February 3, 2005
As a consumer of services and products from both a registered investment adviser, as well as a broker, my interest is clear. Protection. While I am by no means knowing in the ways of the world of finance hence having an adviser, might I suggest the possibility of the experts blind spot -- where those in the deep know of something fail to see the big picture of it. From my perspective, not being an expert deeply embroiled in such matters, these two groups are only somewhat different in terms of services, and hardly different in products, and I would expect them both to be held equally accountable to me, and if there was resistance to such a thing from one group or the other, that would seem untrustworthy in itself enough to mandate their accountability.