August 17, 2010
August 17, 2010
Elizabeth M. Murphy
Secretary
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549
RE: File No: 4-606
Dear Ms. Murphy:
I am a financial planner and a REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISER with over 150 clients in more than 15 states handling over $75 million dollars in assets under management. In my practice, I have been servicing clients under a fiduciary standard of care since 1994. I strongly urge you to extend the Advisers Act fiduciary standard of care to all financial professionals who provide personalized investment advice to retail clients.
It is unfair to consumers that the quality of advice they receive from a financial professional is dependent on the professionals registration or title. Its no wonder consumers are confused, and do not know whether their financial professional is looking out for their best interests. I can tell you from my personal experience that adhering to the fiduciary standard of care and putting my clients interests ahead of my own benefits my clients and my business.
Clients receive full and fair disclosure of any conflicts of interest and in our case since we do not accept referral fees, nor do we pay referral fees and we hold no licensure to sell commissionable products, our clients feel we are always looking out for their best interests. We have also seen the damages a non-fiduciary licensed representative can wreak on clients who were sold indexed annuities with 18% commissions and an 18 year surrender charge schedule. A Fiduciary would never consider such an egregious act of theft. Any individual holding themselves out to the public as providing investment advice and or financial planning should be held to the same Fiduciary Standard of Care. Consumers deserve no less.
I urge you to recommend to Congress that it is necessary and appropriate in the public interest and for the protection of consumers to extend the fiduciary standard to broker-dealers, who provide personalized investment advice, and to initiate a rulemaking to achieve this long overdue consumer reform.
Sincerely,
Cornelius H. Van Zutphen, Jr, CFP®
Delta Ventures Financial Counsel, Inc.
2855 E Brown Road, Suite 5
Mesa, Arizona 85213