Diane Boyle is the Senior Vice President of Government Relations for NAIFA. Diane advocates for state, interstate, and federal laws that benefit the good of the people. She graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in political science and government.
In a world where political dynamics constantly shift, how do financial advisors navigate the complexities of new policies, executive orders, and legislative changes? With a new president in office and an administration eager to make its mark, there is much at stake for financial services professionals. How are they adapting to the rapidly evolving landscape, and what are the key issues that could impact their industry?
Experienced financial services professional Diane Boyle delves into how she and her team have navigated the storm of political activity and uncertainty. With new executive orders and a Congress filled with fresh faces, she emphasizes the importance of understanding the legislative process and how it affects financial advisors. She explains the intricacies of Senate confirmation hearings, the potential impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and the role of tariffs in shaping economic conditions. Diane also highlights how social media and news cycles influence public perception and political narratives, underscoring the need for financial professionals to remain informed and engaged.
In this episode of Advisor Today, Chris Gandy interviews Diane Boyle, Senior Vice President of Government Relations for NAIFA, about the intersection of politics and financial advising. Diane discusses the fast-paced world of politics, the impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the financial services industry, the balance between executive orders and congressional powers, and how individual advisors can amplify their influence through collective action within NAIFA.
Quotable Moments:
Action Steps:
This episode is brought to you by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, or NAIFA, the #1 association for producers in financial services.
At NAIFA, we enhance professional skills, promote ethical conduct, and advocate for legislative and regulatory environments.
By joining NAIFA, you gain access to a partnership that elevates your performance while providing greater purpose to your professional work. NAIFA members are happier, make more money, and stay in the business longer.
Get in touch with NAIFA and learn more about how to join NAIFA by visiting NAIFA.org.
Intro 00:02
Welcome to NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast series, where we focus on how financial advisors work, live, and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now let's get started with the show.
Chris Gandy 00:20
Hi everyone. Welcome to Advisor Today's podcast where we give the voice of the advisor a note. But today we're going to be talking all things politics with our wonderful Diane Boyle. But before we get started today, we do have a sponsor that we would like to highlight. Zack, who's our sponsor for today.
Zack Huels 00:41
Our sponsor for today is Life Happens. Life Happens created and coordinates the Insure Your Love campaign each February. Because the basic motivation behind the purchase of life insurance is love. People want to protect their loved ones, and one of the best ways to do that financially is with life insurance. So this year's theme for the campaign is Life insurance for anyone who loves.
If you love someone, the answer is clear. The answer is they need life insurance. So whether you love your spouse or partner, your children or grandchildren, your parents, or your favorite charity. Life insurance means they're protected financially. So you can find out more at lifehappens.org or lifehappens.org. Back to you.
Chris Gandy 01:19
Love it Zack. It is February and ensure your love month. Life happens. Start to share the videos.
Start to talk about Life Happens. It is a golden opportunity for us as NAIFA members to leverage the real work in which we do and tell the stories of the people that have benefited from the work that we do with our clients and life happens is our conduit to do that. With that being said, I'm super excited to have a conversation with none other than our very own Diane Boyle. And Diane is so great to see you, but we're seeing you. And in one of the shortest timelines here of a new president taking over and lots of politics and politicians.
Every time I turn on the TV, I'm seeing something new and executive orders. Wow. I mean, tell me, how busy is it for you now that all these things are kind of happening at the same time?
Diane Boyle 02:21
Yeah. That old adage of drinking from a fire hose comes to mind, right? All of a sudden we had the lull of the holidays, and you come back and you're waiting for Congress, the new Congress, to be sworn in. And that's actually kind of a fun day for us here in Washington. They have open houses, and you go and you meet all the new members of Congress and their staffs.
And same with the returning members. They've had staff changes. You get to go into their offices and meet them. So we sort of eased into, oh, this is great. Then you have the swearing-in of the president and then everything starts going.
Now we've got, you know, things are starting to move. You have the Senate really focused on nominees from the NRA for perspective. Treasury has been confirmed. That will be obviously of importance to us. We're looking at HHS, which if you've watched any of that's been a little a little kooky.
It'll be interesting to see whether that goes through or not. If. Robert F Kennedy Jr. doesn't receive the nomination or the nod, the confirmation from the Senate, then who is the backup nominee? Do you do the deputy nominee that was put up? Do you drop down to maybe Doctor Oz who was put up for.
