Nicholas A. Nicolette...............

Mr. Nicolette is the President of the Financial Planning Association.

In an interview in today's Wall Street Journal he says, "The brokerage industry has a clear legal obligation to the brokerage firms interests first. It's called the law of agency. An investment advisor has a clear legal duty to put the clients interests first. It's called a fiduciary duty. There's no denying that the difference is huge. With the help of slick Madison Avenue advertising and lax SEC rules, Wall Street is allowed to promote it's fee-based programs as if these were subject to the same kind of fiduciary standards governing investment advisors (like Chippewa Partners) and attorneys. The fact is they are not. With the term "financial advisor" appearing on brokers business cards, and no longer "registered representative" or "stockbroker" the public has the mistaken impression that the broker is on the same team as the client, not the company."