Fiduciary Links: Everyone could use a little advice

For a lot of people, the idea of paying for investment advice seems like a waste. Do-it-yourself types and those who have been very successful in their careers believe they can put together an investment plan just as well as an advisor can. One article we found this week found that this is particularly true of young affluent investors who are web-savvy. But, as another article points out, everyone could use a little objective advice. Building a financial plan that covers all of your bases can be complex, and may include elements that never occurred to you. In addition, even those investors who are experienced at building a comprehensive financial plan, such as investment advisors, would probably benefit from the eyes of an objective, outside observer. In short, just about everyone could find a significant benefit from a knowledgeable professional who is putting the client's best interests first.

Now on to the rest of the week's best links.

In the news:

• Advisors, brokers spar over fiduciary standard, pt. 1 [Financial Advisor]
• Brokers, advisors spar over fiduciary standard, pt. 2 [WSJ]
• Advisors, brokers spar over fiduciary standard, pt. 3 [InvestmentNews]
• Is asset allocation just a cop-out for managers? [The Street]
• DOL fee disclosure rules were long overdue [Pensions & Investments]
• A sampling of the comments being submitted to the SEC on the fiduciary, other issues [RIA Biz]

From the organizations/associations/government/academia:

• The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard and four advisor organizations are holding a fiduciary forum next month. [Financial Advisor]
• Even advisors are in need of a little advice [Financial Post's Wealthy Boomer Blog]
• Carl Richards has launched a newsletter for his unique sketches [Behavior Gap]
• Fred Reish breaks down 408(b)(2) [Reish & Reicher]
• A wiki on expense ratios picks up our explanation of what's in an expense ratio [Bogleheads Wiki]
• Sign up for our free webinar on new fiduciary regulation [fi360]

From the blogs:

• Do 12b-1 rules create additional liability for plan sponsors [Fiduciary News]
• Letters in opposition to the fiduciary standard are outnumbering those in support so far [WSJ Financial Adviser blog]

Have a link we missed? Leave them in the comments section or email us at blog@fi360.com. For more of the best links during the week, make sure you follow us on Twitter.