Knut Rostad puts fiduciary advice up against best-interest standards

Episode 74

Episode Summary

Jeff takes Knut Rostad of The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard deep into the weeds and back in a discussion designed to untangle the endless regulatory wrangling over whether brokers or advisers have the better standard of practice. Do consumers even understand or care about so much inside baseball? Or is this whole debate just an attempt to leverage a marketing advantage?

Episode Notes

In this episode, you’ll hear about: 

  • What exactly is investor confusion.
  • How the SEC specifically deals with retail investors and regulation.
  • How we got to the SEC's Reg BI and Form CRS in June 2019.

Guest Bio:

Knut A. Rostad is the co-founder and president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance fiduciary principles and practices in investment advice and financial planning through research, education and advocacy. Previously, Rostad served as the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, an investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia.

The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard offers guidance on fiduciary and why it matters. Rostad has authored articles, papers and comment letters to the SEC and DOL, and is cited in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters and industry outlets. IA Magazine’s ‘IA 25’ list in 2014, “the most influential people in and around the advisor industry” named Rostad.

Rostad is the editor of The Man in the Arena: Vanguard Founder John C. Bogle and His Lifelong Battle to Serve Investors First, by Wiley. His BA in Political Science is from the University of Vermont and an MBA from the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo.

Recent episodes
  • Episode 192
  • Aug 07, 2025

InvestmentNews reviews the highs and the lows of the wealth management industry

July is supposed to be a slow month, but InvestmentNews has a fascinating list of stories worth paying attention to.

InvestmentNews reviews the highs and the lows of the wealth management industry
  • Episode 191
  • Jul 24, 2025

InvestmentNews reviews the first half of 2025

The InvestmentNews editorial team recaps the twists and turns of the first half of 2025.

InvestmentNews reviews the first half of 2025
  • Episode 190
  • Jul 11, 2025

Meet Andrew Cohen: From sports biz to RIA beat at InvestmentNews

Bruce chats with reporter Andrew Cohen, who has covered the RIA industry for InvestmentNews since late March, while crossing over with his old beat covering sports business as the trendy asset class just hit a record-breaking $10 billion team sale.

Meet Andrew Cohen: From sports biz to RIA beat at InvestmentNews
  • Episode 189
  • Jun 26, 2025

"We're on the precipice of the Fourth Industrial Revolution"

Bruce speaks to Osaic CEO Jamie Price about the long-term outlook driving M&A activity and why financial advisors, it turns out, are the most important part of the equation.

"We're on the precipice of the Fourth Industrial Revolution"