A few months ago the US Labor Department announced a new rule that would require brokers and financial advisors who sell retirement accounts to act in the best interest of their clients. In other words, brokers would be prohibited from selling their clients products that maximize commissions for themselves and generate higher fees for their companies, unless that were truly in the client’s long-term best interest.
I was shocked because, like most innocent consumers, I had assumed that my annuity guy and my life insurance guy were already required to act in my best interest. You can read more about the, so-called, “Fiduciary Rule” here.
The reason for this post is that the US Senate just voted, on another party-line vote, to block this new rule that would help protect consumers from unscrupulous “financial advisors” who want to maximize their profits at the expense of their own customers. Here is the news story.
Guess which political party wants to continue to allow financial advisors to cheat their customers? The Republicans, of course. I find it shocking that everyone I tell this story to and then ask this question knows the answer — and yet my fellow Mormons continue overwhelmingly to vote for these people. We need to wake up.