The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard

A resource site for investors, brokers, academics and the media.


Building a fiduciary culture of honesty, integrity, and expertise.

Real Fiduciary™ Initiative

The fiduciary standard has been called “the highest standard under the law.” The Real Fiduciary™* practices will reflect broad fiduciary duties in accordance with common law, statute, regulatory opinions, and the Advisers Act of 1940. The Real Fiduciary™ practices will also reflect the high aspirations for the fiduciary standard expressed in the landmark Supreme Court decision, SEC vs Capital Gains Research. The starting point for the Real Fiduciary™ Practices Board deliberations was the Institute’s paper, Six Core Fiduciary Duties for Financial Advisors.

Real Fiduciary™ Practices

2014 to 2017 Best Practices Development & Comments

The Institute has encouraged public comment on the proposed Best (Real Fiduciary™) Practices. Submitted comments can be viewed here.

2017 News

2016 News

2017 Media Coverage

2016 Media Coverage

Best Practices Archive 2014 – 2015

*Effective February 12, 2019, the Institute’s Practices have been renamed Real Fiduciary™ Practices. Prior to this time they were named Best Practices.

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