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One of the most highly compensated sales seminar conductors and motivational speakers today is Jordan Belfort.  In one session he told the crowd he would make over $1,000,000 that year.   It is reported that to another group he said he would make more than he did in his best year as a stock broker.  Now that’s saying something.  Because 20 years ago his investment firm, Stratton Oakmont, was shut down and Belfort, and eventually other principals in house, were indicted for money-laundering and securities fraud – to the tune of having bilked clients out of anywhere between $200-250 million.

All old news, it would seem, except that Hollywood has recently brought the incident back to light and life with a dramatization of Belfort’s book, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Perhaps because the film (and other recent releases, e.g. Boiler Room) so vividly portrays the misdeeds of certain folk in the investment world that tend to paint and taint the industry with too broad a brush, FINRA this year felt the need to rebut the negative imagery with something

FINRA released its regulatory and exam priorities for the coming year (see the full letter at http://www.finra.org/web/groups/industry/@ip/@reg/@guide/documents/industry/p602239.pdf?utm_source=MM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NewsRelease%5F010615%5FFINAL).  In the past the primary concern has been to concentrate on ensuring that investments were suitable for clients – usually defined as those meeting the client’s investment goals and lying within his or her risk tolerance.  Emphasis in the letter is made on the need for advisors to act in the best interests of their clients prioritizing those interests over the interests of the investment firm, even identifying the lack of this philosophy as a central failing among many organizations.  It expressed the concern especially in those situation where a client has experienced a significant “wealth event – such as acquiring a large amount of money through inheritance, sale of a business, life insurance payouts, divorce settlements or rolling over an individual retirement account.”

Years ago the outspoken NBA basketball star Charles Barkley made the news with his comment, “I’m not a role model . . . Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”

Some think that FINRA is pushing the limit by introducing fiduciary-like language and standards into its compliance formula, and maybe so.   But the fact is that, whether or not we are getting paid mega-bucks for dunking the round-ball, we are all role models.  And whether or not FINRA decides to venture forth in its annual letter on fiduciary territory, it is and should always will be our responsibility – certainly within any sector of the financial services industry – to reasonably put clients’ best interests before our own once we have accepted a position of trust regarding their affairs.  If all did, there would be much less grist for the movie-mill that seems attracted to subject matter concerning those less circumspect in that regard.

In fairness to the more current and more contrite Mr. Belfort, an examination of presentations available on YouTube and other sources will demonstrate the lengths to which goes to emphasize that the effectiveness of his sales techniques he describes should be used to assist clients in making only the choices that is best for them in their situation.