The SEC recently published its latest investor bulletin. The SEC publishes these from time to time to bring awareness to the investing public on certain issues.
The current bulletin notes that the investor.gov web page provides a number of resources for the investing public, which include:
- The ability to check on an investment professional.
- Self-education about various products.
- To learn about online tools to make investing a simpler process.
- To learn how to avoid investment fraud.
- To stay current with SEC resources.
- To start researching public companies.
- To consider fees associated with investing.
- To gain an understanding of how the market works.
- To plan for retirement.
- To find SEC contact information.
For investment professionals, you should be asking yourself why the SEC has issued such guidance. I think that the easy answer requires you to look yourself in the mirror. Apparently, the SEC does not think you are doing a good enough job educating your clients.
The fact that the SEC thinks these are important areas of interest should be notice to you to make sure your own house is in order. Are you doing enough to educate your clients on most of these topics? If not, you may want to revisit your customer service before the SEC does it for you.