You may have seen in the news that the Obama administration unveiled the final version of its long‐

anticipated “fiduciary rule” that will help govern the way advisors help their customers invest for

retirement. This goes into effect in January of 2018, and basically rules that advisors who help customers

invest in 401(k)s, IRAs, and other retirement plans are now subject to a “fiduciary” standard which

requires them to put the client’s interests first, rather than the looser “suitability” standard that simply

requires a reasonable basis to believe that a transaction or strategy is suitable for the customer.

It may surprise you that not all advisors currently act in a fiduciary standard. Most brokers, insurance

agents and financial advisors who are paid commissions are held to the lesser suitability standard (this

does not mean that they don’t act in a client’s best interest), which is only applicable at the time of the

transaction and not afterwards. As a SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), Michael A. Schreiber &

Associates, Inc. is already held to the higher fiduciary standard under the Investment Advisors Act of

1940. We have always believed that all advisors, whether fee‐only or commission‐based, be held to the

higher fiduciary standards.

While our firm and the way we do business with our clients is not changing due to this rule, we applaud

the Labor Department’s efforts and feel this is a significant step forward for the industry. With that said,

this rule only impacts retirement accounts, so the lower standard of care still applies to non‐qualified

accounts, and believe that more should be done to make all advisors held to the same fiduciary

standards.