Insurance lobbyists block federal crackdown on costly retirement advice

The Washington Post ^ | August 11, 2024 at 6:05 a.m. EDT | Tony Romm

[E. Pluribus Unum]

To protect older Americans’ life savings, President Joe Biden pledged in October to crack down on financial advisers who recommend investments just because they pay higher commissions. Then the insurance industry got to work.

Lobbying groups representing New York Life, Lincoln Financial Group, Prudential Financial and other companies first pushed back against the newly proposed regulations before suing to topple them entirely. Now the government’s latest attempt to protect retirees is in political and legal limbo, facing the possibility that it may never take effect.

It is the latest example of a pervasive pattern: As the Biden administration tries to impose new restrictions on powerful industries, those businesses successfully turn to Congress and the courts for a reprieve. This time, the resulting clash centers on a basic question: Should federal law require more financial professionals to put retirees’ needs above all else — including their own paychecks — when they offer advice about how to invest?

In April, the Labor Department finalized rules that would subject a wide array of brokers to a higher legal standard, requiring them to act as fiduciaries. The effort primarily aims to protect the millions of Americans who leave their jobs, or otherwise need to roll over their retirement savings, and opt for tax-advantaged accounts such as IRAs — transactions that exceeded $770 billion in 2022 alone, according to federal estimates.

These savers face critical, one-time decisions about what to do with their money, and a miscalculation caused by conflicted investment advice could cut deeply into their retirement funds. But the Biden administration’s attempts to ensure Americans receive the best guidance have sparked immense political backlash, as financial services and insurance professionals look to avert what they see as costly, illegal federal mandates.

[silent majority rising]

The stupidity of this article is breathtaking, but it will garner a lot of clicks.

[from occupied ga]

Easy - Don’t buy annuities.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Easy - Don’t buy annuities.

Don't buy an annuity from a salesperson.

The surrender charge pays back the company for fronting a commission to the salesperson if you leave early.

Low cost annuities sold through Schwab, Fidelity, etc are both low cost and have no surrender charges.

Example: https://www.schwab.com/annuities/variable-annuities

This is not a recommendation, nor does it benefit me any way, thankfully.

[KarlInOhio]

Why does no one just sell financial advise? The insurance agents have a life insurance policy for everything with huge commissions (maybe 100% of your first year’s payments) and the financial advisors want 1% - 2% of your total assets every year to stick you in a subpar mutual fund and call you twice a year. I just want a couple hours of an expert’s time plus maybe a few hours of work for a longer term plan. A couple of thousand dollars would be cheap compared to the insurance salesmen and financial “advisors”.

[PalominoGuy]

You can... there are Advisors that will charge a flat hourly fee for advice, written plans and reviews. Just search for them and check reviews.... ymmv