2012 Fee Disclosure: Finally

2012 will forever change the way fees are charged in the financial industry!

Not. What will change is the disclosure of the fees when a broker attempts or consummates a sales relationship. Effective immediately, all fees and expenses must be disclosed in any sales presentation. I think this is a good idea and I am all in favor of fee disclosure at any level.

My guess is it will become like the small print on my credit card, hard to read, hard to understand and hard to justify. This isn't anything new, the fine print in almost every possible bank agreement ever disclosed. The same is true with car purchases, how purchases and even warranty information on buying new microwave.

The small print (can you read this) and the loss of how it relates is exactly what the industry want. They fought disclosure but won in the delivery system. When these guys get through with the disclosure forms it will look much like their disclosures on a prospectus (when buying securities).

No one will understand the fees and no one will ever understand exactly what they are disclosing.

Typical. Bill Broich