Our individual advisory clients pay us a fee, a percentage of the value of their portfolio, directly from their accounts on a quarterly basis… We like this because it’s entirely transparent, they know what they pay us… No mystery…

Having been in the investment business for 27 years, I’m sure I’ve seen it all… And I suspect (I know in fact) there’s still the “advisor” out there who, using fee-bundling vehicles, such as traditional annuity contracts, load funds, etc., would have his client believe he gets paid by his company, or the fund/annuity, as opposed to by his client… Nothing, as you might imagine, is further from the truth…

As I suggested in The Market at Work, the big banks backing off the monthly debit card fee was no victory for the consumer – I wondered if the $5 wasn’t ultimately a bargain… The title of this morning’s NY Times article Banks Quietly Ramping Up Costs to Consumers says it all… And for this my friends you can thank the Durbin Amendment; an eleventh-hour add-on to the Dodd Frank Financial Reform Bill – you know that wonderful new, two-thousand+ page slate of regs forged (they say) on behalf of the little guy…

You see it’s all too often, if not always, the little guy (often himself lobbying for tighter regs) who takes it in the chin with tighter regs… The politician sets up big business (big retailers in Durbin’s case) to benefit, then sets up big business (big banks in Durbin’s case) to take the blame…