Obama Administration

Elizabeth Warren recently wrote a rather extraordinary piece on the hollowing of the American middle class and the need for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). Consider the following: 1 in 5 Americans is unemployed or underemployed. 1 in 9 American families cannot make the minimum payment on their credit card. 1 in 8 mortgages are in default or foreclosure. 1 in 8 Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 American families are filing for bankruptcy every month. When adjusted for...

The Obama Administration is interested in reform that would remove some of the conflicts of interest that exist in the world of financial advice. Financial planners, however, are concerned that these regulatory proposals which are intended to impose fiduciary obligations on all types of financial advisors may result in overall standards that are less stringent than what currently exists. Current fiduciary standards apply to an advisory account and largely impact registered investment advisors (...

PriceWaterhouseCoopers ("PWC") released a report suggesting that the landscape for financial advisors may be shifting towards more objective, performance-based compensation. The report indicates that the financial advisor of the near-future may be compensated based on the long-term performance of client assets: In this increasingly competitive environment, compensation of advisers will change to reward long-term investing , with less money earned from short-term “ churning ” of...

The Obama administration's budget proposal includes a provision for mandatory automatic enrollment in individual retirement accounts (IRA) or "auto-IRAs." The administration's intent with auto-IRAs is to provide a "universal" retirement savings system that is employment-based. Auto-IRAs would be mandatory for employers who do not offer a retirement savings plan--such as a 401k --to their employees. Administration officials suggest that such a system could impact up to 78 million Americans...