August 25, 2010
I am writing to indicate my support for the adoption of a fiduciary standard for any financial services professional who provides any element of personal financial advice. Financial sales people have the advantage of appearing be operating in a clients best interest when in fact they are balancing their personal needs with those of their firm and the client. Individual investors deserve to know the difference between someone simply selling a product and those advisors providing true financial planning, focused on the clients best interest.
Investors should not have to guess the type of protection they are being afforded. Most individual investors dont even realize there is a difference. All investors receiving advice should have the same fiduciary standard of protection, as received by medical patients from their doctors. As a medical patient, you dont need to guess whether your doctor is working in your best interest or in the interest of a pharmaceutical company.
It is common sense that the confusion surrounding brokers masquerading as trusted advisors, while providing financial advice under a suitability standard, be eliminated and any client receiving financial planning advice be protected by the fiduciary standard. The standard for providing investment advice should be the same for brokers and advisors. This is a common sense approach to putting investors interests first and will help restore confidence in the financial markets.
Thank you for your consideration.
Eric Mote
Certified Financial Planner(TM) Practitioner
Mote Wealth Management, LLC