May 5, 2004
Rescission of Rule 12b1.
In my opinion, the repeal of 12b1 fees would increase cost to mutual fund shareholders. Currently the majority of my business is on a commission basis with clients using conservative and low cost mutual funds such as the American Funds Group. I have clients who may have invested in funds 10 years ago and have not invested anything since then but who still require ongoing professional services such as help with preparing tax information for their CPA. These cleints also require annual reviews of their investments. My compensation for these ongoing services has been the 12b1 fees. If these fees are no longer available, I would need to transfer my clients to a fee based compensation model in order to stay in business and the cost to the cleint would increase to 1.25 percent per year versus the current .25 percent.