Other Online Resources

Joseph Capital Management, LLC.

This registered investment adviser firm, dedicated to fee-only, comprehensive, holistic, and fiduciary wealth management, is pleased to sponsor and support FiduciaryNow.  Ron A. Rhoades, JD, CFP® serves as Joseph Capital Management, LLC's Director of Research and Chief Compliance Officer.

 

Professor Tamar Frankel has long been a scholar of fiduciary law. Since 1971, she has been a Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. Professor Frankel was a visiting scholar at the Securities and Exchange Commission (1995-1997) and at the Brookings Institution (1987). Articles available on her web page, and recommended for reading for those interested in fiduciary principles as they apply to investment advisers, financial planners, and as they affect consumer confidence in the capital markets, include:

 

"Regulation and Investors' Trust in the Securities Markets," 68 Brooklyn Law Review 439 (2002).

"Fiduciary Duties," in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law (Peter Newman, ed.) 1998, v. 2 at 127.

"Fiduciary Duties as Default Rules," 74 Oregon Law Review 1209.

"The Pros and Cons of a Self-Regulatory Organization for Advisers and Mutual Funds," 1 The Investment Lawyer 6 (September 1994).

"Fiduciary Law in the United States," paper presented at the Second International Symposium on Trusts, Equity and Fiduciaries, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, January 1993.

"Fiduciary Law," 71 California Law Review 795.

 

AARP.

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over.  AARP is dedicated to enhancing quality of life for all as we age. We lead positive social change and deliver value to members through information, advocacy and service.  AARP's advocacy efforts on behalf of individual investors, and especially in promoting regulations which better protect our senior investors, have been noteworthy. 

 

The Center for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX).

CEFEX is an independent global assessment and certification organisation. CEFEX works closely with investment fiduciaries and industry experts to provide comprehensive assessment programs to improve risk management for institutional and retail investors. CEFEX certification helps determine trustworthiness of investment fiduciaries. The CEFEX web site, which contains many "reference articles" addressing the 2006 Pension Protection Act and other subjects directly and indirectly related to fiduciary practices.

 

Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

Since 1968, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has provided consumers a well-reasoned and articulate voice in decisions that affect their lives. Day in and out, CFA's professional staff gathers facts, analyzes issues, and disseminates information to the public, policymakers, and rest of the consumer movement.  The size and diversity of its membership - some 300 nonprofit organizations from throughout the nation with a combined membership exceeding 50 million people - enables CFA to speak for virtually all consumers.  CFA's long-time Director of Investor Protection, Barbara Roper, is an outspoken advocate for greater protections for investment consumers. 

 

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Despite its name, FINRA is a non-governmental self-regulatory organization which oversees (through regulations approved by the SEC) stock exchanges and broker-dealer firms.  To the amazement of many, FINRA's Chief Executive Officer has stated that FINRA's (formerly NASD's) commercial conduct rules provide greater protection than the fiduciary standards of conduct.  These comments have generated substantial controversy and have been widely criticized.  Given FINRA's apparent lack of understanding of the power of the fiduciary standard of conduct, fortunately FINRA does not supervise registered investment advisers, and only supervises broker-dealer firms and their registered representatives (stockbrokers) and the stock exchanges.

 

Financial Planning Association (FPA).

The Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) connects those who need, support and deliver financial planning. We believe that everyone is entitled to objective advice from a competent, ethical financial planner to make smart financial decisions. FPA members demonstrate a professional commitment to education and a client-centered financial planning process.  The Financial Planning Association has been an important advocate for the preservation of fiduciary standards of conduct, most notably through its success in the FPA vs. SEC litigation, in which fee-based brokerage accounts (not operating under a fiduciary standard of conduct) were found by the U.S. Court of Appeals to be violative of the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

 

Fund Democracy.

Fund Democracy is the leading voice for America's mutual fund shareholders. Its President, Professor Mercer Bullard, has spoken out on mutual fund issues in many financial publications and testified before Congress and others numerous times.  Fund Democracy is engaged in a number of advocacy initiatives on behalf of mutual fund shareholders in particular, and investment consumers in general. 

 

Investment Adviser Association

IAA exclusively represents the interests of SEC-registered investment adviser firms. The Association was founded in 1937 as the Investment Counsel Association of America. Its name was changed to the Investment Adviser Association in 2005. The Association played a major role in the enactment of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the federal law regulating the investment adviser industry. The IAA provides consumers with information about investment advisers that are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - who they are, what they do, and how they are regulated, in the "Investor Education" portion of their web site.

 

National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA).

NAPFA is the nation's leading organization of Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning professionals.  NAPFA's members operate under a strict code of ethics and our widely recognized definition of Fee-Only® compensation. NAPFA members are trusted, objective financial advisors for consumers and institutions alike.  Individuals join NAPFA to enhance skills, market services and be a part of a collective, influential voice on matters that affect them and their clients.  NAPFA's Focus On Fiduciary® campaign has served to enhance consumer understanding of the fiduciary concept.  NAPFA continues to advocate for greater application of fiduciary standards of conduct, on behalf of both consumers and financial advisors.

 

North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

NASAA is the oldest international investor protection organization. Today, NASAA membership consists of 67 state, provincial, and territorial securities administrators in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico.  For nearly 100 years, state securities regulators have been protecting Main Street investors from fraud.  In addition to educational resources for consumers, NASAA's web site provides links to each state securities regulator, for use by investment consumers who have or may have been the victim of fraud or other violations of state securities statutes and regulations.

 

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

If you begin to think that no federal government agency understands the fiduciary concept, don't be alarmed.  The U.S. Department of Labor, through its enforcement of fiduciary standards of conduct under ERISA (which governs 401(k) plans and other qualified retirement accounts), applies fiduciary standards of conduct with pronounced authority. 

 

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC enforces the federal laws governing securities, securities exchanges, broker-dealers, investment companies (mutual funds, ETFs), and investment advisors.  Despite its mission to "protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation," in recent years the SEC has often been criticized for its failure to properly apply the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, perhaps the most important of the securities laws arising out of the 1930's in terms of offering important protections to individual investors.