How Trump Will Bury Pro-Retiree DOL Rule

You have a fighting chance to save enough for retirement if you keep your investment costs low and savings rate high. There are few, simpler ways of meeting your goals.
Yet President Trump's recent executive order to "review" -- and potentially nix -- a pro-investor rule written by the Department of Labor (DOL) will put you behind the eight ball. It's much tougher to save for retirement when you're getting conflicted, overpriced investment advice.
Couched in legalese in the Trump order is a bureaucratic guillotine. The language is designed to give any pro-Wall Street regulator a reason to kill the rule, which would have protected retirees. Here's how the Trump order booby-traps the DOL Rule:

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

-- The access argument. Trump's order asks if the rule "harmed or is likely to harm investors due to a reduction of Americans' access to certain retirement savings offerings, retirement product structures, retirement savings information, or related financial advice?"
This is the financial services industry's claim almost word for word. They falsely assert the rule will make retirement investment choices fewer. That's nonsense since mutual fund companies, discount brokers, automated/online advisers and anyone with an interest in delivering low-cost, responsible retirement vehicles is blossoming.
There are thousands of decent retirement products and services on the market now and they will become more numerous. Pro-investor advisers have been adopting these products over the past decade or so.
It's only the traditional full-service agent, broker-adviser firms who will be hurt. That's because they won't be able to charge outrageous commissions for junk products -- and claim to offer unconflicted retirement advice -- under the rule.
Yes, there will be fewer of these shops, but the lower-cost providers are more than filling the gap, although Wall Street firms that don't convert to a client-centered practice will lose billions in business.

........the source