Tomorrow, President Obama will deliver the annual State of the Union address to Congress. Beyond the expected emphasis on jobs, the economy and the military, one thing we'd like to see is a raising of the fiduciary bar for members of Congress and other public officials. If we could give him a few bullet points of our own, we would ask him to request Congress for legislation to promote ethics in government, including provisions that would:
- require a statutory fiduciary duty for Congress, the President, and political appointees.
- set up blind investment trusts for all elected and politically appointed federal officials.
- set up an independent ethics agency for Congress, using the GAO structure to limit political influence (fifteen-year appointment for agency head).
- implement and better enforce more uniform ethics rules and procedures across government as it relates to former staff going to work and lobbying for regulated entities, including ‘cooling off’ periods before being paid to lobby or ‘consult’ on public policy issues.
- provide meaningful campaign funding reform.
The White House has an interactive feature for the State of the Union address that will be streaming the event along with other information, as does the Speaker of the House, to cover the Republican response.
Now on to the rest of the best links from the past week:
In the news:
- SEC delays uniform fiduciary standard for brokers [Forbes]
- Industry groups have asked the DOL to refine the fiduciary IRA request [AdvisorOne]
- Lawmakers in Congress and GOP commissioners on the SEC have turned the focus of the regulatory process to cost-benefit analysis [InvestmentNews]
- Fiduciary proposal puts CFOs' liability in question [CFO Magazine]
- Fiduciary debate: what if doctors could act like advisors? [AdvisorOne]
- A one year status report on the fiduciary duty rule [AdvisorOne]
- Plan sponsors and committees can now help plan participants allocate their retirement funds [CFO Magazine]
- Registrations rise for TD Ameritrade Institutional's Conference [AdvisorOne]
- Six critical trends for retirement plans in 2012 [AdvisorOne]
- Best practices for 403(b)s subject to fee disclosure rules [PlanSponsor]
From the blogs:
- Five areas 401k plan sponsors must address to reduce fiduciary liability [Fiduciary News]
- The similarities between buying coffee and choosing a financial planner [Chicago Financial Planner]
- Trending topics for plan sponsors from last week [Fiduciary News]
- A discussion on marketing, a consistent struggle for financial planners [Nerd's Eye View]
- Weekend reading for financial planners [Nerd's Eye View]
- What can happen when you have a life insurance salesman as a financial advisor [The Investment Fiduciary]
- An SEC alert gives updated guidance regarding the pitfalls of using social media [RIABiz]
From the organizations/associations/government/academia:
- SEC seeks public comment for Financial Literacy Study mandated by Dodd-Frank Act [SEC]
- The 2011 Towers Watson U.S. Retirement Plan Governance survey [Towers Watson]
- First Allied Retirement Services/Associates in Excellence is certified to industry best practices [CEFEX]
- CEFEX renews twenty registrations over the past quarter [CEFEX]
Articles your clients are reading (or should be):
- Awkward questions you need to ask your financial adviser [US News]
- Target-date funds: another bad year?, Keep the game going with portfolio reallocation, We are the twenty-five percent, and more from U.S. News [The Smarter Investor]
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
Comments