January 19, 2005
When you go to buy a car do you talk to a transportation advisor/consultant or do you work with a car salesman/broker? Yes, the salesperson will advise you on which vehicle may be suitable for your needs but is he/she really looking out for our best interests? What if a more suitable car was not available from this dealer? Would that advisor/salesperson advise me to go down the street and buy from a competitor? Of course not. And we all know this when we go to buy a car.
however...
Selling away is not allowed by registered reps.
Registered Reps/Brokers are using the term Financial Advisor to disguise their true title which is Registered Representative i.e. salesperson for a broker/dealer that sells securities. Advice is supposed to be incidental to the sale of those securities approved by the b/d but it has become the primary way to sell securities only offered by the representatives broker/dealer.
If they are allowed to do this they should be held to a fiduciary standard to do what is in the clients best interest and have full disclosure of these conflicts of interest, limitations and compensation.
It is amazing to me that it has been allowed this long.