Ziegler Capital Investments

This company has hidden fees that are not apparent until a transaction is completed. This company advertises low risk investments that are actually high risk investments. This company misrepresents the liquidity status of the investments it sells. Do not invest your money with this firm.

Ziegler is a private wealth management firm. Their advisors are not Fiduciary advisors, they are private stockbrokers who sell Ziegler selected securities and other financial products. My experience with them is that they sell financial products locking you in over over long time periods with very high costs associated with them. If you decide to invest with Ziegler, make sure that they disclose the risk up front, do not rely on the prospectus. Do not lock yourself in to long term non-liquid investments or your risk of capital loss will be high either from Market fluxuations or from their internal costs. Do not sign any agreement that will not allow you to pursue legal action against them. I do not recommend this company based on my experience investing with them.

The results of these investments were catastrophic. Over ten years there were approximately $350,000.00 in losses in two of the investments. The third investment, a private equity fund is still active, and I am unable to get my money out until the equities are sold. I anticipate getting most of the 250,000.00 invested back, but there appear to be no profit over this time period, and it is uncertain when I will be able to cash out. Here is the story. In 2006 I responded to a solicitation by a Ziegler representative to invest my savings. I agreed to invest with their company. As I was near retirement, I requested that they only invest in fixed, conservative investments as I planned to retire in four to six years and would need that money to live on. I was told the money could be placed in a fixed interest rate REIT, which would be purchased at $10/share and sold for $10/share and it would have a minimum three year obligation before it could be cashed out. The interest rate was approximately 5% and the interest could be continuously reinvested. $300,000.00 was placed in this account over time. An addition REIT called Ericson Retirement Communities, was also purchased in the amount of $50,000.00. The last investment was a $250,000.00 private equity fund called Zeigler-Meditec Equity Partners. This, being an equity fund carried a higher risk being an equity stock, but also had the promise of a higher return than the other fixed investments. The remaining funds were invested in bond funds. Unbeknownst to me, the REIT Investments were high risk investments due to high internal costs and due to being heavily leveraged. The Ericson Retirement Communities fund went bankrupt one year after the investment. All of that investment was lost. The other REIT, Behringer-Harvard REIT I underwent a precipitous loss three years later and the value fell from the original $10 a share to the equivalent of $2.00/share. That investment was locked up for the next eight years as the company restructured. The interest rate fell to 0% and there were no dividends paid. Investors were unable to access any of the principle as the company restructured. Here is what any investor should know about Ziegler Wealth Management. a). Their brokers are not ?fiduciaries? and have no responsibility to invest your money wisely or to look out after your best interest. When you invest with them you must sign an agreement that you cannot sue them for losses, even if they misrepresent the products they are selling you. You can only apply for ?arbitration? if they lose your money, regardless of the degree of malfeasance or misrepresentation. b). Their costs for managing your money are hidden in the product they sell you so you have no idea how much your investment will cost you in the end. My experience is their costs are much higher than a fiduciary agent would charge. c). The products they sell are often locked in over long time periods over which you have no control or no ability to access your funds. d). Their quarterly reports are confusing, they often lack essential information such as the cost basis for an investment and you are not able to discern how much you have invested and whether you are making or losing money.