As far as I'm concerned, the performance of Dechtman is pathetic! I had my account with them for just under 1 year and I am down 2.5% from what I started with. I kept a portion of my retirement funds in my company's 401K and I had significant positive gains (not including contributions) at the end of last year and I have positive gains this year. I told that to my advisor and he just would not believe me. I never heard from him about my account until I reached out directly. When I told him they were doing nothing, he said look at all the trades they were making in my account. It is true, there were adjustments but I just looked at how much my account was valued. They are basically defending moving deck chairs around on a sinking ship. I have closed my account and moved my funds back to my 401K.
My first direction to Sam Dechtman was that I would like my funds invested in a moderately conservative fashion. I gave them no direction on the details on what investments to make. I left it entirely at their discretion. I was expecting between 2 to 4% growth (annual). They failed to achieve any growth. I invested in mid-June and was down 1.7% on 12/16/22, so I expressed my concern. He said they could do better. I then asked him to invest in a moderately aggressive manner in order to try and catch up. I did direct him to invest roughly 20% in T-Bills as a conservative hedge. The rest of the investments were totally at their discretion. Sam never expressed any concern or tried to steer me towards a different investment strategy.
If Dechtman wants to challenge this, I do have the history of transactions made to my account. I also have an email where I laid out to Sam in detail how I was realizing gains in my 401K.
The only specific direction I gave them was to invest a portion of my funds in T-Bills. I believe by anyone's standard, this is not an impulsive nor a recklessly aggressive investment. I challenge Dechtman to provide documentation or these "key details" showing I directed them to make specific investments which resulted in the absolutely abysmal performance I experienced after I trusted them with 80% of my retirement funds.
I would not pay over $530.00 a month to have Dechtman make specific investments at my direction when I could simply do it at my own discretion with an online account.
From Jordan Dechtman's response I would have to say he is not well-informed on what is going on in his own company.
Below is a sample of the direction I gave to Dechtman about my investments and their response. This is what Jordan Dechtman (owner) states in his response below is me letting my emotions drive my actions and going against the advice of their "experienced" advisors.
From: Bob Kruse
Date: Friday, July 29, 2022 at 3:47 PM
To: Sam Dechtman
Subject: Re: Bob Kruse Account
Hi Sam,
Can you please make that adjustment to my investments? I think we can be a bit more aggressive but I'm not ready to go to a fully aggressive strategy. Please let me know if you have any questions. I really appreciate it.
"Redacted"
Thanks,
Bob
From: Sam Dechtman
Date: Friday, July 29, 2022 at 3:31 PM
To: Bob Kruse
Subject: RE: Bob Kruse Account
Hi Bob,
I think that's a good idea. The earnings reports from the second quarter have generally been more positive than expected which has been a good sign.
Thanks,
Sam
Sam Dechtman, CFP®, CFS®
Wealth Advisor
From: Bob Kruse
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2022 1:21 PM
To: Sam Dechtman
Subject: Bob Kruse Account
Hi Sam,
I notice the market is really picking up. Obviously, this could be short term. I am wondering if this may be a time to adjust my investment strategy from moderate conservative to something more in the middle. Do you have any thoughts?
Thanks,
Bob read more