Singletary: Financial services rules put clients first
By Michelle Singletary
Published: June 28, 2017, 6:00am
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Despite a lot of pushback from some financial-services companies, a new rule should cut down on conflicts of interest in the advice given to investors about their retirement accounts.
But based on what I’m hearing from readers, people have a lot to learn about the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule, which requires financial professionals to put their clients’ interest first. To help sort through some of the confusion that often comes when new rules go into effect, Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, has been helping me respond to reader queries.
Financial services companies say they oppose the rule because they are looking out for small investors who, according to the firms, won’t be able to get adequate investment advice under the new rule. Since when does this industry care about the little guy?
Industry-rule opponents hit on this argument because it sounds a lot better than admitting that you just really don’t want to be legally accountable for acting in customers’ best interests. We (at the CFA) believe small investors will be the biggest beneficiaries of the rule. They will no longer have to give up their right to best-interest advice.
Does “in my best interest” always mean the least expensive option, or is there some other criteria that an adviser uses?
While minimizing costs is important, the lowest-cost option is not always the best option, and the (Labor Department) rule does not require advisers to recommend the least expensive investment. Instead, they are required to consider a wide range of factors — things like the investment’s risk profile, liquidity, performance history, compatibility with the investor’s risk tolerance and investment goals.
In light of the new rule, should I be keeping all my previous commissioned-based products? Is it OK to ask my adviser to prove that these products are in my family’s best financial interest? If so, what do I ask?
The rule offers an excellent reason to initiate a conversation with your adviser about the advice you have received in the past, and will continue to receive in non-retirement accounts, that has not been governed by the fiduciary standard. That doesn’t mean you should run out and dump your commission products.
Some may, in fact, meet the best-interest standard. In other cases, costs associated with selling and replacing the investment wouldn’t be worth it. It is absolutely appropriate for you to ask your adviser to describe whether and how your current holdings meet a best-interest standard. Follow up by asking more specifically whether there are other options available that would be better for you — with lower costs, a better performance record, greater liquidity or other more investor-friendly features — and why they didn’t recommend those.
I was given information in preparation for the fiduciary rule for my retirement account. It would make the account I have at an investment company a “self-directed account” or I could receive “personalized investment guidance” if I switched to a portfolio with a much larger number of investments. Is this because of the new regulations?
It sounds as though you are being offered a choice between a plain vanilla self-directed account, with no advice and limited investment options, and a fee account, with advice and a broader array of investment options. What you haven’t mentioned, however, is how much each account would cost, how much you trade, how confident you are making your own investment decisions, or how much you rely on an adviser for recommendations. Those are all factors you would have to consider in making this choice. But it may be that you don’t find either option particularly attractive.
