Morgan Keegan Investment Funds: Individuals Face Financial Ruin

Houston, TXIf you lost money with the drastic drop in value of certain Morgan Keegan investment funds, you are not alone. Many people lost money in the Morgan Keegan stock crisis. Many of them are probably in a similar situation as you: they have lost a lot of money suddenly and are not sure what to do next. The good news is that you may be able to file a claim against Morgan Keegan. The bad news is that you probably lost more money than you could afford to lose.

You could be one of the many people who are nearing retirement and put money in Morgan Keegan Select High Income Fund because you needed some place safe to put your money—some place that you could count on the money to be there when you needed it. You worked your whole life to save for retirement and watched your nest egg grow, confident that your lifestyle would not suffer when you retired. Your life savings, everything you have worked for until now, is in what you believe was a safe, stable investment because you were told that the funds were secure and there was no need to worry.

Or perhaps you put money in a Morgan Keegan Select High Income Fund to save for your children's future, knowing that one day they would want a post-secondary education and hoping to help them out along the way. You worked hard to ensure that a bit of money was put aside each month and then invested it with Morgan Keegan, proud that you were saving for your children's future.

Perhaps you are already retirement age, living off of the money you managed to save over the years. You worked hard your entire life to ensure that you would not have any financial worries once you stopped working. You wanted to be able to just enjoy retirement without a financial care in the world.

No matter why you put money in certain Morgan Keegan Funds, you probably went about your life certain that the money you invested was completely safe. After all, you were told by brokers that the funds were completely stable and secure. In fact, you may have been told that there was very little risk, if any at all, in the funds—that they were a safe alternative to money market funds.

Until suddenly, the money you invested wasn't safe any more. One day you learned that the funds had dropped drastically in value and you became concerned. You phoned your broker, who told you not to worry, that the funds were still stable and they would rebound. Except that they didn't and by the end of 2007, many of the funds were down by as much as 65 percent.

Suddenly, your comfortable retirement doesn't look nearly as comfortable. Your children's education is no longer guaranteed. You are forced to consider reentering the workforce to make ends meet, even though you are well past retirement age.

When you started saving for your future, you thought there was no way that you would have to take a job at the age of 70 to make ends meet—you thought you were well prepared for everything and that by saving your money you were well ahead of the game. But you were wrong, because you were not told that Funds were invested in illiquid securities. Now you watch as the government promises to bail out financial institution after financial institution but does not offer to help the individual investor who faces financial ruin.

However, you may be able to reclaim your lost funds through FINRA arbitration. The first step is to contact a lawyer experienced in FINRA claims. That may be the only way you ever see any of your lost money.