Date: April 2025

In Episode #28 of NAPFA Nation, host Marie Swift speaks with Knut A Rostad, MBA, President at The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.

Rostad discusses why he believes the fiduciary standard is dying at the SEC and what fee-only fiduciary advisors can do to protect it, a topic he explored in his NAPFA article: The Fiduciary Best Interest Standard is Dying at the SEC – Fee-Only Fiduciary Advisers Can Act to Preserve it. He underscores the importance of understanding the history of fee-only financial advisory and investment management and how NAPFA members uphold the fiduciary standard. He also shares why he is looking forward to the 2025 NAPFA Spring Conference, happening on May 7-10, 2025, in Phoenix, and more great insights.

In a nutshell:

• The dwindling fiduciary standard at the SEC: its implications for fee-only financial advisory and investment management, and how to address the problem
• The importance of understanding the history of fee-only financial advisory
• Why upholding the fiduciary standard is imperative, and NAPFA’s role in supporting it
• The 2025 NAPFA Spring Conference: why he is attending and what there is to look forward to

Knut A. Rostad, MBA
Knut A. Rostad, MBA, is president and co-founder of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit organization established in 2011 to advance fiduciary principles through research, education, and advocacy. With a deep commitment to investor protection and ethical financial practices, he has become a nationally recognized voice on fiduciary conduct in the investment and financial planning professions.

Prior to founding the Institute, Rostad served as regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, a registered investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia. Rostad is the editor of The Man in the Arena: Vanguard Founder John C. Bogle and His Lifelong Battle to Serve Investors First (Wiley, 2013) and is a frequent contributor to Advisor Perspectives. He speaks regularly at national conferences and is widely quoted in both financial trade publications and mainstream media. In 2014, he was named to Investment Advisor Magazine’s “IA 25,” recognizing the most influential individuals in the advisor community.

He holds an MBA and continues to advocate for higher standards and greater transparency in financial advice.

Learn more at www.TheFiduciaryInstitute.org