4 ms·

Doctors and lawyers do have conflicts of interest, too, and it's really hard to keep them in check. Financial advisers have an even more direct conflict of int

• toufka 9y ago
  This is precisely why both doctors and attorneys are considered 'professions' - as they both have articulated professional obligations that are primary to their making money. They both have duties of either care, or of law to their client, even and especially when those duties conflict with them making more money. If you chose the more money of standard of care, or more money over the client's interest, you lose your professional license. In the context of a financial advisor, that duty should be fiduciary in nature, but as there is no professional obligation, no recourse for failure to keep that obligation, you have a race to the bottom.
• kobeya 9y ago
  Fee-based financial advisors are a thing, and directly solves the incentive problem. There's also the possibility of making sure most of the advisor's income comes from bonuses based on alpha.