1. “We’re your biggest advocate, except when we’re not.”
A consumer who seeks help from one of the nation’s 300,000-plus financial advisers is probably hoping to find (what else?) financial advice. Seems straightforward enough. But like anything where there’s a lot of money, and lawyers, involved, it’s not. For years, consumer groups and rival industry factions have battled — before Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and, of course, the press — over whether that “advice” should be required to be in the client’s best interest (the so-called fiduciary standard) or merely “suitable,” based on factors like age and risk tolerance.
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