Perhaps the fourth time is the charm for the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule after previous attempts in 2010, 2016, and 2020.1 At the end of October, they released a long-expected proposal to expand the definition of an investment advice fiduciary and amend several prohibited transaction exemptions. This initiative bolsters the administration's drive to protect retirement investors and remove junk fees that cost retirees billions of dollars each year. Many of the key provisions from October may seem familiar as it revives some of the ideas – albeit with a twist – posed in the 2016 DOL Fiduciary Rule, which was ultimately vacated by the Fifth Circuit in 2018.
