September 7, 2004
This exemption is a horrible idea for consumers. As it stands now broker-dealers are masquerading as planners with none of the disclosure that fiduciaries have.
From the Morgan Stanley website:
Careful planning is key to achieving your financial goals. Whatever your goals may be from sending children to college and retiring comfortably to passing your hard-earned estate assets on to loved ones our Financial Advisors will evaluate your situation and help you determine which strategies are right for you.
Financial Planning Estate Planning
College Planning Retirement Planning
At Morgan Stanley, we help you plan according to your needs...
As you can see from their website, in the first 100 words they use plan as a verb or a noun six times.
If MS reps want to claim that they unbiased planners then they should disclose their compensation arrangements rather than being exempted.
Sincerely,
G.M. Livingston III