One of the most interesting aspects of dealing with the Fiduciary Rule is commissions. When a registered investment advisor collects a fee, it’s rather simple. When it comes to the broker, it’s just awfully confusing about the different trails, commissions, incentive compensation, and everything else that a broker may get in selling a commission based product.
I think finding out about the different levels of compensation is like peeling an onion because there are just so many lawyers that a broker-dealer is going to have to get a handle if they have any hope in managing the process to meet a Fiduciary Rule, it’s certainly taking a lot of work, a lot of hours, and a lot of legal bills to find out what levels of compensation are out there and what can be salvaged in meeting this rule. Even when dealing with product manufacturers, they’re going to have to see what levels of compensation they can still offer brokers and broker dealers in hawking their products. If you think it’s all about serving in a Fiduciary capacity, it isn’t. It’s just going to take a lot of work between now and April to get things done,
