SEC advisory-panel proposal calls for tough fiduciary standard

The title of this blog post is the title of an article that I read in Investment News this morning.  Basically it is about imposing the Fiduciary standard of care on Broker-Dealers. Under such a standard, brokers (many of which call themselves advisors) would be legally obligated to act in their clients' best interests when recommending investment products. The same standard which is already imposed on Registered Investment Advisors.   

“A subcommittee of the Investor Advisory Committee is recommending that the SEC proceed with a rule mandating that brokers put the best interests of their clients before their own when providing retail investment advice — the standard that advisers meet.”

The broker/dealer argument against this is that investing will become too expensive for the common investor.  Ridiculous!  This will save them money by avoiding all of the hidden costs and commissions associated with mutual fund loads, and junk insurance policies!  Could this mean the end of Loaded Mutual Funds and the sale of proprietary investment products.?  Let's hope so.