A Question of Ethics

In her recent article “Why do investors trust advisors, but not Wall Street?” Susan Antilla explores the disconnect between investors who proclaim their distrust of the financial securities industry, but exempt their financial advisors from that profound mistrust. In fact, it seems many investors are so trusting of their advisor that they fail to vet them properly. For example, the article includes details of an arbitration won by actor Larry Hagman where Citigroup Inc. was ordered to pay $1.1 million in damages, plus $439,000 in legal fees for the mishandling of his account by a broker who had seven customer disputes registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Investors looking to work with an advisor can avoid such a situation by working with a fiduciary, someone who is sworn to act in their best interests. In addition to being a fiduciary, I am governed by the professional codes of conduct that accompany my CPA, CFP^® and AIF^® designations.

While Citibank was justly punished, our society has become too willing to excuse serious ethics violations. For example, although Congressman Rangel was convicted of 11 ethics charges, amazingly, he is not going to lose his seat. What does this teach our children? Our kids are certainly getting mixed messages – like the one highlighted in a recent Washington Post story about a Fairfax County high school that allows cheaters to retake tests.

Sadly, we have witnessed too many examples of unethical behavior from political leaders over the last two decades. And the same is true in business world with Enron, Worldcom, Madoff, the list goes on. As is the case in my business, there must be consequences to ethical violations. All politics aside, we must strive to set a positive example for our young people and underscore that there are consequences for ethical violations.