August 30, 2010
After reading the WSJ for years now, I've finally come to understand what the differences are but only slightly. Walking into a local bank, I would not have had a clue. It is very confusing to the standard reasonable person. There are intracacies which many may forget like, who has a fiduciary duty to the customer? And how many people know what fiduciary duty means?
If I'm like most reasonable people, I feel its fair that I should be sold what I'm seeking--investment advice, investments themselves (stock/bonds/etc), and a small amount should go to the salesman in some form (commision, straight pay, etc) but I shouldn't be sold a bill of goods with higher commissions going to this individual because he/she sold me investments that weren't tailored to my lifestyle choices (high risk, stable, bonds, tax avoidance, etc.).
I'm still wrapping my hands around 1b fees. For example, if they are X% of assets, aren't your asset amounts always changing (seeking new investors, losing investors, etc)???
Going back to fiduciary duties, the average Joe is not going to know how to compare funds...
just my thoughts,
Joe