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Advocacy
Advocacy
Action Is Urgently Needed: The Department of Labor (DOL) needs to hear from you TODAY about your clients’ right to continue to work with you.
The DOL recently proposed a controversial regulation that would dramatically expand who is considered a fiduciary when advising retirement savers. The rule is complicated, confusing and will be costly to implement. Most importantly, the rule, if enacted as written, will dramatically reduce access to education and professional advice, and will both increase costs to retirement savers and limit the choices in how they choose to pay for much needed retirement planning services.
The regulation needs significant revisions. The DOL needs to know why.
If you currently help employers set up 401(k) kinds of plans, you will be prohibited from receiving any third party compensation if the new rule is enacted as written.
If you currently identify the investment option that meets a common portfolio model, you will be deemed an investment advice fiduciary, not just an advisor offering investment education, and will be subject to strict fiduciary obligations.
If you sell proprietary products to IRA account owners, you may fail to satisfy the “best interest” rules under the proposed regulation.
It is vitally important that the DOL hear from you NOW. Our ability to successfully fix the rule depends on the volume of the “noise” your letters generate.
Please personalize the letter provided. Add a paragraph that describes how you serve a specific client now and what the consequence would be to your client if this unworkable rule stands.
EXAMPLE: Recently, I helped Jane decide what to do with her 401(k) account when she terminated employment. The decision was made that rolling the assets into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) was the best choice for Jane. I helped Jane decide how to invest the IRA account to best meet Jane’s risk tolerance, financial situation, tax status, investment objectives, liquidity needs, and risk tolerance. I received commissions from the purchase of mutual funds and an annuity. Under the current rule, I would be prohibited from providing any of those services. The likely result would be that Jane would instead just cash out her 401(k) and would suffer the tax and the early withdrawal penalty, a wrong decision but one likely if she hadn’t had access to my services.
Write to the DOL TODAY! Tell them why those results are wrong for your clients.
Advocacy