On Your Side?

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Education, Business, Investing, How To

4.5 • 811 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode exposes the misleading language behind “best interest” financial sales practices, using the insurance-backed fight against the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule as the main example. Don and Tom explain why rolling money from a 401(k) or 403(b) into an IRA can leave investors vulnerable to commissions, conflicts, vague disclosures, and expensive products dressed up as advice. They break down the difference between true fiduciary advice, so-called best-interest standards, and ba...

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, with a name like the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice, you know they must be looking out for your best interest, don't you?
0:10.6	It just sounds like an organization that would.
0:14.0	And they did something really brave on your behalf.
0:24.7	We're going to talk about it in just a minute. Remember, they, it sounds like they're acting in your best interest. That's the key. That's the key. Hi, welcome to Talking
0:30.1	Real Money, the podcast. I'm Don McDonald, along with Tom Cock, and we're here to try to help you
0:36.4	understand money better and make better decisions about your money and avoid being ripped off and lied to, which is really the, I believe, and this is because I'm an old curmudgeonly cynic, I believe the default position of most of the financial services industry is not telling the
0:56.2	whole truth and nothing but the truth. And nowhere was that, has that been better illustrated
1:02.6	than in the fight with the, that many have had with the Department of Labor in their attempt
1:09.3	to create a 100% fiduciary standard for anyone who gives you
1:16.9	advice on your retirement plans at work, your 401k and your 403Bs and the like.
1:23.1	But every time, every time a Democratic administration creates a fiduciary rule, some
1:30.1	organization like the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice takes them to court to say,
1:37.2	this is not good for consumers.
1:42.1	But are they being... Well, let me tell you I'll just I'll just go to the punchline the
1:50.3	Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice who who who is funding that organization Tom I have
1:55.8	no idea but I'm guessing it has something the industry of. It's 100% funded and created by the insurance industry to give because they think you should have the choice of being lied to by insurance agents.
2:12.3	I don't understand this world in which we live.
2:15.9	It's like, please don't make us tell the truth. That's what
2:20.9	they're saying. When it comes to these retirement plans, don't make us tell the truth. It's bad for
2:25.9	business. Yeah. And this is, we're talking, of course, about the Labor Department's fiduciary rule
2:32.0	that was first on. They've tried twice, by the way.
2:34.8	Then it was off.
	...

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