Fiduciary Rules

At a recent climate-finance meeting attended by Wall Street giants including BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., no one spoke until a lawyer had finished reading out a disclaimer stating the group was not a cartel.

The SEC’s 2022 actions on fiduciary care are a reminder why a “real fiduciary” standard will only thrive if advisors and planners make it so. Regulators cannot. It’s is not their job.

Slowly but surely, bond haters are vanishing across Wall Street — even as fresh market havoc remains a distinct possibility next year if still-raging inflation forces the Federal Reserve to ramp up policy tightening anew.

Now I know why people ignore my warnings about those who claim they can predict the markets.

Let’s look at four keys to building trust through deeper relationships.

If you lose your job, what emotional and professional support should you expect from your financial planner?

What problem could be solved or what issue or challenge could be addressed that would offer wide appeal to the expansive advisor community? The answer that made sense to me was financial education.

I proclaim the pending demise of the independent broker-dealer model.

The political news culture that favors words over deeds, clicks over content and headlines over discussion effects fiduciary care. We are at a low ebb.

Less than a month after I recommended that an organization – specifically NAPFA – set new membership standards regarding an RIA firm’s revenue model, one has risen to take up the challenge.

Buying a dividend is a market-structure risk that costs investors billions in unnecessary taxation.

The final day to get Series I savings bonds at a record 9.62% yield has come and gone.

Life Insurance Awareness Month just wrapped up in September. It’s a good time to dispel some common myths around this important financial product.

Reg BI is the most divisive issue in the fiduciary discussion and was a focus of the discussion during September’s event.

For some bankers, net-zero is like a new year’s resolution—a pledge one makes and often breaks before a year has passed.

Yields on popular Series I savings bonds — intended to protect consumers against price increases — are likely heading down even as inflation continues to surge.

It’s an awkward question, because the last thing you want to do is defend or sell yourself against another advisor.

Democracy is under attack, yet many Americans fail to see the threat, according to Seth Klarman. Leadership must come from the business community to respond to this challenge.

Kids are expensive. Full stop. No matter your level of frugality, it's certainly costlier to have kids than to opt to be child-free.

The CFP Board has strayed from its mission of improving life for the consumer. Instead, it is generating as much confusion as possible for the furthering of its own interests. Make no mistake – transparency is not on its agenda. This is a massive disservice to the public.

Instead of focusing on the advantages fiduciary standards would provide to the profession, lobbyists who represent advisors should point to the catastrophic failures of the perverse incentives embedded in the brokerage business model.

Millennials are self-centered and allergic to commitment. They switch jobs every six months and will never buy homes. And don’t get them started on marriage and kids.

A new wave of lawsuits alleges that Blackrock’s target date funds (TDFs) have underperformed. These lawsuits open the door to a related and scandalous breach of fiduciary duty – excessive risk.

Advisors won the last war – true professionals achieved victory by adopting fiduciary principles and providing comprehensive planning. But a new battlefront has emerged – what I call the “next argument” – and achieving victory will slow and painful.

With the US unemployment rate near a five-decade low and job vacancies close to a record high, businesses say they are scrambling to find workers. Many complain that large and growing skills mismatches prevent them from getting the staff they need.

The classical notion of 1940 investment advice has been hijacked and replaced by the SEC with a weak, distant cousin.

My article, “The Trial of Ken Fisher for Crimes Against Annuities,” marked the beginning of my effort to aggressively defend annuities against criticisms that had become too exaggerated, too longstanding, and too inaccurate to be left unchallenged.

I explain how attempts to view advisor compensation through a moral lens instead of an economics lens lead to false conclusions about the relative merits of each pricing model and hence to misguided predictions for the future of planner compensation.

A strong culture is key to inspiring the team and workplace of tomorrow.

I examine the benefits of the contingent deferred annuity (CDA), and whether it’s poised to become the next big thing in retirement.

The views you often read on advisor compensation models and their future are misguided.

In the current unstable economic environment, producing safe, reliable income over the course of an unknown retirement is a daunting goal for any financial professional. As a result, many Americans sub-optimize their retirement experience.

Based on my anecdotal experience, I’ve come to the reluctant conclusion that many advisors are clueless about what it means to be a fiduciary.

We never get too old for stories. And especially in the current volatile market, our clients benefit greatly from hearing a story like Dimensional’s – which gets better the longer it continues.

Marriage in the US also unlocks an under-discussed retirement option: the spousal IRA.

FINRA interprets “financial advisor” as being usable (on business cards and elsewhere) by any financial professional who holds an RIA affiliation, whether or not the relationship with the client is in fact an advisory one.

Many RIAs fall short of the obligations of a fiduciary, particularly with respect to how their fees are paid. A day of reckoning (lawsuits) is only a matter of time.

I have a vision of a profession where the most straightforward advisors, not the coolest ones with the best spiel, rise to the top. To achieve that ideal, here are 17 ways that acting more honestly than the competition will win more clients.

When you become an uncomparable financial advisor, you don’t have to compete with other advisors because you are unique. Here are the five components of uncomparability.

Markets are slumping. Crypto has cratered. Yet one corner of the financial world continues to offer investors strong, low-risk returns: Humble I bonds.

The Supreme Court’s decisions on abortion and gun safety reinforced how ideology polarizes politics and prevents civil discussion and progress. Market ideology has also polarized discussion and harmed advice standards.

As mass layoffs start to make headlines and recession chatter gets louder, there is a lot that traditionally employed folks can learn from freelancers to defend their finances amid anxiety about a downturn.

The man who dominates discussion about the future of transportation has gone uncharacteristically quiet at the close of a manic quarter.

Here are three lessons about the cognitive biases advisors need to be aware of as the trusted protectors of their clients’ financial futures.

Reg BI turns two on June 30th. It was supposed to help investors better understand how advisors and brokers differ and have BDs meet a “best interest” standard based on fiduciary principles. It turns out that Reg BI is doing the opposite.

Because the consequences of leaving longevity unmanaged are likely to be the most devastating, advisors must act now to address it.

I have identified a few opportunities within my portfolio and wealth management practice that prompt consideration for your own strategies as you plan for large estates.

Several avenues for diversifying cryptocurrency portfolios exist. Investors should weigh the costs and benefits of each of the following three methods.

Many advisors have potential clients who slip through their fingers because they believe their goal is to build a relationship pre-sale. But that’s not your potential clients’ goal.

Even in 2022, pensions still command an aura of reverence. A benefit where you work for one company for 30 years and then retire with a livable wage? And you don’t have to fret about picking investments? What’s not to like?