August 6, 2010
In Regard to the fiduciary standard on registered representatives, I have been in the financial services business for 9 years and since then have seen more and more regulations. We have had enough. Most of us in my profession pride ourselves in our honesty and integrity. Additional regulations will not stop the bad people from doing bad things. More regulations will just hinder us even more from doing the best we can for our clients. Right now I hold a series 7 and 66 for my securities licenses and also a life, health, and annuity license. Every year I have 10 hours of continuing education requirements for my securities licenses as well as every 3 years, I have to take a 3 hour regulatory element exam. This does not include the 16 hours of continuing education I have to take every 2 years for my life/health/annuity license. We also get regular compliance training from our Home Office.15-20% of my time goes to making sure I remain compliant. More requirements for compliance means less time to serve my clients. No matter how much you regulate there will always be bad people doing bad things in this world. So why punish the majority of the good? What scares me is what the liability of fiduciary duties could do to the cost of my business and the ability to serve my clients. My errors and omission insurance can go up, and with all this happening, I question whether I can afford to stay in business. My clients have depended on me for advice for a long time and count on me being there for them. Please consider this when making your decisions. Thank you for your time.