CMS administrator. So we're watching that one. That one I think is really kind of fascinating to watch. And then the other for us is the Department of Labor Labour nominee who was a former congresswoman out of Washington who supported the Pro act, which for some of our independent advisers was concerning, you know, would they be able to continue to operate as independent contractors or would they be deemed employees? So I think her nomination will go through.
It will just be interesting to see. We've already started seeing some of the questioning where the Senate, I think will push her on that and we'll be fine. But that's kind of an interesting dynamic from the side of things.
Chris Gandy 04:30
So Diane, let's talk optics. Let's talk politics in just general terms. Right. So we've seen that as the new presidency has brought in their leaders, we've seen the swearing-in or the going before, you know, the Senate, some of the almost seems like they're hearings, right? I don't know if they really are all right, but.
But it seems like there's been it seems like it's been more of an interrogation of some of these, some of these people. Is that because — so talk to us a little bit about the role because I think it has always been that way, or are we watching some of the let's call it sound bites come out because of what social media is doing to the impression of politics? And can you talk a little bit about how that's playing out in the world in which we're seeing in politics now?
Diane Boyle 05:40
Oh, 100%. So, the 24-hour news cycle has, you know, people grabbing bits. But to answer your first question, let me go back a little bit. Has it always been there are Hearings. That is what it's designed to do.
They've always been. It's been a little weird over the past few cycles where typically the president will come in. He'll make — I was going to say he or she, but we haven't gotten to she yet. But eventually he or she will make their nominations. They go through this Senate confirmation process, which requires hearings, but typically the senators and usually in a bipartisan manner, will approve whoever the president nominates, because that's sort of their thing.
It's going to be their cabinet. They get to pick. There's been a little more pushback recently, and I think it's because we've seen such polarization in the parties on both sides. So you have not only your typical members of Congress or Senators that they really do a lot of times work with each other that isn't seen in this 24-hour news cycle. They do work together.
They do find common ground at some point. So but then they're the bomb throwers on either side. So when you're trying to balance the bomb throwers with your mainstream politicians who work together to try to find solutions, what's attractive to show on social media, what's attractive to show on social media is the larger-than-life events, right? So if somebody misspeaks, if somebody fumbles, that's what they're going to show. So we're seeing a lot more so that that does, I think, play into this feeling of, oh my gosh, this is such a horrible process.
And you know, even your reaction of it seems like it's a hearing. It is a hearing. It always has been. It is that you're supposed to stand up and prove yourself. But prior it was stand up, prove yourself.
But give us your qualifications. Tell us what you do. Tell us. I'll push on what my sensitivity points are. I'll go back even to the Department of Labor secretary.
Right. And our pushback, the recommendations that we would make to senators is, you know what? You might want to probe a little bit on her support of the Pro Act and what does that mean? And that would be the type of questioning. So you can say, okay, where is this nominee going to go when they get confirmed.
And unless it was somebody completely unqualified, you give the president who they put up. And I think that'll still sort of come through for the most part. But there are a couple of candidates because the type of candidate that has been selected has not been your traditional candidate. So that comes into play, but also the sort of change in environment.
Chris Gandy 08:49
So, Diane, let's go a little deeper with that. So it is a hearing right where I'm supposed to go up and prove to myself. But you have let's call it nontraditional politicians coming in who's not been in politics before. Right. All of a sudden coming in like businessmen or business, women coming in or lawyers coming in that have not served in any political roles at all.
They've been and now they're, they're coming in. With trying to, let's say, bring their business sense to DC. Right. And so some of that obviously makes sense. Some of it doesn't make sense.
Can you speak to a little bit about and you mentioned like how social media gets played out. So tell us how it really works. So because again the fun stuff is how it really works. So behind the scenes that you don't see on TV, what's really happening in that cabinet? Like, are they asking questions along the lines of like their belief, what they, you know, their intent of how they're going to if they were to become, say, the secretary of state or they were to become the Department of Defense, or they were to become the Treasury Secretary, are they asking questions on both sides?
And are they getting support on both sides? Because all we see now is stark differences and those being highlighted. So how does it really work?
Diane Boyle 10:27
So I think what's interesting is, is you see that the hearings are made public. And so that's the show. What's not shown is the candidates actually will interview with whatever committee oversees that particular nominee. So in our issues that they typically go before the finance committee. The nominees will have individual meetings with those senators, and the senators will push them really hard usually in those meetings.
