Proposed Federal Regulation Could Squelch Popular Financial Advisers

The New American discusses the Department of Labor's proposed fiduciary rule with John Berlau. 

The Obama administration has proposed a regulation that the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s John Berlau dubbed a “fiduciary rule for dummies.” The administration justified the new rule on the basis that “individuals cannot ‘prudently manage retirement assets on their own,’ and that they ‘generally cannot distinguish good advice, or even good investment results, from bad,’” wrote Berlau.

“Under DOL’s expanded definition, broker-dealers, insurance agents who recommend annuities, appraisers of a [sic] self-directed IRAs, and others who clearly are not entrusted to manage a portfolio — the classic definition of a fiduciary — may find themselves facing fiduciary liability and punishment under the new rule,” Berlau maintained. “In fact, according to some observers, the rule may even extend to television and radio hosts who give advice to individual callers.”

Read the full article at the New American.