A strong majority of Financial Services Institute advisor members oppose the Department of Labor's pending rule to redefine the term "fiduciary," according to a survey by the trade group.

“Financial advisor opposition to the Department of Labor's fiduciary definition proposal has ... held strong over the past year,” said Dale Brown, president and CEO of FSI.  “The redefinition could ban the earning of a commission on IRA advice, pricing millions of middle-class investors out of the market for affordable retirement advice."

In other survey results, 54 percent of independent financial advisors said the recent government shutdown did not negatively affect their clients. However, they were evenly split when asked if their workload increased due to problems their clients faced during the shutdown and debt ceiling debate.

The majority of respondents (77 percent) believe that the administration and Congress will agree to a short-term fix to avoid another shutdown when the current deal ends in January.

Fifty-five percent of advisors think the government should cut spending as part of the bargain to avoid another closure. Only one percent said the government should raise taxes. Forty–two percent said it should be a combination of both.

More than half of advisors (57 percent) said the economy will stay flat in 2014, while 59 percent expect a neutral performance from the equities markets next year.

The online survey was completed by 2,528 FSI financial advisors who are members of FSI from November 4-8.