Trump halts fiduciary rule

[Torie]

Boo! This is an issue that I know about, and care about. It's just disgusting that Trump is doing this. The financial industry when it comes to clients, does tend to be predatory. That's why I tell everyone who is amenable to listening to put their money in index funds at Vanguard, and keep the financial predators and "pornographers" far, far away from their money.

So we are back to the rule, that no, you can't put a client's money into muni bonds from NY, if they are in a low tax bracket and live in CA, but you can with impunity put them into financial instruments that generate the most fees for the broker or advisor, at the expense of the client, you know, like many annuities, or the Putnam Funds, for example, that have very high expense ratios, but give generous commissions to brokers.

[Torie]

Boo! This is an issue that I know about, and care about. It's just disgusting that Trump is doing this. The financial industry when it comes to clients, does tend to be predatory. That's why I tell everyone who is amenable to listening to put their money in index funds at Vanguard, and keep the financial predators and "pornographers" far, far away from their money.

Done. I was literally picking my 401k options on another tab and decided on a Vanguard index because of this.

Great. It is always nice when I do a bit of good in this world. Thanks for the note! 

[Torie]

I work in finance.

My firm is already a fiduciary and many firms are moving this direction anyways. I should note that my understanding is that this is a one year delay - I could be wrong.

"Fiduciary" is a broad standard. I personally think the "suitability" standard that exists is way too vague, but from what I've heard (admittedly biased) many managers were panicking about some pretty stringent stuff coming down the pike, including stripping lawsuit protections and SRO arbitration

Yes, those who charge exorbitant fees were vulnerable, which was precisely the idea.