South Florida Sun-Sentinel


previous Previous entry: Free credit scores and credit monitoring
previous Next entry: How to make it through this economy: DNAYG

Back to main page

Advisors may have to open up more

A good idea out of Washington? Lo and behold. I’m talking about new and better disclosures about financial advisors that the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering.

If adopted, these rules make sure you will know, for example, whether the advisory firm that wants to handle your money has been through a bankruptcy in the last decade.

Overall, the SEC proposal is for a “plain English” brochure to be given to each new client.You’d be told about conflicts of interest (“I picked this portfolio manager. I have to tell you, he works for my firm, too.”) and about what it took for your advisor to earn his or her professional designation (What is a “Certified Senior Advisor” or a “Registered Life Planner”?).

What I like the most is your advisor would have to tell you of any run-ins with regulators. Right now, you have to hunt around a bit for this information, if you know how to find it.

The easier it is to find out about the background and credentials of who’s got their mitts on your money, the better.

POSTED IN: None

Discuss this entry

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.trb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/74991

Comments

This is a great idea out of Washington! It would be helpful to know more about the advisors out there.

This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people and it’s our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.

Here’s our market view on American stock market for 10th October, 2008

The stock market has collapsed - since Sept. 19 the DJIA is down 25% and the S&P 500 is down 28% and down 42% from a year ago.

How can this happen so quickly and so dramatically when so many good things have occurred? Oil is down to $82 a barrel; interest rates are very low; the dollar is up; valuation levels are extremely attractive among many blue chip stocks.

What's the real problem? The problem that is killing the stock market is a lack of hope about the future.

Hope springs from optimism that is based on facts and history. Look at the history of America and really all of mankind. Life is full of setbacks and problems - that's just the deal. But this too shall pass, as all scary periods have.

Doomsayers have been around forever and their batting average is zero. Buying stock is based on hope - hope for the future. If one doesn't have hope, they shouldn't be in this business.

So what is the best service we, as professionals, can provide for our clients?

First, discuss the fact that we are dealing with serious problems but it is not at all like 1929. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are doing many things to restore confidence in the financial system. There is global coordination in attacking the problem, which is lack of confidence.

Tell your clients to look at history of our great nation and what has happened since 1776 when we faced very serious problems. The stock market actually rose steadily about six months after Pearl Harbor and until the end of WWII even though the outcome was not at all clear for several years.

No one knows when the stock market will bottom and a new bull will commence. We do know that stocks and mutual funds offer the best values we have seen since Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987.

Almost all Americans have hope about the future of our nation, but they need help to control their normal fears.

ThePowerStocks.com Team
Get 56 days free trial on ThePowerStocks.com exclusive newsletter. Offer Limited.
http://www.thepowerstocks.com

This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people and it's our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.

Here's our market view on American stock market for 13th October, 2008

You all know my opinion - we have the characteristics of at least "a" bottom. Look at the scoreboard - Dow and S&P 500 down 18% last week, in only a week. If that doesn't show irrational dumping the only other environment that probably would is an official end of the world pronouncement from on high.

The VIX Index (69.96) soared to a record high; bears at extreme high levels, bulls no where to be found; valuation levels the best since Black Monday, October 19, 1987. And back then you could buy AAA long term munis yielding 10% or better vs. around 4.75% today.

No one can call bottom in advance with confidence, but we can correctly report that the conditions for at least a bounce are in place, assuming we are not headed for a 1929 depression.

We are not, but don't take my word on this. Last Tuesday, Oct. 7, Gary Becker the 1992 Nobel economic laureate, professor of economics at the University of Chicago stated in the Wall Street Journal - "we're not headed for a depression."

He states, "World economic growth will recover once we are over the present severe difficulty." Also he states, "Although it is the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's it is a far smaller crisis, especially in terms of the effects on output and employment."

ThePowerStocks.com Team
Get 56 days free trial on our exclusive newsletter. Offer Limited.
http://www.thepowerstocks.com

This blog is really nice and informative. We are pleased to know this blog is really helping people and it's our pleasure to post informative content on this useful blog created by webmaster.

Here's our market view on American stock market for 13th October, 2008

You all know my opinion - we have the characteristics of at least "a" bottom. Look at the scoreboard - Dow and S&P 500 down 18% last week, in only a week. If that doesn't show irrational dumping the only other environment that probably would is an official end of the world pronouncement from on high.

The VIX Index (69.96) soared to a record high; bears at extreme high levels, bulls no where to be found; valuation levels the best since Black Monday, October 19, 1987. And back then you could buy AAA long term munis yielding 10% or better vs. around 4.75% today.

No one can call bottom in advance with confidence, but we can correctly report that the conditions for at least a bounce are in place, assuming we are not headed for a 1929 depression.

We are not, but don't take my word on this. Last Tuesday, Oct. 7, Gary Becker the 1992 Nobel economic laureate, professor of economics at the University of Chicago stated in the Wall Street Journal - "we're not headed for a depression."

He states, "World economic growth will recover once we are over the present severe difficulty." Also he states, "Although it is the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's it is a far smaller crisis, especially in terms of the effects on output and employment."

ThePowerStocks.com Team
Get 56 days free trial on our exclusive newsletter. Offer Limited.
http://www.thepowerstocks.com

Excellent content - as you always provide and inspires me to come again and again. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
By the way, there is one more valuable resource I'd like to share with others readers. It's called Secrets of Successful Traders that teaches you…
How to turn $1000 into $ 1MILLION in 5 years or less using nothing but...
" a brokerage account (so that you can trade),
" $1000 in a pocket
" And one 'jealously guarded' strategy that won't even require you to spend 20 minutes a day.
For more info & special discount, visit: http://www.2stocktrading.com/discount.html

Excellent content - as you always provide and inspires me to come again and again. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
By the way, there is one more valuable resource I'd like to share with others readers. It's called Secrets of Successful Traders that teaches you…
How to turn $1000 into $ 1MILLION in 5 years or less using nothing but...
" a brokerage account (so that you can trade),
" $1000 in a pocket
" And one 'jealously guarded' strategy that won't even require you to spend 20 minutes a day.
For more info & special discount, visit: http://www.2stocktrading.com/discount.html

Thank you for sharing valuable tips.World economic growth will recover once we are over the present severe difficulty.Although it is the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's it is a far smaller crisis, especially in terms of the effects on output and employment.

http://www.myinvestorsplace.com/

Post a comment

To help keep spam off our site, please enter the letter "j" in the field below:

About This Blog

You've got the job of managing your money. No one in school taught you how.

But you and I, we can teach each other, how to handle it, how to save for retirement, how to make money... < More >

Harriet Johnson Brackey Harriet Johnson Brackey, the personal finance writer for the Sun-Sentinel, has been an award-winning business...< More >

Powered by Movable Type 3.36
Hosted by LivingDot

Add It's Your Money: Personal finance | Sun-Sentinel Blogs to Technorati Favorites