If there's a concern, if it's somebody that they naturally gravitate towards and they think is going to be a fabulous appointment, then you know, the questioning isn't harsh for the sake of being harsh. But if there's concern, if there's any doubt that this is the candidate that I or the nominee that I want to support, or if I have any concerns, I want to have those conversations before we get in the public hearing. So I'm going to push you, Christopher, and say, you know what? Look, you've taken some past positions that really make me uncomfortable.
Are you willing — have you changed positions? Do you no longer support that? How did you evolve? How did you go from being over here to now? You're over here.
Tell me how you got there. Tell me that you're going to stay here if that's where I want you to be. And so those conversations happen one on one, and then you typically know when they get to that hearing point, then it's. I don't want to say softer questions, but almost rehearsed questions. The nominee has gotten to hear that.
You know what? If we go back to Bobby Kennedy and Senator Cassidy, he knows Senator Cassidy is a doctor. Senator Cassidy has been very vocal about I believe in, you know, vaccinations. And you've taken positions that say that you don't tell me that you do. So then when it plays out in the hearing, he's able to say, yes, I'm not against all vaccines.
I just had some questions with whatever. But what was fascinating on that one, and where I think you'll the ones that you should watch is when they won't change their position, when they've given the opportunity. You've had your one on one. You know what my concerns are. If you want to get my vote, you need to be able to reassure me.
I'm going to set you up so that you can say, this is how my position has evolved. And if they don't, then those are the ones that cause me to go. I don't know, I don't know if they're going to make it.
Chris Gandy 13:12
You know, one of the more interesting ones I don't I don't have time. I have a business to run and I have clients to see. But the one that actually was one of the more interesting ones was the one with the guy from the FBI. That one was very interesting because not only was he very articulate, not only was he very calculated, but he was very matter-of-fact. His answer almost every time was I follow the law, I'm going to follow the law.
I follow the law for the last three different presidents, I'm going to follow the law. So that was kind of interesting because it seemed like they both sides were attempting to push and pull him and get him to say things that he just wasn't willing to say. And so that part of politics seems so interesting, because when they can't get underneath someone's skin, right, and get them to kind of waffle or get them to try and change that, it seems like we don't see a lot of that. Because he didn't change at all. Like it was kind of interesting to just watch him stone cold, just follow the law and I always will follow the law.
Will you change? And they're like, no, I will follow the law. Well, will you actually. And they were talking about Guantanamo Bay is what they were talking about. And the conversation was Will you open it back up he goes.
I will just follow the law. That's what I will do. He goes, that's what I'm going to do. And I will always do that. And I've always done that.
And it was just kind of interesting to see them kind of pull. But as you mentioned, he had had meetings. Right. But he did mention that there were people that would not take his meeting, even though he requested it, because they wanted to do some of the song and dance.
Right. I'm not going to tell you what I got in my hand. I'm not going to tell you. I'm just going to do it on a national stage. Right. And I think it got to a place pretty quickly where they figured out, okay, this guy's not budging.
Diane Boyle 15:17
He's not going to play.
Chris Gandy 15:18
He's not going to entertain what we're trying to do. So Dan, let's shift gears. So we know the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is here. It's upon us. We're in February.
Talk to us a little bit about what we should anticipate because this is a big deal for everybody. Well, let's go back. So now let's say, Terry, this tariff thing is a thing. We'll talk about a couple of different things. I just want your political, your where you are and where NAIFA stands and kind of what, what people in insurance and financial services industries should be thinking about.
What does tariffs mean in our industry? How will it affect financial services? With those things being enacted as we speak.
Diane Boyle 16:19
Or if we've already seen some pullback right on, Mexico has already said we're going to delay that and we're going to have conversations. The tariffs is obviously of interest for the industry as a whole. It's going to impact the companies because the companies are playing internationally for membership. Where we try to focus is more on some of the other issues that are going to come into play, and especially when you get to TCJA, I don't know that the tariffs are going to play there because he's doing that by executive order. When you look at the expiring tax provisions, what's really interesting there is that whenever you have the trifecta, you can use something called reconciliation, which means that it's a Republican-only play this time around, because it's the Republicans that have the White House, the House and the Senate majorities, the majority in the House wants.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik accepts her nomination and she resigns. They're going to have a one-seat margin. I don't know if you've gone to dinner with friends. Do you guys all agree on one meal. I mean, how difficult is it to get everyone to agree on something?
Is everyone going to eat bread? Or are we all going to eat bread and have it with butter? Or are some going to have bread and have no butter? So I'm going to have no bread. Some are going to have bread with olive oil.
