Three years ago, for Valentines Day, NYT personal finance writer Tara Siegel Bernard wrote a column, “Will you be my Fiduciary?” and discussed how investors might engage a fiduciary advisor. Bernard’s headline was clever enough, but is there is any logical link between one’s Valentine and one’s fiduciary? Not at first sight. The romantic spirit of Valentines Day, […]
Laby: ’40 Act Enacted to separate conflicted “tipster organizations” from genuine investment advisors
Key report, “Emphasized that an adviser cannot provide unbiased advice unless conflicts of interest were removed.” Over the past several years, scholar Arthur Laby has been one of the most prolific researchers on the fiduciary duties of advisers and the meaning of the suitability standard of brokers-dealers. In his most recent law review article, Selling […]
Forbes Opinion Piece Discussing Institute Blog Gets SIFMA Response
SIFMA affirms uniform standard must be “no less stringent” than ’40 Act John Wasik, a Forbes columnist, wrote a piece (published here) discussing Knut Rostad’s blog, “Four More Years?” Wasik’s piece attracted a response from SIFMA (highlighted here in part) that, though including some misunderstandings that can be easily cleared up, is encouraging. It is […]
Four More Years?
As the Obama administration prepares for its next four-years, this much is clear: The fiduciary standard is worse off today, as compared to four years ago, in its position in federal rulemaking and the public square. Fiduciary proponents need to regroup and rethink how to best move forward and prevent a repeat. Under an Administration that […]
Another Look at CFP Board
Michael Kitces makes an important contribution to the discussion about how CFP Board should apply its fiduciary standard, in his recent blog post. In sum, Kitces urges CFP Board to abandon its approach of applying its fiduciary standard only when a certificant is doing financial planning, or material elements of financial planning, and instead apply […]
Selling Advice And Creating Expectations: Why Brokers Should Be Fiduciaries
By Arthur B. Laby — Because investors reasonably expect that brokers will, in fact, operate in a fiduciary capacity, the SEC should impose a fiduciary duty on brokers that give investment advice.
