Articles Tagged with cfa

Brokers offer financial advice to and transact a variety of securities on behalf of millions of investor households. Millions of Americans rely on their brokers to make complex long-term decisions about their retirement and long-term savings plans. Consumer Federation of America (CFA) published a report this week, “Financial Advisor or Investment Salesperson?: Brokers & Insurers Want To Have It Both Ways” that takes a look at when is an “advisor” really an advisor and when are they being salespersons. According to this report, people saving for retirement lose an estimated $17 billion a year or more as the result of the excess costs associated with conflicted retirement advice.

As per the report, it examined 25 brokerage firms, their services and marketing messages and found ambiguity in the way they market themselves to consumers and the way they defend themselves in an arbitration. They present their services to be advice-centric and themselves as trusted advisors in their marketing messages. According to the report, these were the common findings:

  • No website was found to have referred to their financial professionals as salespeople but as reliable advisors indicating that they have a level of sophistication and expertise
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