Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Johnson Amendment

No. Not this Johnson. Senator Tim Johnson, a Republican from South Dakota who has put forth an amendment to peform a study on the Fiduciary Duty. An 18 month study no less.

Didn't the SEC already do a study on the fiduciary issue called the Rand Report? As a matter of fact they did in 2008. A lot of good it did as we all know by now.

Once again, the consumers of America are getting pushed aside due to political posturing on both sides of the isle. Get this people. Wall Street has all the money to pay for lobbyists and consumers do not. Therefore, it would take "an act of Congress" to change the status quo in Washington, D.C. right now. I am not holding my breath. They are not going to pass any meaningful legislation around fiduciary duty protections for consumers. As I stated in a prior post, as long as you have revenue quota requirements from Wall Street firms, you can never have a fiduciary duty for consumers. It is simply impossible. There is no way you can argue the point otherwise.

If you are a consumer, then do not expect much to happen in your favor. Unless of course you do business with a financial advisor who really does things in your best interests and has no relationship whatsoever with a Wall Street or FINRA firm. These fine folks are called Registered Investment Advisers.