August 19, 2010
It would appear that there is no concern for the small investor. My office services 600 local households, mostly with small accounts. I maintain an office, fax, phones and staff to provide service to all clients, regardless of their account size. Our clients call us for withdrawals; address or beneficiary changes; comfort during market swings; tax implications of withdrawals. We provide exceptional service because I can afford staff to do that with the 12B-1 fees. Without on-going compensation I will be forced to eliminate services and have to refer them directly to their investment company. I don`t believe any of this is in the best interest of the investor. None of us are getting rich on C shares, especially with markets of the past several years - we have had to provide more and more service.
I have been in this industry for 25+ years. None of my clients expect me to be able to provide ongoing services for free. I don`t want to be in an industry where everyone is "hunting" down for a new dollar every year. Changes in 12B-1 could be seen as encouragement for reps to churn business from one fund group or another. It is very unclear as to how investors will benefit from these changes.
Mrs. Roberta Nestor
Director of Asset Management
TSM Financial