Brokers Aren’t Advisers
Brokers aren’t advisers:
“Click on the individual-investor page of Merrill Lynch & Co.’s (MER.) Web site, and you’ll be wooed with promises of soup-to-nuts financial advice. Rather than merely peddling stocks, Merrill’s brokers offer “a relationship that provides you with a lifetime of solutions.”
BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek goes on to point out:
“Sounds enticing — and a lot like the service offered by independent financial advisers. But there’s a crucial difference: Adviser have to meet higher standards designed to protect investors. Not all do, but the rules give investors more legal safeguards. While brokers must recommend investments that are “suitable” to your financial status and goals, advisers have a fiduciary duty to put your interests ahead of their firms’. And advisers can’t sell you stock from their own accounts without prior consent, while brokers have to notify clients of such trades only after the fact.”
BusinessWeek
I would take it a step further than just talk of “brokers” & “advisors”. What is the basis of any advice is the ultimate question.
