DOL Fiduciary News: June 6, 2016

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Top questions independent advisers can ask to win overlooked clients from the wirehouses 

InvestmentNews; June 1, 2016 @ 11:24 am

For years now, firms across the industry have been raising client account minimums. This is especially true for wirehouse firms, where minimums have risen from around $100,000 to as high as $250,000. There's even talk that those levels may be too low, with $500,000 now the standard at some firms.

None of this is really news to industry observers, yet as a longtime financial adviser it's hard to imagine a world in which an individual with $450,000 in net investible assets is someone not worth talking to. The upshot of this trend is that millions of investors across the country will not be getting the financial advice they desperately need. They'll get priced out.
(http://www.investmentnews.com)

RIAs are losing their competitive advantage

InvestmentNews; June 5, 2016 @ 6:00 am

Registered investment advisers need a new card up their sleeve.

For years, RIAs have marketed themselves as being a cut above their counterparts in the brokerage industry. While they followed a fiduciary standard, requiring them to act in their clients' best interests at all times, brokers were merely required to make sure their advice was suitable to the financial circumstances of their clients.

Now the world is changing. Thanks to the Labor Department's fiduciary rule, everyone giving retirement advice will be required to act in their clients' best interests. Put another way, RIAs are losing their competitive advantage. Simply playing the fiduciary card to win over investors may not work the way it did in the past.
(http://www.investmentnews.com)