The Trump Administration rolled out a new regulatory package for retirement investment advice that, if finalized, would allow brokers and insurers to siphon billions of dollars a year out of the retirement accounts of hard-working Americans, putting their ability to afford an independent and dignified retirement at risk. The regulatory package from the Department of Labor (DOL) would:

• Make it much easier for financial firms to avoid any fiduciary responsibility when advising retirement savers about their retirement plan and IRA investments.
• Deprive retirement savers of critical protections when the risks and conflicts are greatest.
• Substantially weaken protections against conflicts of interest when the fiduciary standard does apply.
• Render the standard unenforceable for IRA investors, leaving millions of retirement savers without recourse when they are victims of harmful advice.

With their retirement security on the line, workers and retirees need and deserve retirement investment advice they can trust. The DOL proposal would instead expose them to conflicted sales recommendations dressed up as advice. It should be withdrawn in its entirety and a new rule proposed that protects workers and retirees, not the excess profits of well-heeled financial firms.