WASHINGTON - (Business Wire) The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today launched a new series of Investor Podcasts that provides clear, unbiased information on a variety of financial issues in an easily accessible format.
The podcasts, available on FINRA’s Web site (www.finra.org) and on iTunes, are designed to help investors better understand often complex financial issues and investment products and protect themselves from potential pitfalls. New podcasts will be added to the series every month to provide investors with topical and timely investment information.
“FINRA’s Investor Podcasts make it easier than ever for investors to get practical financial information—whenever and wherever they choose. Simply download the podcast and listen to it on your own schedule. They explain complicated finance issues in simple, straight forward language. And since FINRA doesn’t sell a thing and our job is to protect investors, FINRA’s Investor Podcasts deliver nothing but the facts the public needs to know in order to make informed investment decisions. FINRA is committed to investor education because we believe that education is the most potent form of investor protection,” said John Gannon, FINRA’s Senior Vice President for Investor Education.
The first three installments of the podcast series are now online:
- Protect Your Online Brokerage Account outlines specific steps investors can take to prevent the theft of their personal financial information when investing online.
- Reverse Mortgages: Avoiding a Reversal of Fortune helps homeowners carefully weigh all of their options before tapping into their home equity.
- Putting too Much Stock in your Company – a 401(k) Problem spells out the difficulties employees may face if they put too much of their retirement savings in their company’s stock.
Upcoming podcasts will outline the steps investors can take to protect themselves from so-called “Free Lunch” investment seminars, help investors better understand how to use FINRA’s Dispute Resolution program and demonstrate how the costs associated with different classes of mutual fund shares can impact the value of those investments. On the Investor Podcasts home page, users can subscribe to the series and receive automatic notification when new podcasts are available.
FINRA’s Investor Podcasts complement a wide array of existing investor information available on FINRA’s Web site. The Investor Education section on finra.org serves as a one-stop shop for the investing public—featuring Investor Alerts on a range of financial topics, interactive tools and calculators, unbiased educational material and real-time market data.
To receive FINRA’s Investor Alerts and other important investor information via email, sign up for FINRA’s Investor News.
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. Created in 2007 through the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Member Regulation, FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business—from registering and educating all industry participants to examining securities firms; writing and enforcing rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities; and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.finra.org.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
Nancy Condon, 202-728-8379
George Smaragdis, 202-728-8988
