On September 5, 2007, the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on Advising Seniors About Their Money: Who Is Qualified- and Who Is Not? Senator Kohl from Wisconsin began the hearing by stating that the purpose of the hearing was to examine the growing national problem of poorly trained senior investment specialists and take the first step in much needed reform. He also stated that an investigation conducted by this committee had found that many seniors are losing their retirement income and savings by placing their trust in so-called “advisors” who in many cases may not deserve that moniker.
The hearing focused on the controversial “Certified Senior Advisors” because the Senate investigation found that these advisors often have little to no education and no experience in extremely complicated financial matters and investment products such as equity-indexed annuities. Senator Kohl stated that seniors should be able to trust the people who invest their money. They should not be worried that the title after their advisor’s name is often times scarcely more than a marketing ploy and one that is not earned through a rigorous educational or financial training.
Among those who gave testimony were Christopher Cox, SEC Commissioner, Joseph Borg, the Alabama Securities Commissioner, and Lori Swanson, Attorney General from the State of Minnesota. These regulators provided suggestions as to how annuity sales practices could be improved industry wide and advocated for the insurance companies that issue these policies to seniors to take responsibility for their agents.