During the Financial Services Institute’s (FSI) annual OneVoice conference, the advocacy organization announced its 2025 initiatives. Some continue from 2024, and others are new. FSI will continue advocacy on key 2024 initiatives including independent contractor classification, regulation by enforcement, the standard of care mandated for advice, and investor education and protection.
Dale Brown, FSI’s President and CEO, noted that in late 2024 FSI mapped scenarios for various election results to ensure it was prepared for a variety of outcomes. “The new administration creates lots of opportunities,” he said, while noting that many potential dangers and uncertainties lie ahead in the administration and in Congress, where a “razor thin majority” in the House could cause gridlock.
Overall, Brown approaches the new year with optimism: “We built momentum over the past 2+ decades,” he said, pointing out that FSI is in its 21st year. “I look at 2025 with confidence.”
Tim Stinson, Chair of FSI’s Board of Directors and President of Cetera Advisor Networks, said, “Our industry is at a tipping point,” pointing out three areas of inflection for financial services. First, noting the new generations that will inherit through the Great Wealth Transfer, Stinson said, “We need to prepare for a new paradigm of thought about investor goals, objectives and planning.” Second, he noted the aging advisor demographic, and finally, he pointed to the pace of technological advancement and innovation.
New Initiatives
Regulatory modernization and the tax treatment of investments are new initiatives for 2025. Regulatory modernization includes changing “antiquated rules and practices,” as well as addressing new technologies such as AI and cryptoassets. Tax modernization initiatives include restoring the tax deductibility for advisors’ fees that was removed by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 and allowing the 199A pass-through deduction to apply to financial advisors.
Describing the 199A deduction, the IRS explained: “The deduction allows eligible taxpayers to deduct up to 20 percent of their QBI [qualified business income].”
On the 199A question, Christine Byrne, Vice Chair of FSI’s Board of Directors and Founder of Back Cove Financial, emphasized, “We [advisors] don’t just serve main street, we are main street. Any tax incentives we have as a small business are often turned around and put right back into the community.”
New SEC And DOL Leadership
Addressing specific nominees of the Trump administration, Brown said that FSI previously worked with Paul Atkins, the nominee to chair the SEC, adding, “We have confidence we can shape some outcomes” if Atkins takes the helm.
However, Brown noted that FSI doesn’t have a similar history with the administration’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who will affect how the Department of Labor (DOL) approaches the independent contractor status for advisors and the proposed fiduciary rule if she is confirmed to the post.
The independent contractor status is currently pending a court decision, and the DOL continues to appeal a court stay on its fiduciary rule, according to David Bellaire, FSI’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
Chavez-DeRemer previously supported the PRO Act, which could remove advisors’ ability to be classified as independent contractors.
Keynote On Certainty And ‘Flux’
“Our moment in history is one of constant flux,” said April Rinne, Futurist and Change Navigator, giving the first keynote address of OneVoice, titled “Finding Certainty in an Uncertain World.” Rinne, author of the book “Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change,” explained concepts to address the constant state of change as leaders and professionals, focusing on a “flux mindset” that sees change as opportunity, as well as three of the eight “superpowers” in her book: trust, letting go of controlling the future and seeing what is currently invisible.
Rinne assured the audience, “Change fatigue is real,” suggesting that a shift in mindset from finding fear to having hope in the change process and “fall[ing] in love with your relationship to change” can create the leadership and environment necessary to achieve success in a changing world.
Julius Buchanan, Editor in Chief at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at julius.buchanan@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
