August 31, 2008
The State of New Hampshire securities office has even gone so far as stating that Certificates of Deposit are "securities". Is this really about protecting consumers or is it about competition and power?
I have talked with so many people who were sold on the "one-stop-shop" concept that brokerage firms have advertised for years. They trusted their input on what to do with their retirement savings and so many people have lost 20, 30, and even 50% of their retirement accounts in the midst of retirement. I don't know how many times I've heard people who said their broker told them it was only a "paper loss" when they knew they had no guarantees when they would see the value of their accounts return. Has that ever happened in an Equity Indexed Annuity? Should the insurance industry step in and ask to regulate the securities industry for the trillions people have lost?
Unfortunately, if the securities industry were allowed to eliminate their competition, the public would end up getting hurt.
There is wisdom in the counsel of many and people need the ability to hear about opportunities from differing sectors of the financial services industry in order to do what's right... for them. They need multiple streams of advice and ideas.
Is monopolizing really the solution for the public at large? All of us in the industry have known this game has been afoot for years and this is nothing but smoke and mirrors to reduce competition.
This ruling would throw the balancing of industries out the window and will negate years of legal president on preventing industries from eliminating their competition through monopolizing.
The Supreme Court would never let this one fly. An industry that is a giant compared to the securities industry will not stand by and let this happen either.
This will just be another loss and waste of tax payers good money to defend.
Both industries are very valuable and balance each other out which is great for the public at large. Why don't we keep it that way and save the tax payers the cost of a long and drawn out waste of their hard-earned money.