Tracey Longo

Some members worry the trade group has lost its fee-only focus and is seeking a broader agenda( like DEI). NAPFA officials disagree.

HE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL ADVIsors is hardly the only association to pursue a diversity, equity and inclusion agenda. Late in the last decade, many industry organizations, including the CFP Board and the Financial Planning Association, began challenging the advisory profession to recruit more women, minorities and young advisors. The CEO of one major custodian prominently criticized the business as“ old, pale, male and stale.” Such moves were heralded as a way to not only diversify the industry but reflect the changing nature of wealth, especially as more women take a greater control of global assets and as minority communities that were less served by the financial services industry in the past look for guidance.

But it’ s also no secret that there’ s a war being waged against DEI initiatives by the Trump administration. Ever since the president entered office in January, the administration has released a flurry of executive orders targeting such programs in government and it has attacked the funding of universities that pursue DEI hiring practices.

Against this backdrop, NAPFA, the fee-only financial advisory trade group, has also come under criticism from a small but vocal number of members who say its own DEI initiatives, while well meaning, are a distraction and mask a bigger problem: the association’ s drift away from its original fee-only mission. While members’ work as fee-only advisors has long been part of the organization’ s core identity, critics say the devotion of resources to social justice priorities diverts attention from the basic member services they say NAPFA is failing to provide.

“ NAPFA has lost its way,” says David

14 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2025 WWW. FA-MAG. COM