If Democrats win the presidency, expect to see this retirement regulation back on the table
After a long road to becoming regulation, the fiduciary rule died a relatively quick death under the Trump administration — but Democrats vow to resurrect it if they win the presidency.
Mike Bloomberg, a billionaire and former New York City mayor who is running for president as a Democrat, was the latest to mention the fiduciary rule in the retirement security proposal he released earlier this week. “Financial advisers who work on commission sometimes prey on elderly customers, steering them into expensive funds and annuities and away from better alternatives,” he said in his proposal. He would restore the rule if elected, he said.
The Obama administration said retirees lost out on billions of dollars a year to unnecessary fees and commissions because of conflicted advice. The fiduciary rule required financial advisers to act in their clients’ best interests when advising on retirement accounts. The short-lived Obama-era regulation, to have been overseen by the Department of Labor, was controversial in the financial services industry — proponents said it would provide clients proper advice, while opponents said it would hurt the brokerage business.
But within a year, the rule’s implementation had been delayed — and within two, it had been officially killed under the Trump administration. The Fifth Circuit Court argued the rule too loosely defined financial advice and the professionals who provide it, and said it was “unreasonable.” Critics of the fiduciary rule also said it could hurt investors with small retirement balances, as it would become too expensive and unattractive for financial firms to manage them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/if-democrats-win-the-presidency-expect-to-see-this-retirement-regulation-back-on-the-table/ar-BB10d3w6?li=BBnbfcN
What the hell? The firm makes money and the broker makes money. Two out of three ain't bad.
