June 9, 2017

Image credit: Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, “Clasped Hands of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning,” (1853), National Gallery of Art

 

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule on fiduciary duty goes into effect (at least for now), requiring anyone giving specific investment advice on retirement accounts to act in the best interest of his or her client.

Here’s a compendium of most of what I’ve written on fiduciary duty, along with some other resources.

The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser

Don’t Touch My Money, Just Hold My Hand

Why Your Financial Adviser Can’t Be Conflict Free

Advisers Who Call Themselves Fiduciaries May Not Live Up to It

The Key to the Best Financial Advice: ‘Humility in Large Doses’

You — Not the Government — Are Responsible For Your Retirement Savings

How Come It’s Still Harder to Become a Hairdresser than a Financial Adviser?

Who’s the Boss? You or Your Broker?

The Day Wall Street Changed Forever

Adviser Duties: While Regulators Fiddle, Don’t Get Burned

A Disconnect Between What Brokerages Say and Do?

The Difference between an Investment Firm and a Marketing Firm

Look Who’s Locking Horns Over Retirement Accounts

Who’s Training Your Retirement Navigator?

When Advisers Charge You to Fire Them

Will We Ever Again Trust Wall Street?

Holding Brokers To a Higher Standard

Trust: Easy to Break, Hard to Repair

Saving for Retirement? The Rulebook Is About to Change

Resources:

Chapter Ten, “The Investor and His Advisers,” in The Intelligent Investor

Definitions of FIDUCIARY DUTY and FINANCIAL ADVISOR in The Devil’s Financial Dictionary

Tamar Frankel, “Fiduciary Law” (article)

Tamar Frankel, Fiduciary Law (book)

Arthur B. Laby, “Fiduciary Obligations of Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers

Robert E. Plaze, “Regulation of Investment Advisers

John C. Bogle, “The Fiduciary Principle: ‘No Man Can Serve Two Masters’

Research on trust by Luigi Zingales

Comprehensive materials on the fiduciary rule, including text of the regulation and public comments, at the U.S. Department of Labor website

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association: DOL Fiduciary Standard Resource Center (bias: against the rule)

Institute for the Fiduciary Standard (bias: in favor of the rule)

FredReish.com (blog on implementation of the fiduciary rule by a leading attorney)