Real Fiduciary™ Practices
Etzler Financial Advisors has adopted the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard’s Real Fiduciary™ Practices. These Real Fiduciary™ Practices are professional conduct standards for fiduciary advisors. They assist the public in understanding, evaluating and selecting competent financial advisors and wealth managers.
Many advisors and brokers talk like a fiduciary, though relatively few act like one. These Real Fiduciary™ Practices help the public distinguish advisors who work for and are paid only by clients — from sales representatives who work for and are paid by firms to distribute products. That is, these practices help separate brokers and advisors who merely talk like a fiduciary from advisors who really act like one.
Real Fiduciary™ Advisors stand apart because they:
Demonstrate Loyalty
- Act as a fiduciary at all times. Affirm this commitment to the client in writing.
- Decline any sales-related compensation.
- Avoid conflicts of interest.
- Mitigate unavoidable conflicts.
Act With Due Care
- Maintain professional knowledge and competence.
- Explain agreements and disclosures clearly and truthfully, both orally and in writing.
- Establish and document a reasonable basis for advice.
- Follow and document a prudent due diligence process for rendering investment advice.
Act in Utmost Good Faith
- Decline gifts or entertainment or other benefits unless minimal in value, occasional in frequency, and consistent with the advisory firm’s gift and vendor relation policies.
- Charge reasonable fees and incur reasonable investment costs. Disclose and fully explain.
NOTE: These practices and their guidance comprise the Real Fiduciary™ Practices. For additional information, visit the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.
© 2005-2023 Etzler Financial Advisors, LLC
Etzler Financial Advisors, LLC (“EFA”) is a registered investment adviser offering advisory services in the State of California and in other jurisdictions where exempted. The presence of this website on the Internet shall not be directly or indirectly interpreted as a solicitation of advisory services to persons of another jurisdiction unless otherwise permitted by statute. Follow-up or individualized responses to consumers in a particular state by EFA in the rendering of personalized advice for compensation shall not be made without our first complying with jurisdiction requirements or pursuant an applicable exemption.