In many years of systems consulting, I belonged to an organization that did not permit recommendations for something you had an interest in. IOW, you were truly a consultant and affirmed that you did not benefit from what the client purchased.
+1
Yes, exactly, you hit the nail on the head!
In over 30 years working as a software consultant I followed the same idea, expenses were always at cost, and never recommended something I profited from. It may sound corny, but I always felt I had to act as a fiduciary for my clients, even if it meant less work for me. I had to put my client's interests above my own.
I was not part of any organization, I just felt it was good business practice, and it indeed paid off well over the long term, I worked for many clients over many years and over multiple projects.
Now my clients were sophisticated people. I suspect with most FAs their clients are not sophisticated enough to appreciate or even know whether their FA is acting in their best interests or not. Therein lies the problem. It may be better for their business to act in their own short term interests rather than their clients long term interests.
And with these unsophisticated clients, I doubt that even the new regulations will help much.
So it gets me to what I really wanted to contribute (boy I have a windy way of approaching it). You (the general not specific you) have worked over 20 or 30 years, many long hours and have managed to accumulate over those many hours, say a million or more.
It took a lot of hard work to get there. Why would you (again the general you) not spend the small amount of additional time to gain the knowledge to be able to keep and grow that hard earned stash.
Whether you are seeking to hire an FA or DIY, you have to spend the time to educate yourself. And as many have pointed out before, once you get educated enough to be able to choose an FA, you won't need one.