August 2, 2010
I am a Registed representative. I hold my series 6 and 63. As well as my Variable, life health license. In order to keep my licenses current we have to do several things. I have continuing education for my insurance license and then for my securities license. In addition I have testing that my Broker Dealer requires in addition to the State and Federal. These courses can taker several hours and some have to be done in a testing setting. There is a cost associated with the testing as well that I am responsible for. We are looked at every single day by compliance. I can't do anything with out having gone through the approval process with my broker dealer. All paper work, marketing material and communications has to go to through compliance prior to going out to a client or the public. New business takes almost 2 hours just to fill out the compliance paper work and then you have the product paper work. Even on the insurance side of things we have compliance. I dont see how we could be more regulated.
The majority of people would rather not pay for the service in a fee format. I dont have a license that allows me to be fee based. This would require a new license which would increase my Errors and Omissions insurance. We like to sell our business on service. We work with the client to design a plan to fit there needs and goals. It can take a lot of design work to fit there needs. We take pride in our clients and our business.
If a change happens I think we would be forced to get out of the business. The testing we would have to do cost time and money. Plus would increase our EO insurance. This would also have new regulations handed down from our Broker Dealer.
I feel that when I meet a client and understand there needs goals. They have already decided to put there trust in me. Everything we do and our Broker Dealer does is in the interest of consumer protection. I do not want another hand in my business or my clients. I would prefer SEC to not exercise their authority to impose a misguided fiduciary.