Four Policy Priorities to Strengthen Financial Advice for Americans

Independent financial advisors play a vital role in helping Americans save for retirement, invest for the future and make informed financial decisions. The Financial Services Institute (FSI) represents independent financial advisors and independent financial services firms working to ensure that Main Street investors continue to have access to affordable, objective financial advice.

As FSI members visit Capitol Hill, we are highlighting four priority issues that would strengthen access to financial advice, provide greater clarity for independent advisors, modernize outdated rules, encourage long-term investing and help protect vulnerable investors from financial exploitation.

These bipartisan, commonsense policy solutions would help ensure independent financial advisors can continue serving their clients and communities effectively. We ask policymakers to join us in supporting these important issues today.

We support the Modern Worker Empowerment Act (H.R.1319) because independent financial advisors are entrepreneurs and business owners who have chosen the independent contractor model to build their businesses. Unfortunately, independent advisors’ classification is often threatened by varying proposals in the states and regulatory ping-pong at the federal level with potentially three different rules from the Department of Labor in six years. The Modern Worker Empowerment Act will provide independent advisors with clarity, certainty, and consistency around worker classification so they can focus on helping hard-working Americans achieve their financial goals.

We support the Clarity for Compensation Act (H.R.7187), which modernizes outdated payment rules to allow securities commissions to be paid to business entities, not just individuals. The independent financial services industry has evolved from solo practices to ensemble businesses that improve efficiency and offer more comprehensive services. This legislation would make it easier for advisors to reinvest their revenue into their business and improve the industry’s ability to attract and compensate the next generation of advisors.

We support the GROWTH Act (H.R.2089, Generating Retirement Ownership through Long-Term Holding), which would encourage Main Street Americans to save and invest for their financial futures without worrying about unexpected tax bills. The bill will prevent them from being charged capital gains taxes before they realize any gains.

We support the Financial Exploitation Prevention Act of 2025 (S.2840), which would empower financial advisors and firms to take action when there is suspected financial fraud or abuse. Financial advisors and financial services firms are often the first to notice possible financial abuse and the best positioned to report it. This important legislation would permit firms and advisors to postpone securities redemption if they suspect financial exploitation of a vulnerable individual. Learn more about our commitment to preventing elder financial abuse.