Business Groups Sue to Block New Retirement Investment Advice Rule

Trade groups representing businesses, Wall Street firms, and other financial professionals joined forces to file a legal challenge against a new rule from the Obama administration that would restrict the advice brokers and advisers can offer to retirement savers. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Securities Industry, and Financial Markets Association, and other business groups in a federal court in Dallas. The groups are attempting to block a rule announced by the Labor Department in April that created a higher standard for the investment advice offered to retirement savers. The new regulations require brokers selling investments for retirement accounts to put their clients’ interest ahead of their own. That is a higher standard than the previous guidelines, which allowed brokers to sell an investment to retirement savers as long as it was “suitable,” even if a less expensive or less complicated product was available.

Source/more: Washington Post

David Wingate is an elder law attorney at the Elder Law Office of David Wingate, LLC. The elder law office services clients with powers of attorneys, living wills, Wills, Trusts, Medicaid and asset protection. The Elder Law office has locations in Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.