To help investors avoid future problems with their advisors, we have compiled a comprehensive list of items that the informed investor should make it their business to remain vigilant about:

• Read, understand, and retain the statements your advisor sends you each month or quarter. The same goes for trade confirmations and other information regarding your investment transactions.
• You must immediately raise a query if you identify a transaction or other entry you do not understand, recognize, or did not authorize. If your query fails to respond satisfactorily, consult the firm's branch manager or compliance officer.
• Suppose you have sufficient grounds to allege improper business conduct or seek monetary redress. In that case, you should make a written complaint to the management of your advisor firm's sales office and, subsequently, directly to the firm's compliance department. Keep copies of your correspondence and all other related documentation or electronic communication with the advisor/dealer. Should a satisfactory solution to the problem not be possible through the firm's internal procedures, alternatives like mediation or arbitration may be more successful. Remember that a delay in pursuing your complaint may reduce its credibility.
• Tenacity is a virtue; if you do not receive a satisfactory response to your complaint and repeated attempts to secure a favourable outcome fail, filing a written complaint with the EFR or another self-regulatory organization may be warranted.
• Be suspicious of salespeople who make overly exaggerated claims about the potential profitability of a particular investment without substance or who predict that "you will double your initial outlay in one month."
• Be wary of any advisor exerting pressure on you to commit to an investment immediately to avoid missing out on a "once-in-a-generation opportunity." Any investment decision should be the culmination of adequate deliberation and thought.
• Never pay money directly to a firm or an advisor that does not own their banking institution. All firms without an owned banking institution must use a secured transfer agent.
• If you are investing for income and yield, be it in stocks, bonds, pooled investments, etc., be sure that you fully comprehend the nature of the security you will invest in. Each type of security typically has changeable market and price risks.
• Be cognizant that investing in so-called "penny stocks" is intrinsically risky and should be undertaken only after a thorough investigation of the company and the market's liquidity for its stocks.
• Investing money is a significant decision comparable to purchasing a house or an automobile. You must thoroughly investigate any potential investment before you make it.