So, my current advisor may not be a Fiduciary?
The Fiduciary Standard does not hold out that all financial advisors, who are not fiduciaries by definition, are not acting in your best interest.
Advisors that are registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and those holding the CFP® (CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™) are required to follow The Fiduciary Standard.
However, some advisors are registered under a different set of laws that follow what is called a Suitability Standard. The Suitability Standard states that your advisor must have a reasonable basis for believing that the recommendation is suitable for you. In making this assessment, your broker must consider your income and net worth, investment objectives, risk tolerance, and other security holdings.
Many of these advisors may serve many of the same functions as investment advisors in that they help individuals and institutions make important financial decisions. Those held to only the Suitability Standard are most often affiliated with a Broker-Dealer or an insurance company. The advisor does not necessarily have the expanded duty of loyalty to their clients as stated in The Fiduciary Standard and has a conflict of interest in that he is not independent of the company that he or she works with. Suitability is often based on a certain point of time and sometimes does not consider the client's ongoing needs.