Advice Standards

This one helps you figure out whether your fintech app, AI chatbot, newsletter, or digital platform crosses the regulatory line from education into investment advice that triggers Advisers Act registration. It walks through the SEC's three-prong test (advice, business, compensation), explains when the publisher's exclusion applies to model portfolios and newsletters, covers the broker-dealer solely incidental exclusion, and breaks down when a communication becomes a "recommendation" under Reg BI. Use it when you're designing features that talk about investments and need to know if disclaimers will cut it or if you actually need to register. The functional substance-over-form analysis is the key bit, since calling something "educational tools" doesn't save you if it's really personalized advice.