Getting everyone to agree — everyone — is a huge undertaking. And what I think people don't realize is when TCJA went into effect, it was the same scenario. You had a Republican sweep. The margins were better in the House and what they are now. 13 members voted against it.
If 13 members voted against it and you have a one-seat majority, the math doesn't work. So it's a huge undertaking to be able to say, how do we renew these expiring provisions that we think are good? How do we get those to go into place. 61% of Congress. Was not here when TCJA went into effect.
So they don't remember the process. They don't remember how they got there. They don't remember how they lost 13 votes. So how do you pull people in and say, if you want to run this through reconciliation? Everyone's got to be aligned and you have some outliers.
So how do you get the outliers to come in in order to get this done? Then the numbers change on the actual cost. So the rough estimate now on just renewing TCJA is about 5 or $6 trillion. In order to use reconciliation, you have to have a budget process that says what is the baseline? Then once that is agreed upon, which I think that's going to be the bigger challenge for the members of Congress is to agree on those numbers.
Then you go back to the committees and the committee say, okay, here's where we're going to make cuts. This is what we're going to do. And then you start moving the process. But that's the real challenge is there's no room for error. None.
On getting Republicans aligned to support this if they're going to move it. And how do you get them to align? That's where the challenge comes in for us as an industry. You mentioned the industry. And like where does this all intersect with what we're doing.
They have to find the revenue, because a lot of the members that are pushing back and saying, I don't want to just renew it, we keep adding to the national debt, and I'm not comfortable doing that, and I'm not going to vote for this thing. They have to be convinced that we're going to reduce the debt and the deficit going forward. And what type of cuts are you willing to make. So where are you going to find revenue. And then when you start saying, okay, where do you find revenue?
Remember the industry got hit in 2017 as a pay-for. When they start looking for revenue. If you look at the Joint Committee on Taxation goes through all the different tax expenditures. So if there's a tax change that could be made, that would generate revenue to the federal government, that's considered a tax expenditure. I think there's $6.6 trillion in our industry.
So if you look at 5 or $6 trillion needed and you look at our industry now, no one's saying that I don't want to scare people needlessly. You need to be a little bit scared. Not a lot scared. They're not looking at wiping out the whole industry, but that's what they have to find. And if we have those numbers in our industry, they're going to look.
And I think we've done a really good job. This is why we've been talking for years. TCJA is going to expire. They're going to need to pay for it. We need to make sure that people understand the good that our industry does.
Why? When they look at those tax expenditures, they say, you know what, we don't want to make it more difficult for people to save for retirement. Okay. So now when they look at it, it's not just a number sign. It really is sound financial planning that's going to benefit their constituents.
And it's going to benefit Congress and the government long term to make sure that the industry is strong. And that's the conversation that we kind of have to have and have been having. So I feel good-ish about that. But you know, when your belly meets your backbone. Where are you going to get the money.
Chris Gandy 22:31
So, Diane, let's you know, I asked the question about tariffs. I'll go back there for a second. I guess if the definition of, you know, because the people here will pay the expense because I'm assuming the companies will pass on that 25% or whatever it is to the people. So then things become more expensive, which is the definition when goods become more expensive and there's not more money is the definition of inflation.
Okay. So all of a sudden we add inflation back to back to the mix where we're trying to cut inflation. Right. Which is kind of an oxymoron right. By creating this we may increase inflation which makes it tough.
But people will have you know how I related. Is that because it may cost $1.25 to buy that doughnut now versus $1, people will have less money to either live off of or to save, which then delays possibly the change of the delays when they would actually be able to retire money that they could save. So in some respect, it or the insurance that they can afford to protect their family. Right. Because we've seen insurance rates go wacko Jacko.
I was my car, which is dying. I joke all the time that I drive a car right now. I've been driving for the last 12 years. I have 500,000 miles on it, which is kind of crazy. Right now.
It's 505,000 right now. I can show it to you and just not buy a new car. Because why? Because it's really expensive right now. And number two is, even though my car is 11 years old, some of the insurance rates because of inflation and because the arbitrage and, you know, insurance companies being able to make money.
And they pulled out of other, other parts of the country. We've seen it in Florida. We're seeing it now in California. We're seeing some of the larger insurers pull out of certain places. So they have to pass the cost on to others.
And so without having any accidents, the ten-year-old car with 500,000 miles on it, my insurance happens to go up by 23% in the last year. And I'm like, well, how is that possible? Right. That is the logic. Doesn't make any sense.
