Portfolio Perspective

Tony Robbins: Delay of the investor protection rule is 'ridiculous'

DOL rule impact
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DOL rule impact

The Department of Labor last week proposed to delay a rule that would require financial advisors to act in the best interest of investors. This action from the DOL follows a Feb. 3 memorandum from President Donald Trump, who directed the Labor Department to examine the regulation and prepare an economic and legal analysis on the impact of the so-called fiduciary rule.

The DOL proposal calls for a 60-day hold on the original April 10 effective date in anticipation of repeal by the Trump administration.

This has been a hotly debated issue in the financial services industry. CNBC spoke with famous life coach Tony Robbins, who is also a partner and board member of America's Best 401k and chief of investor psychology for Creative Planning, to get his take.

When the DOL first announced plans to enact the fiduciary rule to protect individual innvestors' retirement accounts, Robbins said he "saluted them." Now, "unfortunately, we see the gutting of this rule," he said.

"I personally think it's just ridiculous to not have a fiduciary standard," Robbins said. "It's about investor protection."

Robbins asked: "Doctors and lawyers act in their client's best interest, so how is it that in this country we don't make it about the client first financially?"

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The regulation applies to individual retirement accounts, as well as rollovers out of company-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans.

"The Trump administration is looking to roll back the DOL rule, and I think this is a ridiculous debate," said Peter Mallouk, president and CIO of Creative Planning. "The rule is really just some baby steps toward a standard that should be a minimum standard, and that is that an advisor needs to act in their client's best interest."

Mallouk added: "It's kind of amazing that anyone would argue with this standard."

In its call for the delay, the DOL says it will provide a 15-day comment period for observers to weigh in. The department will also offer another 45-day comment period for "the broader purpose of examining the final rule and exemptions in response to the president's memorandum."