Subject: File No. S7-25-99
From: Sennett Kirk, President
Affiliation:

February 4, 2005

Dear Sir,

I would hope at some point the SEC makes some attempt to level the playing field by placing investment advisors and financial planners under the same regulatory scrutiny as broker/dealers. I do not believe regulators should be in the business of favoring one business model over another. As things now stand, because of work overload at the SEC, most investment advisors who are not also broker/dealers are rarely subject to thorough examinations on any sort of regular basis. And small ones escape altogether. This, rather than vague distinctions about fiduciary responsibility, seems to me to be the real issue. I know they must have a strong lobby group in Congress; but until investment advisors and financial planners are examined more frequently, the principle of fiduciary responsibility is small comfort to the average investor. Just because investment advisors and financial planners claim their interests are more closely aligned with that of their customers than broker/dealers does not automatically make it so. The current system with its lax oversight of anyone who labels himself as an investment advisor or financial planner encourages brokers to switch registrations to avoid the rigorous standards set by the NASD and strictly enforced through its examination process. And I doubt this is what anyone who is interested in protecting investors has in mind.

Sennett Kirk
President
Kirk Securities Corporation
Denton, Tx 76202