Fiduciary (noun): a person to whom property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another.
Recently, the “fiduciary rule” has been in the news. As the home page on our website says “We hold ourselves out as professionals and fiduciaries meaning that it is our legal and ethical duty to put your interests ahead of our own.” We hope that is clear to you.
What’s clear to us is that a lot of investors have more trust in their advisors than is warranted. Brokers and advisors are not always required to put their clients’ interests first. There have been unsuccessful efforts to change this. As reported by CNBC:
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on March 15 that the Labor Department overstepped its authority by creating the so-called fiduciary rule, parts of which went into effect last year. In general, the rule requires advisors and brokers to put their clients’ interests before their own when advising on retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts.
Advisors and brokers do not have to put their clients’ interests first. In our opinion this can lead to higher fees and less appropriate investments.
If you have questions, let us know. If you know someone who could benefit from our services and fiduciary standard, we’d like to know that too.