1) Broker/Dealers and their agents - Permitted to charge by the transaction and are held to professional standards of conduct. They may give advise only as it is incidentally to the practice of buying and selling securities. They are not fiduciaries, which means they aren’t obligated to put the clients interest ahead of their own.

2) Advisers and their Representatives - Permitted to charge fees based on services rendered, assets under management and in select cases, performance of the portfolio. They are fiduciaries because their service is strictly around helping you select investments, not selling them.

When you pit bank advisers against commission brokers you comparing two entities roughly in the first class, except that the bank is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, not the SEC. As for whether a bank giving incidental advise is preferable to the same service from a broker I can’t say. It probably depends largely on the person you are dealing with, but with have enough assets you can generally work a fee based advisor and attain a higher degree of independent advice.

As with anything, results do vary, but I would add to your list of questions: “Are you a fiduciary to your clients?”

Good morning and welcome to the 85th Carnival of Personal Finance! Before we get started, I’d like to say a few words of introduction. First of all, if you’re new to FiveCentNickel then welcome! If not, then welcome back!
This site is nearl…

——————
http://301url.com/mortgage - all about mortgages