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I have a friend that for years invested in this UBS wealth management firm. I have seen the email they sent to him and I was a little puzzled if they are a good fit to him. My question is , is This firm a truly fiduciary???

"When we provide investment advisory services, our fiduciary status under the federal retirement laws depends on the nature of the specific services we have agreed to provide to you. Please see your applicable agreement and related disclosures for more information."

https://www.ubs.com/content/dam/static/ ... ith_us.pdf

chinchin wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:48 am "When we provide investment advisory services, our fiduciary status under the federal retirement laws depends on the nature of the specific services we have agreed to provide to you. Please see your applicable agreement and related disclosures for more information."

https://www.ubs.com/content/dam/static/ ... ith_us.pdf

Just finished reading all this mambo jumbo statements, looking they’re not fiduciary.
Thank you.

A firm is not a fiduciary.

A advisor is mot a fiduciary.

A advisor can offer fiduciary services. If so then they must act like one. There are cases when it is more appropriate for them not to act like fiduciaries.

And on that note I think the emphasis on being a fiduciary is over rated on this forum. Non-fiduciaries can act ethically, fiduciaries can be unethical. It is not a magic wand that you can waive over something.

That being said, I assume most of the advisors at UBS can act in that capacity.

Ed 2 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:26 am I have a friend that for years invested in this UBS wealth management firm. I have seen the email they sent to him and I was a little puzzled if they are a good fit to him. My question is , is This firm a truly fiduciary???

I think the meaning of the word fiduciary has been so stretched, mangled, and ruined by advisers, media, government regulators, and industry self regulatory bodies that it's nearly incomprehensible.

Does his adviser use low-expense ratio ETFs or mutual funds?
Does his adviser trade frequently?
Does his adviser put him into unnecessarily complex products like indexed annuities or whole life insurance policies?
How does his adviser get paid? How often? How much?

Answers to these questions will reveal whether or not your friend is getting a fair shake.

Regards,

Fiduciary means they have to put the client's interests first. They have to do what's best for the client even when it's not what's best for them. Brokerages are held to a suitability standard. As long as the recommendations and advice are suitable for the client, the brokerage hasn't done anything wrong.