What fiduciary advisors can learn from Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter died at age 100 on Dec. 29. 

Carter's passing, 44 years after his presidency, has caused an unprecedented outpouring of gratitude. An outpouring that is arguably due to Carter’s habit to wear on his sleeve his fiduciary bona fides throughout his life. The tribute will climax Jan. 9 with a state funeral in Washington DC. 

The 39th president was a public fiduciary and his experience offers lessons for fiduciary advisors.

Carter’s fiduciary sentiments were central to his campaigns for president and human rights and how he acted and thought. The public embraced Carter because he was a passionate leader who spoke honestly. Fiduciary advisors can similarly define themselves, what they do and a fiduciary "best interest" standard. 

Carter entered national politics in 1974 when the nation was exhausted from presidential distrust and tragedy. Two presidents left scars. Nixon for Watergate and Johnson for Vietnam. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations were still fresh. Carter, a farmer and former governor, offered a fresh breath. 

The Carter presidency is viewed as a mixed picture along partisan lines. The Carter post presidency is widely deemed exemplary. Gunnar Berge of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in his 2002 presentation of the peace prize, that he “Was certainly the best ex-president the country ever had.”   

The press and public outpouring in 2024 is no surprise. The public admires a life well-lived serving the public interest. Carter started in the Navy as a nuclear engineer in 1946 and then worked for 78 years until he died. 

For eight years Carter served as governor or president. For the remaining 90 percent of his career Carter pursued other passions. His post presidency “retirement” is a model. Carter did what he believed important and right with Rosalyn at this side. He did so with discipline and energy to serve his family, faith, community, and world. At his core Jimmy Carter was a public fiduciary.  

Carter’s lofty spirit recalls Justice Benjamin Cardozo’s words, when he wrote in 1928 about fiduciary duty as “Something stricter than the morals of the marketplace. Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor most sensitive, is then the standard of behavior.”

Cardozo’s words are poetic. Attorney James W. Watkins explains how they become real, "RIAs are fiduciaries by law, required to always act in the best interest of their clients.” This means, “Fiduciaries are held to an extremely high standard”, with duties of loyalty, putting clients first.”

An “extremely high standard” is an extraordinary feat and honesty is the gold medal. Gallup measures consumer views of “honesty and ethical standards” of occupations. 2023 data show that nurses, engineers and vets are tops with 78 percent, 65 percent, and 60 percent rankings for high honesty and ethics.
Meanwhile, stockbrokers and car salespeople are among the lowest ranked occupations at 12 percent and 8 percent.

Nurses have been first for 22 years. A nursing group explains, “Honesty is one of the primary traits of nurses. They are honest in their words and actions.… They want patients to know the facts.”  
  
Fiduciary spirit and duties thrive in the hearts and compliance practices of thousands of fiduciary advisors. Consumers should be thankful. Against the odds, fiduciary advisors have persevered and are rightly proud to have adopted this “extremely high standard” as their North Star to serve clients.

Yet, many fiduciary advisors do not effectively communicate this extremely high standard in what they do and say. There is little direct comparisons that can assist consumers. There is also no addressing the distrust that still pervades financial services. For the most part communications remain associated to a form of legalese that lacks clarity, authenticity, and transparency. 

The industry environment for fiduciary advisors remains unfriendly. Over the past 20 years, the industry and some regulators have continued to claim that fiduciary and fee-only practices are not a higher standard. This – despite the higher fiduciary standard is emblazoned in the Investment Advisers Act and affirmed by the Supreme Court.  

Jimmy Carter was an unabashed public fiduciary. Carter demonstrated fiduciary loyalty, honesty, and transparency at an extremely high standard. Fiduciary advisors can learn from what Carter did.