Don’t get me wrong. I believe the new fiduciary rule recently announced by the Department of Labor (DOL) will be a net plus for retirement plan participants. The rule expands the definition of “fiduciary investment advice” and requires all financial professionals (a ubiquitous term that encompasses registered investment advisors, brokers and insurance company representatives) to provide retirement recommendations that are in your best interest.
Previously, only registered investment advisors had this obligation. Others did their best to obscure the fact that they could (and often did) have undisclosed conflicts of interest, permitting them to recommend (and include in retirement plans) expensive investment products that did not meet the fiduciary standard.
Read the rest of the article at The Huffington Post.