“Independent.” We believe it is an over-used word. Not everyone means the same thing when they say independent. Many people or firms use the word “independent” to mean they can offer you more than one product – maybe four or five products.
At Pension Consultants, we define the word the same way you do. We are independent – period. That means we work for you. Our compensation will be the same no matter the advice we give or the decision you make.
We have no hidden agendas with other firms or vendors. If compensation is available to our firm or a related party, we’ll notify you and let you decide if you want us to accept the payment and promptly use it to offset your bill from us. Everything is out in the open; which allows us to accept co-fiduciary responsibility for our investment recommendations.
You may not have thought about it, but investment firms and vendors do everything in their power to influence adviser’s recommendations. It is a common industry practice for these groups to pay for extravagant trips or gifts, or provide “marketing” money to help pay for seminars. At Pension Consultants, we don’t think these types of payments are consistent with the word “independent”. And we doubt you would either. So we don’t accept any of these.