June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley in “Leave it to Beaver”), Harriet Nelson (herself in “The Ozzie and Harriet Show”) and Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart in “Lost in Space”) each represents the iconic mother—and the perfect fiduciary.
In this month of May, when we've traditionally celebrated the moms in our lives, we often reflect on all those dark days of youth—when we were sick in bed for a week, when we had a tough day at school or when our peers decided to call us names—when mom showed the kind of loyalty we can only hope for. Moms constantly display a tender touch of care in a way, no matter how hard they try, dads could never do. (Don't worry dads, we'll explore the fiduciary good in you next month.)
When Ward had it up to here with the Beav's antics, June would reliably step in and calm the patriarch down. When Ricky wanted to sing, Harriet encouraged him. When that bratty little kid from “Lost in Space” would do his bratty little stuff and Dr. Smith would be on the verge of using him as bait to trap a ferocious alien monster, Maureen would come in to save the day. (OK, the robot did it just as often if not more, but that's just another example of the fiduciary duty of loyalty.)
Fiduciary advisors have found it difficult to explain their value to their clients, industry regulators and even politicians. Yet, not one of those three constituencies would deny the value of what a mother offers. Why is it so hard for them to connect the dots and see there is no difference in value between a mother and a fiduciary?
Just as a mother knows each of her children may require a different sort of attention to make them feel good, so, too, do fiduciaries realize each client has unique needs that must be addressed differently. In neither case does a “cookie-cutter” answer work. A mother doesn't give her children a “risk tolerance” test and expect that to tell her how to tend to her offspring.
Again, the similarities are too apparent to go unnoticed. And yet, they do. Why?
For too many young whippersnappers, brought up in an era of modern sitcoms where families must be dysfunctional to be funny, it's hard to understand—or even believe—an ideal once existed. And that may explain the current difficulty in convincing people of the value of working only with a fiduciary. It sounds ideal, but it's really a mere legal framework—like a contract.
In other words, it's easier to create a fiduciary relationship than it is to portray a modern family that's not dysfunctional. For those you encounter who refuse to believe in the sanctity of the fiduciary role, ask them this simple question: When you were a tiny tyke and sick in bed, who would you rather have had come to your bedside: June Cleaver or Roseanne Barr (or whatever last name she goes by now)?
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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).