But it has to go somewhere. So we've seen some changes subtly without us actually agreeing to it. That's kind of happening behind the scenes because of the industry. So I think people will have less money to actually do some of the planning that they need, that they need to do. But things are costing more like 500,000, while cars cost more to drive it and put another 50,000 miles on it.
It is what it is. But an industry that is interesting that's coming on the scene. Why not? So if the insurance industry has, call it six, five, 6 billion is an opportunity. What is crypto have because that's an industry that's really interesting because when their initial tax job they cut out that when that act came on board crypto wasn't as good looking as it is now.
Right. It wasn't as attractive as it is now. It is common marketplace now that that's an industry that has kind of came out of nowhere, right. Really created some opportunity. And is that not an opportunity to start to tax or to create revenue for our country or for Congress?
Diane Boyle 26:17
Yeah. That's interesting. And I'll have to go back and look and see how. So in two things. Well, I'll give you three things. The numbers and the math that applies in Congress doesn't really apply in the real world, which is really fun. And what I mean by that is they're looking at certain entities.
So the Joint Committee on Taxation produces numbers. I have to look at how they look at those numbers, and they don't look at them in a dynamic sense. So your conversation about, well, what if we see interest rates go up. And what if the cost of goods. That's dynamic scoring that that's going to be a reaction to something and they don't score it that way.
Sometimes dynamic scoring can play in the industry's favor. Sometimes it can play against us. The Congressional Budget Office doesn't typically use dynamic scoring either, but Congress can direct CBO on some of the ways that they look at numbers. And so that could come into play as well. So to answer your question on crypto, where I was going initially was I need to go back and look at JCT and see whether that's something that they score or not and in what those dollars look like.
And I will because that's actually very interesting. You're right. That has sort of changed. But I don't know if they look at that change as a dynamic scoring element because it is going to change there. Because I don't know what kind of voodoo they do with the math.
I'm very simplistic. If I can't do it with these ten, then I'm probably out of commission. But I don't know whether they're looking at crypto in the fact that it's now become more mainstream, whether that's, I don't know how they need to look at it. I just don't know that answer. But you're right.
Those are areas that are going to be looked upon. We're starting to see some of the payfors surface. And right now it's looking like it would be. And this is one that would hit us sort of indirectly, as you were talking about what happens when the companies do things and then it impacts the clients that you work with, the what they're calling sea salt, which I think is always I love when we come up with fun terms, right. We have to do things to entertain ourselves.
Sea salt is actually the corporate, state and local tax deduction. So I know we've talked a lot about Salt and how that plays on the individual side, where you see high-cost areas like New York, California, Illinois is probably in there as well. I know Virginia gets hit a little bit too on that, not having that ability to deduct your state and local taxes and how that impacts individuals. What they're looking at now is a possible pay for is having the deduction for the corporations, their state and local taxes to change those. And I think that'll impact obviously the companies which to your point, if the companies are then putting together how do they make a profit, how do they support their businesses that's going to impact the cost of the products that they're producing.
So that's something that actually is, I think, very real on the table that we need to watch really closely. The other thing is 501(c)(3)s and their ability, and it's really more directed at universities. And some of the funding and the positions that the universities have taken where they're looking at pulling back funds that could impact, not necessarily Christopher Gandy as an agent working with consumers, but it certainly could impact Christopher Gandy as a member of NAIFA. If suddenly it changes the nonprofit's tax status. Right?
So we're looking at that more from an organizational standpoint, more so than how it would directly hit our members working with clients. But if you don't have NAIFA here to protect you, then eventually it's going to hit the clients too. So that's another one. But that's what we're waiting for right, is where do you come up with these pay-for and how are they going to impact the industry.
Chris Gandy 30:44
So Diane, I'm going to ask a question that perhaps you can give. I'm not the only person in NAIFA who may not know the answer to this. Okay. So again this is probably one on one for you. This is probably 301 for some other people.
And this is some people have never asked this question. The question I have and I'm asking on behalf of our constituents, which is our members, is What? What? Things have to go before Congress. And what things can actually just be executive order, because a lot of the things that I'm seeing in some of these executive orders, I'm like, that's a Congress thing like that.
It just seems like that makes sense. And then what things? I guess what things should go. I mean, I guess, I guess you could ask the question, what should go and what should go? But what makes it so that an executive order can get it done versus it goes to the through the, through the, through the process of Congress.
Is there specific things that I don't know the answer to? This is the reason why I'm asking. And perhaps there's other people listening to this that don't know the answer either. Like, how can he just keep signing executive orders, like, all day long, right. Or to roll the Congress play in this, if any at all. Right. Very little. Right. So can you give that some color?
