Investment firms are very busy implementing the much-anticipated Department of Labor's fiduciary (DOL) rule. Under the new rules affecting retirement accounts, financial advisors who have for decades operated under a suitability standard are now subject to an ERISA fiduciary standard with new disclosure obligations.Since the regulation was issued earlier this year— with an April 10, 2017 effective date— investment firms have no choice but to interpret and implement it. Most retirement clients are still unaware of what’s coming down the pike in terms of potential changes in financial advisor relationships, limited investment selection and changes in fees and costs.

The universal standard that SEC-registered advisor-advocates fought so hard to implement will place a burden on them as well as on FINRA-regulated firms whose advisors had been held to a client suitability standard.

As an industry observer, I wonder how retirement investors will be impacted... More supervision may indeed add to costs, so will retirement investors really be better off once the DOL rule is implemented in April?

Consider the following questions

• Merrill Lynch was the first large firm to announce that retirement accounts will have to pay a fee on assets and can no longer pay their broker a commission. Is this good for investors?

• Independent FINRA-regulated firms may have to consider following the lead of LPL, which already announced interest in being acquired. What disruption will follow for their clients?

• Will some retirement accounts be asked to pay a higher fee AND have their accounts shuttered to call centers or other places? Who will protect the interests of the shuttered?

• Is there a clear fiduciary standard? Will the advisors who are rushing to complete FI360 fiduciary training be rewarded with the title “fiduciary” and win their clients’ trust and confidence?

• As technology empowers advisors, will advisors take on more clients or broaden their value proposition?

• Or will advisors work with a smaller number of clients and impact a wider swath of life planning issues that impact their clients’ lives (e.g., family, tax planning, health and hobbies)?

• Will all client accounts at national firms eventually be directed to platform-based, simple investment solutions?

• Will DOL shut out self-directed IRA investors who want to pick their own stocks and bonds?

• Will the industry figure out ways to automate a better custom client experience, one that may offer co-browsing with an advisor, a custom dashboard and a comprehensive client portal accessible by one password?

• Ultimately, how much is all this costing and who will pay for it?

Profound change is at hand. The industry is engaged in what might be called the “quiet period” before firms announce their DOL policies and investors learn how the rule will affect their relationship with their investment firm.

I could be way off here on how much inconvenience investors will face. I’m not an attorney nor have I read the more than 1,000-page regulation. At the same time, most investors have no idea that their investment relationship could be disrupted by the ruling. We’ll have to wait and read their firms’ policies as they roll out.

After a multi-year public battle between national brokerage firms and fee-only advisors, the fee-only advisors have won. No matter how well-meaning the intentions of forces on both sides, the questions remain: Will the retirement investor be better off? Or will they be left with less?

Gerri Leder is founder and president of LederMark Communications, a marketing consulting firm that markets the firms that offer financial advice. www.ledermark.com.