Most people assume that when they go to a doctor, the care given will be in their best interests. This has also been assumed by those seeking financial advice from a professional, but, to many investors’ surprise, this does not always turn out to be the case.
Legislation has been passed to make all financial advice given to people with retirement accounts in the best interests of the client, or at least be accompanied with very clear warnings. This is great
When I started out in finance, my firm could be thought of as the 2nd generation of financial advice. These were the rules created after the Great Depression about how much could be charged to "customers" for commissions, being a “broker” vs providing advice, etc.
For these regulations, I spent hundreds of hours studying and testing for my old no longer in force “Series” licenses below.
Series 4 - Registered Options Principal
Series 7 - General Securities Representative
Series 9 - General Securities Option Sales Supervisor
Series 10 - General Securities Sales Supervisor
Series 24 - General Securities Principal
Series 63 - Uniform Securities Agent State Law
Series 66 - Uniform Combined State Law
I was then met with a decision when coming to ISC. Do I stay on the old platform of being a “broker,” or let my licenses go and become a “3rd generation” Fiduciary on the Registered Investment Advisor side of things?
I’m proud to say I’ve left the old licenses behind (they are no longer active) and naturally embraced the clients’ best interests only, and I haven’t looked back since.
With the new rule changes, I suspect more brokers will be doing the same in coming years.
As you hear more in the news about the coming changes, please be assured that if you are a client of mine you are already with a fiduciary acting only in your best interests, and let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for taking a look,
Tom Gartner, MSAPM, CFP®