Legacy Investments

Legacy Investments of Woolwich, ME website’s landing page states this: «We’re here to listen, offer advice and develop a solid strategy. At Legacy Investments, we understand the value of building relationships with our clients. Knowing what’s important to you is what matters most to us.»
This could not be farther from the truth. What it should say is, «Invest with us and get poor slowly.» Their philosophy seems to be, «We keep your money from doing well, regardless of how well the market does or how you ask us to invest it. If you tell us that you don’t like how we invest your money, we will tell you that you don’t know what you are talking about, and that we are offended by your remarks.»
In late 2010 my father-​in-​law passed away and my wife inherited some money. Being a family «friend», Ms. Baker swooped in and did her sales pitch about how long she has been an investment advisor, and how my wife’s inheritance would do well under her «guidance». What we did not know at the time is that Ms. Baker had just lost a case against the IRS, and owes the IRS about $ 58,000. More than likely, that debt motivated her to drum up some new clients. Then, in a secure self-​destructing email, Sophie Ables Baker gave us some nonsense as to why she should have our IRA accounts as well.
In one year alone, had we left our IRAs where they had been invested, and invested my wife’s inheritance the same way, the difference between what we earned under Legacy’s «guidance», and what we would have earned, cost us more than our total employment earnings for the year. Our investments with Legacy have not kept up with the S&P 500, DJIA, or NASDAQ. Our investments with Legacy sink farther than any of those indexes, and do not rise as high. A total losing proposition for us. This is what Sophie calls «long-​term investing». Nobody lives long enough to see the «benefit» of her investment strategy. However, at least one person has done rather well because our money has been with Legacy: Sophie Ables Baker.
My wife trusted the president of the company, Ms. Baker, with her inherited money because my wife and Ms. Baker have been long-​time friends. Whenever I questioned Ms. Baker’s investment strategy, her typical response was that we should trust her because she has been a long-​time friend, she has been a professional for many years (Warren Buffet she isn’t), and we just don’t understand how to invest. In the stock market’s disastrous decline of 2008 and 2009, Ms. Baker lost a huge amount of money. During that time, wife and I had our IRAs invested elsewhere. Those investments stayed in line with the general market indices back then, and have since been able to take advantage of the market’s upswing, until we trusted our money with Legacy in 2011. My wife hasn’t moved her money away from Legacy because she doesn’t want to «offend» her old «friend», and it is costing my wife many thousands of dollars to «not offend» her friend. I pulled my money out from Ms. Baker’s control earlier this year. Since then my money has grown more than 50% higher than my wife’s money has with Legacy. My investments rise higher on up days, and don’t sink as low on down days, as my wife’s money under Legacy’s «guidance».

Legacy’s stated goal is preservation of capital. On Thursday, June 20, 2013 the stock market had a very bad day. My wife’s Legacy account fell even farther than the Dow. How is that capital preservation? That must be Legacy’s idea of «long-​term investing». I call it «so long money» investing. When does this long-​term investing strategy pay off? However, of course it always pays off for Ms. Baker. She takes her 1.5% fee regardless of how badly she handles her clients’ money.
Sophie Ables Baker must refund all of the service fees we paid to her, plus pay us the difference between what my wife’s and my investments earned under her «guidance», and what all of our money would have earned during the same period, had it been invested where our IRAs had been previously invested.