State Farm and Edward Jones React to the Fiduciary Rule
By Mack Bekeza With April 10th, 2017 quickly approaching, a large number of investment firms and insurance agencies are scrambling to comply with the DOL fiduciary regulation. However, some firms believe they have found a solution to the upcoming rule. Knowing that their representatives cannot put their clients’ interest first, State Farm and Edward Jones […]
The DOL Rule and Why Brokers and Insurance Agents Should be Concerned
By Mack Bekeza Are you currently a Registered Representative or an Insurance agent? If so, you will want to keep reading! As you may know, the Department of Labor will have new regulations in effect on April 10, 2017, which will change how Brokers and Insurance agents conduct business with retirement investors. For starters, when […]
Fund Families sued by their own employees over their retirement plans??
By Mack Bekeza Over the past two years, a number of investment firms have been sued by their employees over their 401(k) plans. That’s right! Investment firms have been sued over their own in-house retirement plans! Why? In most cases, these firms would only provide proprietary funds to their employees at a full or slightly […]
Rouge Broker Steals $1.3 Million From an 89-Year old!
By Mack Bekeza On July 2016, FINRA discovered that Travis Wetzel, a former broker who was originally barred from the industry in 2013, had been making fraudulent annuity withdrawal requests for an 89-year old’s Variable Annuity with Prudential. Once Prudential got wind of this, it immediately investigated the situation and discovered that the withdrawals were […]
Brexit: What’s the Big Deal and What You Should Know About it?
By Mack Bekeza As you may or may not know, The United Kingdom (”UK”) has voted to leave the European Union (“EU”). For decades, the UK has argued left and right whether or not their relationship with the EU is worthwhile. Think of this as an old couple who have been constantly bickering at each […]
Water Cooler Wisdom: Fourth Quarter 2015
“What, if anything, can the rest of the world do to mitigate the volatile China impact?” – Anonymous client Great question…and unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. Free trade is a basic American principle than underpins our capitalist system (my editor removed “mostly capitalist”). Of course, we all know that free trade isn’t truly “free” […]
White House Memo: A Moment of Opportunity for Fiduciaries to Retirement Plans
If you think we’re letting go of the “fumbling children” reference made by FSI chairman Adam Antoniades, you have another thing coming. He reminds me of the proud “Minnesota Fats” character in the classic film The Hustler— he doesn’t want to recognize the truth and talent of the situation he’s faced with by “Fast Eddie” […]
Declaration of Independence
“Can you be more specific?” Embarrassing, but true: the retirement industry is asking that of the US government. The definition of a Fiduciary needs to be more specific because of cases where Plan Sponsors are legally charged unreasonable fees for a long time, but the Department of Labor’s interpretation is undesirable to Wall Street. Of […]