with much lower when looking at what I had given and what I ended up with. In addition, a 1% AUM fee is just the beginning, when you add their fees and and the fund fees it's over 2%. There is enough data out there for self directing assets in a Vanguard et al.. Buyer beware or you may wind up behind as the market dips which has now compounded their (my) errors.

I used to have a healthy stock portfolio. Starting out I wasn’t reinvesting my dividends; therefore I wasn’t growing as much either. When I joined Ameriprise Financial and turned over my portfolio to them; they reinvested my dividends- which in turn bought me more stock so that when I needed money to buy my car it was there. The people at Ameriprise are very nice, professional, willing to answer any and all questions that you may have. I look forward to handing over my SIP and 401k over to them to see how they can assist me once again.

Their back office is filled with thieves and scammers. Avoid this platform if you don't want to be stolen from. Choose Fidelity, Schwab, or any of the other options. These people have carefully crafted strategies where they look at their clients' accounts and quite literally search for ways to take large amounts of money from them by trading in the opposite direction. Top tier scumbags in the back office. Run away. Save your money.

My Ameriprise Financial Advisor is knowledgeable and insightful. She is always responsive to my inquiries. Equally important, she listens to my concerns and discusses my goals then then offers advice. I've worked with her for 13+ years and would recommend her.

Ameriprise is an average financial advising/wealth creation agency. They were hiring just about anyone when they first started and because I utilized their services and it wasn't a great experience, it doomed my impression of them right away. They have had some good, well-informed employees who take it seriously and are very engaged and helpful. But overall, I don't have a good impression of their services or staff.