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Make Wall Street Put Investors' Best Interest First

Target:
Congress

Wall Street needs real reform. The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard calls on Congress to make sure that any new laws or regulations about the fiduciary standard meet the requirements of the authentic fiduciary standard. The core principles of the authentic fiduciary standard are:


·        Put the client's best interest first;

·        Act with prudence; that is, with the skill, care, diligence and good judgment of a professional;

·        Do not mislead clients; provide conspicuous, full and fair disclosure of all important facts;

·        Avoid conflicts of interest; and

·        Fully disclose and fairly manage, in the client's favor, unavoidable conflicts.


Sign this petition. Support the campaign of The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard for the authentic fiduciary standard. Urge Congress to make sure the core principles are part of any new legislation.  

Wall Street needs real reform. The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard calls on Congress to make sure that any new laws or regulations about the fiduciary standard meet the requirements of the authentic fiduciary standard. The core principles of the authentic fiduciary standard are:


·        Put the client's best interest first;

·        Act with prudence; that is, with the skill, care, diligence and good judgment of a professional;

·        Do not mislead clients; provide conspicuous, full and fair disclosure of all important facts;

·        Avoid conflicts of interest; and

·        Fully disclose and fairly manage, in the client's favor, unavoidable conflicts.


Sign this petition. Support the campaign of The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard for the authentic fiduciary standard. Urge Congress to make sure the core principles are part of any new legislation.  

Dear Member of Congress:


The Obama Administration has proposed requiring brokers who give investment advice do so following a fiduciary standard. This is a great step as long as %u201Cfiduciary%u201D does not get watered down in the process, which some groups want to do.

Extending fiduciary duties in any new laws or regulation must specifically include the authentic fiduciary standard five core principles.

We are confident that the Obama Administration and the Congress intended to increase investor protections. We think that everyone receiving investment and financial advice should be offered the protections available today in the authentic fiduciary standard in ERISA law.   

