I want to relay a couple of stories I came across last week. In the interest of protecting the innocent, I won't link to the source. I will say they're both related to the Fiduciary Duty of Good Faith, and you can read about this here.

Specifically, they both demonstrate the misunderstanding of the definition of participant investment advice on both the part of the client and (surprise!) the professional.

As you are no doubt aware, until late 2011, when the DOL released is Participant Investment Advice Rule, plan fiduciaries were not permitted to provide individual investment advice to participants. With 2011's Final Rule, the last promise of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 was fulfilled.

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Christopher Carosa

Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).