Probably you. The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving forward in its quest to define who is a fiduciary for various client/adviser transactions. Currently, whether an adviser is a fiduciary when providing advice is most often governed by who he/she is employed by rather than the type of advice that is shared. Employees of brokerage firms often aren’t fiduciaries while advisers who work for Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firms, for example, many times are.
The SEC is seeking to harmonize a definition of fiduciary responsibility that is tied to advice as opposed to employment. Most brokerage firms are wary of an expanded fiduciary definition citing the additional costs they may incur.
