Defending Independence

As America prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, we celebrate the principles that continue to shape our nation—and our mission.

For more than two decades, FSI has worked to protect the independence that empowers financial advisors to build businesses, serve clients, and expand access to professional, objective financial advice for millions of Americans.

Independence isn’t just part of America’s story. It’s essential to the future of the independent financial services industry.

FSI was founded in 2004 because independent financial firms and advisors needed a stronger voice.

As regulations became more complex, advisors who had chosen the independent business model needed an organization dedicated to helping policymakers understand how they serve clients, build businesses, and strengthen communities.

More than twenty years later, our mission remains the same: protecting advisor choice and preserving access to personalized financial advice.

Independence provides choice to advisors and investors.

It allows advisors to build businesses around the needs of their clients and the relationships they’ve spent years—often decades—building. It gives investors the freedom to work with a professional who knows their goals, understands their family, and helps guide them through life’s most important financial decisions.

When advisors have the freedom to choose how they operate, investors benefit from more options and more personalized service

For independent advisors, success isn’t measured by transactions. It’s measured by trust.

The trust earned through helping a family save for retirement. Guiding a small business owner through growth and succession. Supporting clients through market uncertainty, career changes, and life’s unexpected turns.

Those relationships are at the heart of the independent model—and worth protecting.

FSI continues to advocate for policies that protect advisor choice and preserve the independent business model.

From supporting the Modern Worker Empowerment Act and the Department of Labor’s recent worker classification rule proposal to defending independent contractor status in states like New Jersey, our work is focused on helping policymakers understand what’s at stake—not just for advisors, but for the clients and communities they serve.

When independence is protected, advisors can continue doing what they do best—helping people pursue their financial goals.