Legal Definitions - Investor Protection Guide: Investment Seminars ("Free Lunch")

Investment seminars are events where financial professionals present investment strategies to potential clients. These seminars are often held at hotels or restaurants and may offer free meals or other incentives to attendees. However, some investment seminar sponsors use misleading or exaggerated information to sell unsuitable securities to attendees, particularly seniors.

Investors should be cautious when attending investment seminars and keep in mind that most seminars are designed to sell a product, even if they are advertised as educational events. The speaker may be a paid spokesperson and not the actual sponsor, and the presentation may be impressive but misleading. Seminars that urge investors to act quickly due to a limited supply should raise a red flag.

Investors should conduct thorough research before and after the seminar, ask pointed questions, and critically assess any information offered at the seminar. They should never substitute information received from investment seminars for their own independent research.

• An investment firm invites seniors to a free lunch seminar where they are presented with a sales pitch for a high-risk investment. The sales materials exaggerate the potential returns and downplay the risks.
• A broker-dealer holds an invitation-only seminar at a hotel where attendees are promised a free trip if they invest a certain amount of money. The investment strategy presented is unsuitable for most attendees and involves high fees.

These examples illustrate how investment seminar sponsors may use misleading or exaggerated information to sell unsuitable securities to attendees, particularly seniors. Investors should be cautious when attending investment seminars and conduct their own independent research before making any investment decisions.