Fiduciary duty is the legal obligation to act in another party's best interest. For an investment adviser it comprises a duty of care and a duty of loyalty, and it applies across the whole relationship rather than to individual transactions.
The duty of care requires advice that is suitable, informed by the client's circumstances, and reviewed as those circumstances change. The duty of loyalty requires the adviser not to put their own interest ahead of the client's.
The standard does not require that no conflict exists. It requires that conflicts are eliminated or disclosed fully and fairly enough that the client can give informed consent.
This is why an adviser whose platform uses affiliated products is not automatically doing something wrong — and why failing to say so plainly is.
The obligation is continuous rather than transactional. It attaches to the ongoing advice, not only to the moment a recommendation is made.
It does not guarantee a good outcome, and it is not a promise about performance. A fiduciary can give careful, loyal, well-documented advice and the investment can still lose money.
Presenting the standard as if it implied results is a misuse of it.
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