Author Archives: jwatkins

Unknown's avatar

About jwatkins

I am a securities and ERISA attorney. I hold CFP Board Emeritus™ status and I am an Accredited Wealth Management Advisor™. I provide fiduciary risk management consulting to 401k/430b plans, trustees, RIAs and other investment fiduciaries. I am a 1977 graduate of Georgia State University and a 1981 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School. I am the author of "CommonSense InvestSense: The Power of the Informed Investor" and "The 401(k)/403(b) Investment Manual: What Plan Sponsors and Plan Participants REALLY Need To Know" I write two blogs, "CommonSense InvestSense, investsense.com, and "The Prudent Investment Fiduciary Rules, fiduciaryinvestsense.com. As a former compliance director, I have extensive experience in evaluating the legal prudence of various types of investments, including mutual funds and annuities. My goal is to combine my legal and compliance experience in order to help educate investors and investment fiduciaries on sound, proven investment strategies that will help them protect their financial security and/or avoid unnecessary fiduciary liability exposure.

Investment Industry Has Some ‘Splaining to Do

“[B]rokers’ recommendations must be consistent with their customers’ “best interest.(1) “[A] central aspect of a broker-dealer’s duty of fair dealing is the suitability obligation, which generally requires a broker-dealer to make recommendations that are consistent with the best interests of … Continue reading

Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 404c, 404c compliance, compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, investments, pension plans, retirement plans, RIA, RIA Compliance, securities compliance, wealth management | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Robo-Advisers: Best Deck Chairs on the Titanic?

Much has been written recently about robo-advisers, including the perceived threat to traditional investment advisers. Robo-advisers do provide an opportunity for investors to receive asset management services, investors whose assets would not meet the high minimum requirements often charged by many … Continue reading

Posted in fiduciary compliance, investments, robo-advisors, roboadvisors, wealth management, wealth preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The RIA Name Game

One of my favorite jobs was serving as director of RIA compliance at FSC Securities. I love working with RIAs, as they are clearly the future of the financial services industry. While I loved working with RIAs and helping them … Continue reading

Posted in compliance, fiduciary compliance, RIA, RIA Compliance | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Best Interests” For Fiduciaries 101

Facts do not cease to exist simply because they are ignored. – Aldous Huxley With the release of the DOL’s proposed fiduciary regulations, there has been a considerable amount of discussion about what “best interests” really means and how to … Continue reading

Posted in compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, investments, RIA, RIA Compliance | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Oil and Water: Fiduciaries and Variable Annuities

The financial services industry continues to try to convince investment advisers and other financial fiduciaries to sell variable annuities. Smart RIAs and other financial fiduciaries ignore these pleas, as they realize that variable annuities are liability traps for fiduciaries, blatant … Continue reading

Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, investments, retirement plans, RIA, RIA Compliance, securities compliance, wealth management, wealth preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Closer Look At The “Top” 401(k) Mutual Funds

Each year various publications put out their lists of “top” or “best” mutual funds. I always enjoy going through such lists and performing a forensic analysis of the funds on such lists to get a better analysis of each fund. … Continue reading

Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 404c, 404c compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, investments, pension plans, retirement plans, wealth management, wealth preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Done Deal: The SEC, NASD and FINRA on the Fiduciary Standard

SEC – As we have frequently pointed out, a broker’s recommendations must be consistent with his customer’s best interests. (Wendell D. Belden, Exchange Act Rel. No. 34-47859, 2003) – As we have frequently stated, a broker’s recommendations must be consistent … Continue reading

Posted in compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, RIA Compliance, securities compliance, wealth management | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Robo-advisors: Much Ado About Nothing?

I just finished reading an article about a recent debate between noted financial advisor Ric Edelman and Adam Nash, CEO of robo-advisor Wealthfront. Interestingly, Edelman suggested that robo-advisors would put many financial advisors out of business. My position is simple. … Continue reading

Posted in 401k, 401k investments, 404c, fiduciary law, investments, pension plans, retirement plans, robo-advisors, roboadvisors, wealth management, wealth preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fiduciary Standard – It’s “Best Interests,” Not “Like Everyone Else”

During a recent deposition of an investment adviser, the adviser told me that was doing the exact same thing as everyone else in the  industry and asked me why I was “targeting” him. Not the first time I have heard … Continue reading

Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 404c, 404c compliance, compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, investments, pension plans, retirement plans, RIA, RIA Compliance | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whoomp, There It is! – The New Prudent Fee Fiduciary Standard

“Essential to the plausibility of plaintiffs’ claims was the allegation that the Affiliated Funds ‘charged higher fees than those charged by comparable Vanguard funds-in some instances fees were more than 200 percent higher than those comparable funds’”. With those words … Continue reading

Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 404c, 404c compliance, compliance, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, investments, pension plans, retirement plans, wealth management, wealth preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment