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Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has started taking comments from the public in an effort to build their own version of the failed DOL fiduciary rule.
Take a few minutes and look at the comments that have been made public by the SEC (it's worth a look):
https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-07-18/s70718.htm
In looking through the comments that are discussing negative experiences with advisors and their recommendations, there's a pattern of sorts…fraud, unsuitable sales, and downright criminal behavior. These are all negative for sure and certainly warrant action.
But…
All of those things are breaking rules/regulations that currently exist. So why do we keep insisting on more rules?
Here's what I mean.
If someone sells an annuity (with a 17-year surrender charge) to an 85-year-old widow with a $35,000 premium and that leaves her with no liquidity, no cash on hand, that's bad. But it's already bad under the current regulatory scheme, no need to write new rules to determine that.
