Not all agree with that assessment.
Skip Schweiss, former president of TD Ameritrade Trust Company and CEO of Sierra Investment Management, said at a webinar hosted by The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard yesterday that Russell’s words give him “hope that they take the best interest seriously. I applaud that ... but my view differs. Brokers are paid to sell a product to their customer. They work for the product manufacturers and distributors,” he said.
Advisors, on the other hand, “work for their customer," he said. "They’re paid by their customer to recommend products and services on behalf of their customers. Advisors have conflicts of interest, but I believe they have fewer conflicts of interest because of their business model and compensation model. But the two are fundamentally different. This is where I part ways with the [SEC] staff’s view on that topic," said Schweiss, a past president of the Financial Planning Association.