Diane Boyle 32:02
Sure. So on the executive. Orders, what you're saying and a lot and specifically with relation to the tariffs. The way that the president is able to issue executive orders there is that he's claiming that it's an emergency because of the illegal drugs and immigrants that are coming across the borders. And so he's able to use executive order for those reasons. There are other things that he's not allowed to issue an executive order on. There are some things where the administration will probably.
Agree with my statement and say that they're pushing really hard. And so they're probably pushing the envelope on some issues. But that tends to be how President Trump rolls. He's going to push hard. And then if he says, oh, I overstepped, okay, then then push me back.
Have the lawsuit go through. He's going to be aggressive in his approach. But by and large when you're looking at the changes to the tax code that's done through Congress that there's a very specific way that that has to be done and that that can't be done by executive order. And I don't think even with an aggressive approach on the administration to issue executive orders on things, that's not that's not going to make it, and that I don't think there's anyone that would advise and say, yes, Mr. President, you go ahead and give that a shot. Let's see how far we can go, because that's not going to go very far at all.
So I think on that our most of our issues typically stay within the realm of Congress and the regulatory agencies, which I think is going to be really interesting to see how that plays out, too. There's a lot of changes that are being done to the regulatory agencies in general. There's a natural redoing or resetting of the regulatory agencies when you have a change in administration. And on top of that, you have the Chevron court case that says, you know, a lot of the power of putting together laws needs to be done by Congress and not defer to the regulatory agencies. So I think we're going to see sort of a pullback on the ability of the regulatory agencies to act as aggressively as they have in the past, which I think they probably were overstepping to a certain extent.
We certainly felt like they were stepping into areas where they really didn't have authority. And so I think there's going to be some pullback there and just a lot of change. And so there's going to be a lot of uncertainty as how does this play out.
Chris Gandy 34:55
So let's take for example one of our regulatory you know regulation bodies the SEC right. And I did notice that they moved crypto out of the SEC and moved it to being regulated by the Department of like trade or something and some something crazy, right. But we're dealing with money. So I do think that the regulation that we are subject to now will look completely different going forward. Just simply because it's been fairly it's gotten more and more stringent, which has led to, you know, if you look at the last ten years, there's less agents in the business because of the regulation and because of the scrutiny that we're under and all the things I'll give you an example of that is, you know, if I happen to have an investment that say, my friends want to do or something and I want to put in $5,000.
You know, I've got to sell my cat, my house, my dog. And I got to tell the SEC, like, hey, listen, this is everything I got and why I have it and why am I, why my eyes are brown and why I'm six nine and where I came from and actually where my mother lives and. And you're like, why? What does that have to do with this investment? And the answer is because we need to know everything.
And so the regulation itself, it would be good for a change in regulation or how stringent it is, especially during business. I just think about other NAIFA members, their ability, their ability to do business with their broker-dealers has become, you know, the story of any industry is that broker-dealers are basically roadblocks of how not to do business. Right. This is very difficult because of the regulation and the pressure they put on some of the broker-dealers. So you are dead spot on with regulations.
So speaking of regulation. So give us some color on for those who don't know what is this new regulated regulatory body, this DOGE thing that Elon Musk is involved with. What is that? Is it a committee built for, if I'm not mistaken, oversight of overspending or something crazy. But can you give it from your perspective?
Like what is it and why does it exist and can it be helpful? I don't know the answer to that.
Diane Boyle 37:32
And you were saying with DOGE, right? You cut out on me. Yeah. No, it started as not an official agency or department. So it has no regulatory authority. It was more of a let's explore and some give you an aside though, because I thought it was a brilliant idea and I'm really kind of bummed bombed early on. I said it needed to be pronounced doggy, and they needed to have Snoop Dogg because it was just off the Olympics. And I'm like, get him to do the public service announcements.
Like, if we're going to do this, let's make it fun. And, you know, I even tagged Snoop in something and I didn't get anything, so I failed. I failed on that effort, but I still think it was the right way to go. But to answer your question, what are they doing? I think they are looking at efficiency in the government.
I think it can be a good thing. I'm not sure the approach is necessarily the best thing. It's going to need congressional oversight in order to get any of the recommendations really moving in and going through, even on some of the executive orders. And that's where, you know, where is this coming from?