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We signed the "Make Wall Street Put Investors' Best Interest First" petition!
# 1,071:
4:29 pm PST, Nov 12, Marie Swift, Kansas
# 1,070:
5:30 am PST, Nov 9, Neal Jeffries, Florida
# 1,069:
5:43 pm PST, Nov 8, Miller Melodie, Colorado
Please pass legislation that puts the investor first.
# 1,068:
1:05 pm PST, Nov 8, Steve Wolfe, Washington
The result of the Investors Protection Act must clarify who is a financial advisor held to a fiduciary standard and who is a product salesman. Watering down the definition of fiduciary does not accomplish this. Please strive to put the investors interest first in this legislation.
# 1,067:
10:05 am PST, Nov 6, Jill Hollander, California
I am a small business in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am asking you to support strict rules aroun "fiduciary standard of care. Your support of the authentic fiduciary standard is critical to the consumer. While I know someone like me does not have a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. I work on a daily basis with consumers and see the confusion and misrepresentation they have experienced without full disclosure of fees and conflicts of interest;and fiduciary standard is side stepped. Thank you for your consideration. Jill Hollander, CFP
# 1,066:
4:16 pm PST, Nov 2, Sonya Meissner, California
# 1,065:
12:24 pm PDT, Oct 30, Tom Nowak, Illinois
# 1,064:
8:39 pm PDT, Oct 26, Name not displayed, Wisconsin
# 1,063:
7:51 pm PDT, Oct 21, Brian Hinton, Texas
# 1,062:
2:54 pm PDT, Oct 18, Gale Johansen, Illinois
Greed should not be the only rule in the financial sector. Unregulated and unbridled capitalism caused this mess and Congress has an obligation to see proper regulations are put in place to insure that the same thing doesn't happen again.
# 1,061:
9:43 am PDT, Oct 17, Elaine Alfaro, California
# 1,060:
7:35 am PDT, Oct 16, Jerry Snyder, Pennsylvania
# 1,059:
1:33 am PDT, Oct 15, Robert Rinella, New York
# 1,058:
4:08 pm PDT, Oct 14, Randall Perkins, Maryland
# 1,057:
3:25 pm PDT, Oct 14, Jania Stout, Maryland
# 1,056:
6:18 pm PDT, Oct 13, David J. O'Brien, CFP, Virginia
There is only one authentic fiduciary standard, as already codified by law. We can not accept any new definitions of Fiduciary -- a "harmonized" standard, or any other proposed by the broker dealers and insurance companies is surely written to protect their profits, not to protect the public.
# 1,055:
7:24 am PDT, Oct 12, William Compton, Missouri
# 1,054:
4:25 am PDT, Oct 12, Jeffrey McClure, Texas
I was a stock broker and a manager of brokers for over 25 years. Two and a half years ago I became so disgusted with the sales practices promoted by the brokerage industry that I, along with others, formed an independent registered investment adviser. While there is a useful place for the commission-driven securities salesperson, when that salesperson identifies him or herself as a "financial adviser" it is to mislead the members of the public into accepting that salesperson as their "trusted adviser" (a term heavily emphasized by the brokerage industry). Once in that role the salesperson is taught, and does, take advantage of that implied "trust" relationship to sell products that are commonly primarily in the best interest of the company and the salesman, but rarely in the best interest of the investor. There needs to be redrawn a bright and distinctive line between those who are indeed in a position of trust and those whose proper relationship should be caveat emptor!
# 1,053:
1:45 am PDT, Oct 11, Can Atik, Turkey
# 1,052:
6:42 pm PDT, Oct 5, Kay Branz, Illinois
# 1,051:
3:24 pm PDT, Oct 5, Name not displayed, Illinois
# 1,050:
9:20 am PDT, Oct 5, LEONG CHEW, Illinois
# 1,049:
3:18 pm PDT, Oct 2, Derek Lenington, Oregon
# 1,048:
1:12 pm PDT, Oct 2, M. Shannon Lunsford, Colorado
# 1,047:
9:53 am PDT, Oct 2, John Kingston, MBA, CFP, CDFA, Florida
An older and perhaps wiser CONGRESS passed the 1940's Advisors Act as they understood the importance of the fiduciary standard ...and recognized the inherent conflict of interest of the "Company Man" who worked for a brokerage company. Capitalism is a zero sum game where gains equal losses, and the old CONGRESS knew the Advisor working for a consumer has a different legal obligation than that of a person who is working for a brokerage company, and that the consumer should have the opportunity of having his own advocate. The broker is restricted from selling products his/her employer won't carry, or by policies that restrict the best price for the customer, and then to shield him from redress by a lower legal standard of care ...the suitability standard. Starting in the 1980's the SEC and NASD (now FINRA), started violating the law by allowing brokerage representatives to hold themselves out as Financial Advisers (so far they have stayed away from the term "Investment Advisor" used specifically in the ACT), Financial Consultants, etc., and then to further violate the law by allowing brokerage/bank units to advertise comprehensive financial planning so their representative could sell more product to an increasingly confused public. It is no wonder the modern consumer is more confused than the consumer of the 1950's and 1960's. In 2002 the Financial Planning Association took the SEC to Federal court for allowing violations of the Advisors ACT ...the fiduciary versus suitability standard, and won. The SEC continued to fight through appeals and again lost ...meaning a gain for the public consumer (once protections are phased in). Now the SEC and FINRA want a NEW CONGRESS to legislate a watered-down standard ...to take this consumer protection away. If you do, then it will be shame on you! "There is no right way to do a wrong thing" John Kingston, MBA, CFP, CDFA Fort Myers, Florida
