August 30, 2010
Brokers or Account Executives, or whatever they are calling themselves these days do not the same fiduciary responsibility to their clients that an investment advisor has. And, as such they should be held to a higher standard. I have known brokers who admitted to me that on occasion they will call half their clients who own a particular stock and advise them to buy more, they will then call the other half and advise them to sell. Then there are trust companies/banks, like Northern Trust, who charge a management fee and a commission albiet a smaller one. They should be held to a higher standard as well inasmuch as they follow and advise on about 200 stocks and their own exclusivemutual funds