July 21, 2017
Securities and Exchange Commission,
I am shocked to hear that the SEC Commission is even considering revoking the fiduciary rule. As a citizen who depends on the disinterest of financial advisers for sound advice, this is dispiriting and makes me wonder what happened to common sense and dedication to public welfare. When all your emphasis is on the financial firm's profit, you forget the high cost of retirees being stiffed out of their funds. This means the REST of us are on the hook to take care of them, and I wish I could put this responsibility squarely on the shoulders of this commission.
When investors turn to financial professionals for advice, they expect and deserve advice that’s in their best interests. But some “advisers” who work for broker-dealers are not always required to meet that standard, and some may even be paid in ways that reward them for putting the interests of the firm ahead of the best interests of the customer. Investors lose out on tens of billions of dollars in investment returns each year when these conflicted advisers recommend inferior investment products that pay them more. I urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt new rules, modeled on the Department of Labor’s rule for retirement investment advice, requiring brokers to act in their customers’ best interests and requiring firms to reduce conflicts that undermine that standard. Investors don’t need more boilerplate disclosures, they need real protections from industry practices that put their financial well-being at risk.
Susannah Rose