What is a "fiduciary"?

By definition, a fiduciary has a legal obligation to put the interests of the client before the interests of the planner. If there is a potential conflict of the interest, the fiduciary must find ways to avoid the conflict or fully disclose the conflict to the client. The NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Planners) organization feels that a planner can only be a true fiduciary if he is compensated on a fee-only basis. 99% of financial advisors and financial planners would fail to meet this fiduciary standard. Even if they are educated and well-intentioned planners, they are still trained and supervised by the managers of their firms, who will focus the training on:

A) Planning techniques that lead to the sale of a commission-generating product.
B) Product presentations that lead to the sale of proprietary products.
C) Justifying why planners should not educate clients about the competitor's product.