Was that part of DOJ's recommendations that then had the President thinking, okay, I can issue A freeze on. Different funds going out. I can issue an executive order for the regulatory agencies to pull back different positions. And he's getting challenged on some of that, some of that's being pushed back on the idea that there was a notice that went out to employees in the different regulatory agencies that said, if you issue your resignation now, just say resign and we'll compensate you through a given point. There's some questions whether, you know, that can be done, can't be done, and that's being pulled back.
That's where I kind of talked about the president being willing to push the envelope on some things. So it's not an official entity, but there are elements of it that will certainly influence the administration on how it goes about doing things, Which is going to be fascinating because, you know, it can be good and bad. I can look at the government, you know, to your point where we saw some of the challenges that we had with some of the regulatory agencies. And it's not just that they have illogical regulations and rules that they're putting in place on some of our members. It's the duplication and IT and duplication that may run counter to each other.
So then you're sorting through, well, in order to be compliant here, I'm not compliant there. How do I reconcile the two regulations. And then oh, by the way, our industry is heavily regulated by the states too. Let's pull that in and figure it all out. But it sounds good.
And we're smart regulation. We don't want to be an unregulated, wild, wild West industry, but it has to be smart regulation. And that's sort of where we're going. So from that aspect I can say, okay, the agencies need to become more efficient. They need to be more logical.
They need to be talking to each other so that we're not having all this duplicative regulations that are imposed on the industry that are overly burdensome without any real benefit. But then on the flip side, if you're coming in and saying, let's just blow this thing up, then, then where does the history and the understanding and the knowledge base come from? What are you putting in there to replace that? Always in any approach to change, always go back to the old analogy like you never tear down the old bridge until the new bridge is built. If you think it's rickety and it's old and it needs to come down, fine, get this new bridge built and tell me how we're going to transition between the two.
You know, you just don't go from A to Z without some transition in between. And the transition is usually what gets us.
Chris Gandy 41:59
Diane, I don't know why we don't have you on more. We need to have you on like every like 4 to 6 weeks. And the reason why is because I think my opinion. It's just my opinion. Everybody can type in on this.
But the way in which you talk and discuss some of the important items, we can we as NAIFA members can get distracted by the other things that clickbait or these narratives where we forget about how this relates to us in our industry specifically, that allows for us to do what we do with the freedom that we can do it with, and the ability to make a living doing it. There are other countries where our industry is gone because of the regulation and because of the insight. So those members who aren't active. How do they get. So I'm going to close here in a minute.
But how? How do people get active with their local people, their local Congress people, their Senators? How do they get active? What do they do? What are some of the steps that they can do so that our voices are being heard around the country?
Because we do have representatives and representation in every district and every state.
Diane Boyle 43:21
Yeah. So great question. And the answer is super easy. And it can be on whatever level you want. But you have to be involved.
It's something that we like to call it for the power of you. The power of us. So you as an individual have tremendous power. But you know what? And you absolutely can influence and change regulations and laws in a positive way.
The downside of it is you can't do it alone. And that's the power of us, because we're taking all of your individual stories and you reference the reach that we have in every congressional district. That's the ability to take all of those individual stories and present them to members of Congress who care about numbers and say, these are the people and these are the ways that we influence. So the way that you get involved, the way that you have your individual voice heard, is you've taken the first step. If you're a member, you need to be a member.
You need to make sure that you're watching. For our state chapters all have state legislative days. Now, it depends on whether their state legislature is in session that year. Not all of them are having state legislative days this year. That gives you an opportunity to develop relationships with your state legislators. What's that?
Chris Gandy 44:45
I'm counting. That's good. That's one easy thing for them to do. So get involved. State legislative.
Diane Boyle 44:50
Legislative days. Watch for your state legislative day.
Chris Gandy 44:53
Go and go to become a day for three congressional conference.
Diane Boyle 44:59
You're going to want to come to Washington, D.C. you're going to meet your federal lawmakers that way.
Chris Gandy 45:04
Yep.
Diane Boyle 45:05
Number three, I would say, is.
Chris Gandy 45:09
Already.
Diane Boyle 45:10
You went for.
Chris Gandy 45:11
I'm already on for the member show up at the state, becoming a member, show up at the state organization, get involved and then congressional conference. We're at four.
Diane Boyle 45:22
At four. Okay. See, I told you, I can't do math very well. It's got it's got to be on the fingers, and you're holding me accountable. I'll throw out. The other thing, if you are a member, you need to be contributing to the PAC. The reason that you do that is, you're actually helping to elect candidates who understand or are willing to understand our industry. And that's going to matter when they come to Congress. So and to the state legislatures, our PAC supports both state candidates as well as federal candidates. So that that would be the fifth or sixth.
