Best Interests or suitability?
When “good enough” is not good enough.
Did you know that most investment advisors operate under a very broad obligation to provide only “suitable” investment advise for their clients? In other words, if you’re getting investment products from a broker or insurance agent, chances are good that they’re only obligated to make investment recommendations that they believe are good enough for your needs and circumstances.
Conversely, a investment advisor or fiduciary is required to make only recommendations for investments that are in your best interest.
Consider this simple example: if the broker at your local bank makes a recommendation for you to purchase a mutual fund designed for long-term growth through US stocks, he or she is only legally obligated to offer one that is suitable for you, not necessarily the one that’s best for you. He or she may have a financial incentive, such as a commission, sales bonus, or quota, to offer you a fund that may be more lucrative for his or her employer, or provide a higher commission. In most cases, proprietary products can carry significantly higher expenses which can drastically reduce long-term investment returns.
In contrast, a fiduciary, such as a Registered Investment Advisor representative or fiduciary advisor does not collect product-based commissions, and is obligated to make recommendations for investment products that are in your best interest, regardless of the mutual fund company or creator of the investment product.
Tate Asset Management is a Registered Investment Advisor and a fiduciary to our clients. Our obligation is to you, our client, and is not influenced by commissions, sales quotas, or bonuses based on product sales.
Don’t trust your financial success to advice that is just good enough, when you can get true unbiased fiduciary guidance.