If disclosed, 12(b)-1 fee is legitimate charge for honest service rendered

I don’t understand the flap about service fees, and think that Blaine F. Aiken was wrong about many of his assumptions and representations (the Fiduciary Corner column “Let’s say goodbye to 12(b)-1 fees,” which appeared in the Jan. 18 issue).

For more than 40 years, I sold mutual funds to help investors reach their financial goals. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was all A shares because that was all there was.

Clients were always entitled to know how I was compensated, and I told them. When they came in for periodic or annual reviews, they were always prepared to open their checkbook and pay me for my time.

I explained how the 25-basis-point service fee that they were already paying was shared between myself and the broker-dealer, which provided service to me and, by extension, to them.

We have 10 employees who serve our clients. We have to pay the electric bill, the phone bill, etc., and so do our clients.

I am in an office of supervisory jurisdiction for 22 other financial and retirement-planning offices. Some still operate that same way today.

They work for and serve their clients and receive one-eighth of a percent service fee, plus or minus. That is it, and they earn it with hard work, lots of service and client appreciation events.

It is honest, and it is affordable.

I bet there are thousands of representatives who do what is best for their clients the old-fashioned way and receive very little for it. They probably earn every penny, and their clients wouldn’t have it any other way.

As long as folks know that they are getting service and paying for it, what is the problem? It would be wrong to take this fee away from reps who built their practice on it over many years.

Alan Peters

President

Alan Peters & Associates Inc.

Wilmington, Del.

Related Topics: Financial Planning, Letters To The Editor