Wanted: Investors’ Horror Stories About Advisers

A consumer group is hunting for individual investors hurt by financial advisers who weren’t required to put their clients’ interests first.
The Consumer Federation of America recently launched an online questionnaire seeking investors’ stories. The aim: to help in pushing for rules from the Labor Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require more advisers to be held to a “fiduciary” standard. Supporters and opponents are currently waiting for a revised proposal from the Labor Department.
Some advisers, including those registered with the SEC as investment advisers, are already fiduciaries and thus required to put investors’ interests ahead of their own. By contrast, many advisers who work for brokerage firms are held to a weaker standard of recommending investments that are “suitable” for a client. More in The Wall Street Journal here.