Proponents of a fiduciary standard for IRA advisors are crying foul over a widely reported study that said such a rule would dramatically raise fees.
The study, conducted in 2011 by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, found the Department of Labor's proposed definition of a fiduciary would increase the cost of financial advice for IRA holders by 75% to 195%. Those costs, opponents say, will block access for more and more middle- and low-income individuals to what they call "quality" financial advice. The numbers played a key role in the debate and gave opponents of a fiduciary standard fuel for their arguments. Most recently, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, cited the study's results in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in early August.
Proponents of the fiduciary rule aren't pleased, and point to what they say is the study's flawed methodology recently uncovered.
"Part of it is just the opacity of what they are doing," says Barbara Roper (left), director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America. "They released the study, and then refused to release the underlying data for further scrutiny."
She adds that opponents claim more data is needed before a thorough debate of the proposed rule can take place, but then either won't release said data or will control its release to the point of once again calling its legitimacy into question. Roper points specifically to what she says is selective use of fee information to exaggerate the increase if the rule were to be implemented.
