How the Election May Influence the Investment Advice You Get

Though not apparent to most voters, the financial-services industry has been divided in the past few years by a debate over what’s known as the “universal fiduciary standard”—that is, whether people who sell advice and investment products to retail investors should be required to put client interests before their own. There is, after all, a conflict of interests inherent in relations between investors and their broker/advisers: What’s good for the client is not necessarily what’s most profitable for the person providing the advice. At the very least, unsophisticated investors usually don’t know if they’re dealing with an adviser who has their best interests at heart, or with a broker looking to sell products and maximize fee income.

SOURCE: USnews.