The Problem; "financial advisers who base their advice on what’s best for their own compensation rather than on what would maximize returns for their customers"

"Such “conflicted advice” is allegedly prevalent in the half-trillion-dollar-a-year business of rolling 401(k) money into individual retirement accounts when people change jobs or retire, the White House said. The proposed regulations, to be drafted by the Labor Department, would address the issue by imposing on all advisers a fiduciary duty to act in the “best interest” of a client. In contrast, the current system allows some brokers to act based on what’s “suitable”...

"...investment companies objected that consumers already are protected by compensation disclosure rules..."

...What we have here is a clear and valid principle — investors should receive advice that is in their best interest...

Mr. Obama said ...“You shouldn’t be in business” if that business is “bilking hardworking Americans.”...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/plan-to-rein-in-conflicted-financial-advice-would-be-hard-to-enforce/2015/03/08/aeb355ea-bdf5-11e4-bdfa-b8e8f594e6ee_story.html?hpid=z3