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SEC: Recidivist Scam Artist Started New Fraud Under Home Confinement

SEC: Advisor Used Business Incubator Scam To Fund 'Lavish' Lifestyle

Ex-Woodbridge Group CEO Robert Shapiro Pleads Guilty in Fraud

Philly-Area Brokerage Execs Agree To Pay $1.5M In Fraud Case

Celebrity Advisor Dawn Bennett Sentenced To 20 Years For $20 Million Fraud

Alaska RIAs Improperly Recruited Investors For Fraudulent Fund, SEC Says

SEC Orders Former Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager To Pay $700,000

Two B-Ds To Pay $1 Million For Overcharging Clients On Mutual Funds

Unlicensed Tennessee Broker Charged For Involvement With Woodbridge Ponzi Scheme

Former REIT Mogul Schorsch Will Pay $60M To Settle Fraud Charges

Mass. Advisor Who Defrauded Investors Agrees To Pay $1.3M, SEC Says

Ohio Ex-Wells Fargo Advisor Sentenced To 5 Years For Ponzi Scheme Targeting Elderly

SEC Fines State Street $88 Million For Fund Markups

SEC Charges New Defendant In $43 Million Tribal Bonds Fraud

Edward Jones Ordered To Pay $500K For Allegedly...

The word you should be hearing and thinking about when it comes to financial planning or investing is FIDUCIARY. This is a difficult word, so it's not much used by the media, but it's much more important than terms they do use often, like 'fee-only'.

'Fiduciary' is also a word you will never hear spoken on Wall Street - to those guys it's like Kryptonite. Until the court case Financial Planning Association v. SEC, March 2007, brokers for Wall Street firms had an exemption from the consumer protections of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, allowing them to offer advice without full disclosure or fiduciary duty. They were able to avoid mentioning pesky details like the conflict of selling proprietary products with ridiculously high sales charges (loads) and disclosing for whom they were actually working - their employer, not you!

You want your investment advisor to have the "duty of care of a fiduciary," which includes:
    Putting the clients’ best interests...