# 1,046:
8:56 am PDT, Oct 2, Andy Claybrook, Tennessee
# 1,045:
1:22 pm PDT, Sep 30, Garry Good, Illinois
# 1,044:
6:28 am PDT, Sep 26, Frank Collison, Michigan
# 1,043:
5:36 pm PDT, Sep 25, Rohn Trieglaff, California
# 1,042:
3:07 pm PDT, Sep 24, Richard Chamberlain, California
# 1,040:
8:42 pm PDT, Sep 23, David Murray, Ireland
# 1,039:
1:24 pm PDT, Sep 23, Terry Woodnorth, New York
# 1,038:
1:16 pm PDT, Sep 23, Jennifer Claunch-Meyers, Illinois
# 1,037:
8:32 pm PDT, Sep 21, Tatiana Costa, Brazil
# 1,036:
3:36 pm PDT, Sep 21, Name not displayed, New York
# 1,035:
9:26 am PDT, Sep 21, Charles May, Ohio
# 1,034:
11:32 pm PDT, Sep 20, B. Thomas Diener, New Mexico
# 1,032:
11:31 pm PDT, Sep 19, Beth Hoke, Maine
# 1,031:
6:46 pm PDT, Sep 18, Anquinette Barry, Washington
# 1,030:
3:10 pm PDT, Sep 18, Andrew Cosgrove, Maryland
The distinction between fiduciary (advice) and broker (product sales) needs to be made blatantly clear. The lines have been too blurry for too long, supported by SEC regulation benefiting the brokerage industry rather than investors (e.g. "Merrill Lynch rule").
# 1,029:
2:34 pm PDT, Sep 18, Lauren Gadkowski Lindsay, Texas
As a CFP I think this is necessary and hope Congress will do what is needed to protect the public.
# 1,028:
8:51 am PDT, Sep 18, Name not displayed, Ohio
# 1,027:
5:00 am PDT, Sep 18, Marilyn Fishman, Florida
# 1,026:
6:19 pm PDT, Sep 17, Robert Fingerman, Tennessee
# 1,025:
5:08 pm PDT, Sep 17, Laura Fern, California
# 1,024:
1:56 pm PDT, Sep 17, James Facette, Ohio
The banks and financial instiutions must be regulated. Now.
# 1,023:
12:44 pm PDT, Sep 17, Suzanne Stephens, Tennessee
# 1,022:
12:46 am PDT, Sep 17, Name not displayed, Kentucky
# 1,021:
12:34 am PDT, Sep 17, Janet Ringer, Canada
Your profession needs to develop a code of ethics like medicine and law. And you should apologize to the world for your irresponsibly greedy behavior that has cost so many people their homes, jobs, and security.
# 1,020:
11:44 pm PDT, Sep 16, Becky Le compte, Texas
# 1,019:
10:47 pm PDT, Sep 16, David Murray, Ireland
# 1,018:
6:13 pm PDT, Sep 16, Marilyn Austin, New York
# 1,017:
6:09 pm PDT, Sep 16, Colin Crosbie, Australia
What goes around, comes around! If you ignore the suffering and mess you have caused to others, look out for the boomerang effect coming home to you.
# 1,016:
12:21 pm PDT, Sep 16, Kathryn Lemoine, Louisiana
# 1,015:
11:41 am PDT, Sep 16, Georgia Mattingly, Colorado
For more impact, add a personal comment here
# 1,014:
11:37 am PDT, Sep 16, Bonnie Fisher, Illinois
# 1,013:
10:54 am PDT, Sep 16, Thomas Dewey, New York
# 1,012:
9:06 am PDT, Sep 16, Jean Auris, Florida
I am really concerned about the banking industry. They have not learned anything especially when they get bail outs so easily. The big bonuses are still being paid. Between the Insurance companies and banking industry, capitalism is running rampant at the expense of Americans. The lobbyists are winning.
# 1,011:
8:35 am PDT, Sep 16, Charlene Shumate, Arkansas
You bailed out Washington but have not bailed out those of us who lost 50% of our 401k/IRAs. It is time for reform to protect what little savings we have left in our retirement accounts that we do not have to live on now. We need full accountability on Wall Street, do not allow bonuses to CEOs and DO NOT BAIL THEM OUT AGAIN!
# 1,010:
8:25 am PDT, Sep 16, Genevieve Woolsey, Florida
# 1,009:
8:01 am PDT, Sep 16, Robert Van horn sr, Arizona
let's not forget to mention prosecution and restitution by the wall street establishment, and congressional people,including the fed and treasury, and executive branch, who permitted this to happen. we need the whole truth about what happened. not a magic bullet theory.
# 1,008:
6:41 am PDT, Sep 16, Stanley Roth, Michigan
We bailed out wall street. Now show us some accountablity that this fiasco will not occur again.
# 1,007:
6:22 am PDT, Sep 16, Richard Leary, Massachusetts
# 1,006:
5:25 am PDT, Sep 16, Juan Herrera, California
I think by their inaction in this matter that congresspeople are totally bought and sold to banking special interests, and still expect to continue in their seats?, still want our vote?, still are selling their souls to the better bidder?, makes me puke.
# 1,005:
3:14 am PDT, Sep 16, Aaron Hunter, Nevada
# 1,004:
2:56 am PDT, Sep 16, Emma Leguizamon-Sites, Kentucky
This "recession" should serve as a red flag to Wall Street and demand that they act in a responsible manner...considering their investors and the country's well-being as a whole. Enough of greed!!!! Greed is what has brought this country to a near brick of catastrophe....!!!!
# 1,003:
2:54 am PDT, Sep 16, Helen Sciberras, Malta
# 1,002:
2:32 am PDT, Sep 16, Richard Silvester, United Kingdom
# 1,001:
12:15 am PDT, Sep 16, Steven Blair, Texas
There was a justified reason after the 1929 Crash that rules and regulators became a part of the industry. After the Bush Era stripping away of both, see the results.
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