Ideas in the Wild: How David Meyer Aims To Stand Up for Individual Investors

Forty years of work and a lifetime of savings. Many of us strive for these goals when we retire. No one can steal the years, but the money? The savings we earned to spend time with loved ones and live comfortably on our terms? Our savings could be gone instantly with one innocent error: trusting the wrong person to invest our money.

It wasn’t until David Meyer took on his first investment fraud case at 28 that he truly understood the decimation caused by devious financial advisors. After winning a record-breaking jury verdict, David has been battling fraudulent financial advisors for more than two decades. Now, in The Investor Protector, he shares the stories of good people enduring unthinkable loss. These are stories of hard-earned success, unbelievable deceit, and avenging triumph. Readers will learn not only how David has helped his clients regain their savings and peace of mind, but what they can do to protect themselves — and those they love — so the future looks as bright as they planned it. I recently caught up with David to learn more about The Investor Protector.

What happened that made you decide to write the book? What was the exact moment when you realized these ideas needed to get out there?

When someone is referred to me for legal help, they have already suffered a devastating financial loss. I have spent every day for the past 20 years fighting to recover my clients’ life savings that were lost at the hands of a bad broker. It is rewarding to fix problems and recover the money for my clients. But I realized what would be even better is if I could also help retirement savers before they are entangled with a bad financial advisor.

With this book, I can help prevent devastating financial loss before it happens. The book took 18 months to write but it has been 25 years in the making. It was about two years ago that I decided it was time to share the stories of my clients’ cases and help individual investors protect themselves from bad financial advisors. This book is like body armor for all retirement savers.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned going through the journey you share in the book?

Trust but verify. We are entitled to trust our financial professionals who we hire because they’re the experts — not us. Even I rely on investment advisers.

But there are steps you should take to advocate for yourself which will significantly reduce the chances that you will be a victim of investment fraud. Also, don’t think that you are too smart, educated, or sophisticated to get taken by a bad financial advisor. I have represented business owners, CEOs, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and professional athletes in cases of investment fraud. My clients are bright, hard-working people who simply put their trust in someone who ultimately betrayed them and exploited that trust.

Also, if you or a loved one does suffer investment losses as the result of the misconduct of an advisor, there is no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed that you trusted a professional to manage your life savings. You should not hesitate to take the steps necessary to recover what was taken from you by hiring an experienced investment fraud attorney to pursue the recovery of the investment losses.

How will you apply this lesson in your life moving forward?

I’m going to keep fighting the good fight against Wall Street on behalf of Main Street. I spend a lot of time advocating and lobbying for legislative and regulatory changes in Washington, D.C. to promote investor protection. Wall Street has unlimited resources and numerous lobbyists. Individual investors don’t, so that is why I do what I do. I am very passionate about fighting for the rights of individual investors.