The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard

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The 80th Anniversary of the ’40 Act

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This conversation originally appeared on Advisor Perspectives on August 31, 2020.

About this Episode

The Investment Advisers Act of 1940, more commonly known as the 40 Act, is a U.S. federal law that defines the role and responsibilities of an investment advisor. Prompted in part by a 1935 report to Congress on investment trusts and investment companies prepared by the SEC, the act provides the legal groundwork for monitoring those who advise pension funds, individuals and institutions on investing. It specifies what qualifies as investment advice and stipulates who must register with state and federal regulators in order to dispense it.

About the Guests

Knut Rostad, MBA co-founded and chaired the Committee for the Fiduciary Standard and co-founded and is president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance the fiduciary standard through research, education and advocacy.

Ron Rhoades is director of the Western Kentucky University’s personal financial planning program, where he is an assistant professor of finance. Ron focuses his research on the fiduciary duties of personal financial planners and investment advisers under ERISA, the ’40 Act, and state common law. He is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences on the future of the investment advisory profession, due diligence, and developments in the regulation of investment advice.

Jim Allen, CFA, is head of the Americas capital markets policy group at the CFA Institute. In this capacity, he has also been involved with the work of the Systemic Risk Council which was formed and funded in part by CFA Institute. Before, he worked with the European Advocacy Committee, responding to policy initiatives of the European Commission and regulatory proposals in France, Germany, Switzerland, and UK.

Dan Moisand

 

Dan Moisand is a nationally recognized fiduciary fee-only financial planner, an Institute Real Fiduciary™ Advisor and Chair-elect of the CFP Board.

The Institute has enshrined the ‘Moisand Rule’ on fiduciary practices. It is basic and is more important today than ever: “You have to avoid conflicts. If I avoid a conflict, I don’t worry about it.”

Watch the video of Moisand speaking here.

Bob Veres

 

Bob Veres is a long term observer of financial planning. His Newsletter, “Inside information” Is a staple of leading planners. In the May edition he writes about fiduciary and the Institute.

"But a much bigger point is that the fiduciary standard—as Knut Rostad of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard has pointed out—has been determined by the Supreme Court (1963 ruling) to be at the very heart of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. It is the foundation of what it means to be an RIA registered with the SEC instead of a tipster or a tout."

- Bob Veres, Parting Thoughts ... The SEC's Own Compliance Culture