IS YOUR BEST INTEREST BEING SERVED?
By: Tim Butt
Does the person or firm providing you financial advice have a legal obligation to put your best interest ahead of their own? How can you be sure? Did they put it in writing for you? How would you feel if your advisor could legally put their interest ahead of yours?
In the financial services industry today, there is great confusion regarding job titles and formal designations and what they mean to an investor.
Consider all of the following job titles for those providing financial advice to clients: financial planners, financial advisors, financial consultants, agents of insurance companies, wealth managers, broker/dealers, registered representatives, stock brokers, financial advisers, asset gatherers, financial managers, fee-based consultants, registered investment advisors and many more. Which of these, if any, has a legal fiduciary duty to their clients? Do you know the answer?
The word fiduciary simply means that someone is committed to putting their client’s best interests ahead of their own. In the financial services industry, a person acting with a fiduciary duty or responsibility is legally obligated to fulfill that commitment. Legally being the key word.
There are two such groups. The first group is legally obligated to put an investor’s best interest ahead of their own, at all times, via a fiduciary duty or responsibility. They are known as … READ MORE