Nystrom noted that the average FPA member is currently 53 years old.
According to Joseph Brady, executive director of the North American Securities Administrators Association, states are proceeding with their own continuity regulations. Six states -- Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Vermont -- have passed rules based on a model regulation adopted by NASAA, while another three -- Arkansas, California and Mississippi -- drafted their own rule.

Brady also believes that regulatory efforts concerning cybersecurity will proceed under the Trump administration.

“For a significant number of advisors, this is an issue they should be focusing on,” said Brady, citing statistics from a 2014 survey of advisors by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). “Over 90 percent of advisors use e-mail, but only half at that time were using encrypted e-mail … only 4 percent of advisors reported having some type of cyber incident -- that was an alarming number that we published. The regulatory community thought that number should be much higher.”

The SEC is likely to proceed with an expanded program of advisor examinations, said Barr, but is struggling to keep up with a rapidly expanding industry.

“While their budget and their examination force has grown, they don’t feel like they can keep up with our industry,” Barr said.

While some have proposed putting advisors under the thumb of a self-regulatory organization like Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Investment Adviser Association (IAA), NASAA and other advocacy groups oppose such a move, preferring instead to have the SEC continue to conduct the examinations.

“These exams should be narrow, objective, and done by someone with oversight by the SEC and as limited as possible in scope to achieve their goals … this could be something that comes up again when a new SEC is seated because this is an age-old issue.”“Whatever happens, the ball is in the SEC’s court, and the administration transition is likely to slow it down,” Nystrom said. “Now, it’s difficult or nearly impossible to get things done.”