I don't know who you put your fingers down. I don't know where we are anymore. We've got five good ones. But there are easy ways to get involved and they really can be fun and super impactful. And if you can't make the legislative day, but you can come to Washington and may do that if you can't come to Washington in May, but you're available during August recess. We do in-district meetings. You can participate in those. Just watch and raise your hand to do this, respond to the action alerts when they come out.
Because that will help show industry support or opposition to an initiative. It really is. It's up. You can pick your path, if you will, on how to influence. But the ability of our members to really tell those stories.
And Christopher, you just sent in the real life story on long term care. You know, those types of stories are what really make legislators understand why our industry is so important, so that when they are doing a search for revenue, that they're understanding our industry beyond just a dollar sign.
Chris Gandy 47:19
Exactly. Diane, you are always the guru and knowledge that members need and they need to hear. We don't hear from you enough. We love to. We talked about some of the changes. The one thing that's common, Diane, is we need to be prepared for change.
Right. And that the most common theme that I heard is optimism and change. So we've got to be prepared for change regardless of what's happening, regardless of what's happening around us, regardless of what's going on. And we have to have the ability to shift and be prepared for. Nation is listening.
Is there any final words that you would like to share from your perspective?
Diane Boyle 48:01
Other than to get involved and to find a colleague and have them join the. The more people that we can bring into our organization to speak with one voice, the latter that voice becomes and that really does show the power of you, power of us. And that's what members of Congress and lawmakers across the country need to hear.
Chris Gandy 48:19
No, Diane, I will never forget when I was asked to potentially testify about the doll piece. And we were in the one of the committees, one of the Senate meetings, Senate Finance Committee. Yes. And I was sitting there and I remember looking over and before we even got into the room, the AARP people were there in their red shirts and they were everywhere. There were thousands of them.
Right. There were thousands of them. And they flooded into this committee meeting, dealing with finance and dealing with some of the doll stuff. But it was one of us. It was me.
I was there and I was like, this is an open committee meeting. Most people don't know that. Right? And it was an open committee meeting, but they showed up in red shirts and they showed up so that when you looked on TV, you saw the red shirts behind them, a big AARP behind them. And I was like, wow.
Right. And so without saying anything, they said a lot. And so as AARP members, we have to do a better job at showing up, getting involved and getting our voice heard Because we can't stay silent. We've got to have our voice heard and we've got to do a better job with that. Diane, thank you so much for giving us the five things. It was only five. You gave us five things that we need to be aware of really quickly.
If we come to congressional conference, is there one thing that we should expect to see or experience?
Diane Boyle 50:04
Well, and I'm going to make a prediction here. The speaker has been pushing and trying to have all of this wrapped up on a very expedited timeline. My expectation is it's not going to be met. So I think it's going to slip. I think when you come in here in May that we may have a budget resolution that has gone through or is going through, and I think you're going to have real opportunities to talk about what it is that you do for clients and how TCJA will know what some of those pay for is being considered are, and to really push back if we need to or say, hey, you know what?
You've gotten this right and this, this is a good thing. So you're going to need to be here. And when you talk about congressional conference, when you talk about memories of being on Capitol Hill and all of the people showing up, my best memory was getting to in an elevator with one of the Senators during congressional conference one year. And he looks at me, he goes, Jesus, I and your people are everywhere. And I'm like, that's right. Don't forget that. You need to be involved because the minute that we're not everywhere is the minute that you get forgotten.
Chris Gandy 51:25
You know, Diane, that's as long as you don't get on the wrong elevator. Because I'm sure you heard that. I got on the Senate elevator. Send it on Senate only senator and staff, elevator only. And I got on with an actual two senators, and I thought it was an elevator because it had more space.
So who knew that that existed unless you've been to D.C.? So thank you so much, Dianne Boyle. Thanks, everyone for tuning in to Advisor Today's podcast, where we give you back the voice and you hear here, you heard here five things to get involved with NAIFA and your association, and also your congressional leaders and your governmental leaders. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll see you next week.
We appreciate everything you do. And this is the place where we actually give everyone back their voice, so we can make the world a better place for us and our clients. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you soon.
Diane Boyle 52:17
Thank you. Bye bye.
Outro: 52:21
Thanks for joining us for NAIFA's Advisor Today podcast series. Make sure to subscribe to get future episodes, and if you're interested in coming on the show, let us know.