Login | October 29, 2026
Get to know investor protection leader Christine Kieffer
JULIE JASON
Published: October 29, 2026
Investors need to know that there is a visible and vocal advocate for investor protection and financial education looking out for them. That person is Christine Kieffer, the new president of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation). FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) oversees member broker-dealers who do business in the U.S.
The FINRA Foundation is participating in World Investor Week (Oct. 5-11), promoted by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). Investor education and protection are topics that reach beyond the U.S.
I was able to ask Kieffer about her views. She shared that World Investor Week "gives us a concentrated opportunity to reach [new] investors with straightforward, unbiased information ... because we know from our research that getting these fundamentals right early makes a meaningful difference in long-term outcomes."
The primary themes highlighted by the IOSCO are investor resilience, digital deception and scam alerts.
The term "investor resilience" could be new to you -- as it was to me. In Kieffer's words, it's "having a plan, sticking to it and being able to absorb shocks -- whether from market volatility, economic headwinds or the growing threat of investment fraud -- without being knocked off course from achieving financial goals."
I like the concept, of course.
"For FINRA, a resilient investor takes their time to do research, using unbiased information and tools, and critically, to assess their own risk tolerance," Kieffer said. "Knowing and being honest about risk tolerance, both financially and emotionally, is what allows an investor to stay the course rather than making reactive decisions at exactly the wrong moment."
Financial literacy remains an issue, especially when you think of education. A recent survey of more than 5,000 people across 27 countries by Remitly, a digital financial services company, found that 70.5% said schools did not provide them enough knowledge to comfortably manage money as adults (tinyurl.com/27m84cmr).
"Improving financial literacy is really where resilience as a concept becomes most actionable for FINRA," Kieffer said. "A significant focus of our outreach is novice, self-directed retail investors, those who are beginning their investing journey, often without professional guidance, and who are making consequential decisions largely on their own."
"For that audience, understanding risk tolerance and recognizing fraud are not advanced topics, but foundational," she added.
FINRA offers online resources in its Investor Insights and For Investors sections. Worth your time is the recent warning about an increase in scammers targeting investors -- "particularly older investors" -- by manipulating them into transferring funds from their brokerage and other financial accounts in order to steal their money (tinyurl.com/y3vxcc7a).
Also, the FINRA Foundation and Stanford Initiative for Financial Decision-Making released new research for World Investor Week examining how the investment literacy of Americans, particularly risk-related knowledge, is tied to their decisions and financial outcomes (tinyurl.com/4apc4uvt).
Other instructive releases cover pump-and-dump scams and market liquidity. One topic of particular interest to me, personally, is understanding mandated disclosures, such as Form CRS (a relationship summary for broker-dealers and investment advisers) and prospectuses for registered securities offerings (tinyurl.com/cd24krnt).
There is, however, a catch. "Making information available does not always mean investors will find it, use it or act on it," Kieffer said. The FINRA Foundation 2024 National Financial Capability Study's investor survey found that only 51% of investors recall receiving disclosures about their investments, and only 11% read the entire document (tinyurl.com/3wpzuka5).
That's where FINRA can help. Kieffer explained that what the organization really cares about is "whether our resources can truly help investors make informed financial decisions that are right for their needs and circumstances. That means meeting investors where they are, online and in the community, and launching integrated tools."
As I see it, investor protection is all about helping investors understand what to embrace and what to avoid.
"If an investor starts with a realistic picture of their own risk tolerance and a healthy skepticism toward unsolicited opportunities, they are far better positioned to build and protect wealth over time," said Kieffer. "The goal extends beyond knowledge to a more informed confidence that holds up when markets get difficult or when someone is being pressured into a potentially dangerous decision."
Seasoned investment counsel (tinyurl.com/52nus8hz) and award-winning columnist and author, Julie Jason, JD, LLM, promotes financial literacy and investor protection. Read her latest book, "The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients)" (tinyurl.com/4u7h9pjs), published by the American Bar Association. Write to Julie at readers@juliejason.com. While all questions cannot be answered, each email is read and reviewed and can lead to discussion in a future column.
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