Financial Security For All: The Finseca Initiative

How to elevate, accelerate, advocate and educate your way to success in the financial security profession

Finseca, a transformative professional trade organization, recently launched with the inspiration to bring financial security to all. Although this admirable goal might seem too ambitious to some, the diverse team of experts at Finseca are already proving they have the integrity, knowledge and resources to make the change possible.

Marc Cadin, CEO of Finseca, is laying the groundwork for financial security professionals to become a unified force. In this Movers and Shakers Special Interview, we look into how his vision gives back to professionals and their communities.

Q: What was the need identified that fueled the creation of Finseca?

There was a noticeable disconnect between the internal perception of the financial security profession and the public perception of the profession. Finseca is built with four pillars in mind — Elevate, Accelerate, Advocate and Educate. We united the profession to advance these critical goals.

Q: What types of benefits will financial professionals find when they join Finseca?

Finseca looks to provide our members with the education, resources and insights they need to realize better outcomes for their clients. To do that, it was important to create a more inclusive environment to recruit and retain the best and brightest and keep our focus on bringing financial security to more diverse communities.

“We know that helping a client improve their financial savvy can be the difference between life and death. Our profession’s responsibility is to help advance the cause of financial security.”

I felt it was important to build innovative pathways to professional growth by facilitating peer-to-peer learning, building communities where all members of distribution can network inside and outside their marketplaces, and ensuring that all our members are experts on products and their solutions and can then use that knowledge to educate their clients in a consultative manner.

Our magazine, Finseca Focus, provides thought leadership by leaders in our profession, and we will lead research on consumer insights that will help our members thrive.

Members will be part of our advocacy as we guide policymakers at both state and federal levels. Currently, especially at the state level, the profession tends to operate defensively. Our members are part of our new, more proactive team.

And our newly launched Finseca Foundation will research, identify and address complex issues so our members can educate consumers about best practices that will deliver financial security for all.

Q: What would you say to the financial security professional who is thinking about joining Finseca?

This profession is built around the singular concept of responsibility. We know that helping a client improve their financial savvy can be the difference between life and death. Our profession’s responsibility is to help advance this cause of financial security.

We saw how this profession was able to affect the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Because the profession was united, we were able to stand up and defeat those tax increases and usher in more financial security for millions more people. We must do the same today.

Q: As a visionary for the industry, what types of policy changes would you like to see happen that would put financial security within the reach of more Americans?

The 199A deduction, which Finseca helped achieve, is one example of legislation that made it easier for our industry to do business. We helped shape the 2017 tax reform acts that affected our industry. We’d like to see stronger public-private partnerships on financial empowerment.

I see an opportunity to do more on emergency savings. Congress did a good job addressing the liquidity issues within financial institutions during the Great Recession, but the middle-class liquidity issue was not addressed. This emergency savings crisis must be addressed to ensure a financially secure country.

Q: What does the future look like for Finseca? What are your goals and vision moving into 2021?

The ultimate vision for Finseca is to unify the profession so we do not have several different inefficient groups with different messages. I would like us to be an organization of 200,000-plus members who are working together to elevate our profession. The only way we are relevant is if we are a vibrant and growing community of professionals.

Are you ready to elevate, accelerate, advocate and educate your way to success with Finseca? Visit www.Finseca.org to learn more.