Investor Alerts and Bulletins

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with background information on 529 plans. Please also see our companion Bulletin for a few questions to consider before opening a 529 plan account.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors information about health savings accounts. We encourage you to also consult Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance before making investment decisions about a health savings account, because receiving favorable tax treatment is an important part of a health savings account.  

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with information about a new rule from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to help protect investors from financial exploitation and fraud.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) and Retail Strategy Task Force are warning investors about Ponzi schemes that prey on senior investors.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) is warning investors about investment schemes where fraudsters misrepresent that they work for the SEC and pretend to help investors purchase stock or confirm trades – but really just steal investors’ money. If you receive an email or phone call claiming to be from the SEC to “confirm” your purchase of a security or to help you trade a stock, it is likely a scam. Do not send them money or give them your account information.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to answer some common questions investors ask us about investment clubs.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this alert to inform investors about the risks in using credit cards to purchase an investment or to fund an investment account.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about ABLE accounts.

With 2017 coming to a close, here are the SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy’s top 10 most popular Investor Alerts and Bulletins for the year.  These resources, all available on Investor.gov, can help you make more informed investment decisions – and avoid investment fraud – in 2018.  If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at help@sec.gov, our online question form, or on our toll-free investor assistance line at (800) 732-0330.

From time to time, the SEC seeks comment from the public on a number of matters, including on the SEC’s rulemakings. The Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help explain the rulemaking process and to help promote greater individual investor input in Commission rulemaking proceedings.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors information about investment adviser sponsored wrap fee programs.  This bulletin provides basic information about wrap fee programs and some questions to consider asking your investment adviser before choosing to open an account in a wrap fee program.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Office of Public Affairs have created an interactive brokerage account statement to help you better understand the information in your account statement and to highlight certain information to look out for when reviewing this statement.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is warning investors about investment scams conducted through online paid-to-click (PTC) programs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help investors understand Master Limited Partnerships, or MLPs.  Because investing in an MLP may be unfamiliar, investors should carefully consider potential benefits – and risks – before making an investment decision.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) is warning investors not to make investment decisions based solely on celebrity endorsements.

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to alert investors, including individuals who may receive lump sum payouts from insurance companies and others as a result of damage from the California wildfires, to investment scams that may take advantage of the disaster.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and Office of Credit Ratings are issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about credit ratings.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), and NASAA (the North American Securities Administrators Association) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to highlight the key messages of World Investor Week, a week-long, global campaign promoted by International Organization of Securities Commissions to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection.  During World Investor Week (October 2-8, 2017), individual investors, investment professionals, teachers, parents,…

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide tips on what to consider when opening an investment advisory account.   Investment advisory accounts differ from brokerage accounts, which generally are governed by different rules and regulations.  For information on opening a brokerage account, please see our bulletin: How to Open a Brokerage Account. Before opening an account with any financial professional, you should always remember to check the individual or entity’s background and disciplinary history.  You can do this using the IAPD…

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate individual investors about the professional awards, rankings, and designations that financial professionals often use to market themselves to prospective clients.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors regarding the rules that apply to trading securities in cash accounts and to highlight the 90-day account freeze which may arise with certain trading activities in these type of accounts.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is warning investors about potential scams involving stock of companies claiming to be related to, or asserting they are engaging in, Initial Coin Offerings (or ICOs).  Fraudsters often try to use the lure of new and emerging technologies to convince potential victims to invest their money in scams.  These frauds include “pump-and-dump” and market manipulation schemes involving publicly traded companies that claim to provide exposure to these new technologies.

On March 22, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended Exchange Act Rule 15c6-1 to shorten the standard settlement cycle for broker-dealers transaction from “T+3” to “T+2,” subject to certain exceptions.  The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) is issuing this investor bulletin to explain the new “T+2” settlement cycle and how it will affect certain transactions you place with your full-service or online brokerage firm.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) and Broker-Dealer Task Force are warning the more than 5 million Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) participants, and investors in other federal government employee retirement plans, that investment scam artists may pretend to be affiliated with a government agency.

Developers, businesses, and individuals increasingly are using initial coin offerings, also called ICOs or token sales, to raise capital.  These activities may provide fair and lawful investment opportunities.  However, new technologies and financial products, such as those associated with ICOs, can be used improperly to entice investors with the promise of high returns in a new investment space. The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to make investors aware of potential risks of participating in ICOs.