There have been numerous lawsuits against this company. Their stock has been devalued as a result.
We engaged Michael Heatwole as our financial advisor. He invested our Ira's into mutual funds that lost money After assuring us the return would be better than the Vanguard Wellington funds they were currently invested in. He invested our IRAs into bond mutual funds that lost more than 2% while the Wellington increased in value by 3% during this time period.
We withheld one third of our assets in cash until we saw a positive return. We then discovered that Waddell and Reed was charging a 1% fee just for holding the cash. Michael admitted he failed to tell us this. He then turned the matter over to their compliance department. The response of their compliance department? We should have read the fine print on their contract document-- a document we never received.
Michael failed to perform his fiduciary responsibility in failing to inform us that his firm was charging a hefty 1% fee on a significant amount of cash in our IRA.
I would stay away from this firm and Michael Heatwole. read more
Poor service at the Schaumburg, IL office. No communication. No assistance from managers, either. My previous adviser retired and SOLD my account to a rep who "just doesn't care" who was After 30 years investing with Waddell and Reed, I have lost confidence. If you invest with these people, beware. read more