Here’s something I think is important, but it’s not quite real yet. It could help to restore some trust between the public and investment advisors.

South Florida’s Harold Evensky, one of the most influential certified financial planners in the nation, tells me he thinks we’re close to getting a fiduciary standard for all financial advisors.

A fiduciary standard, in plain language, means the advisor puts your interest first. You, the investor, matter more than any sort of benefit or payment the advisor might get because you accepted the recommendation.

If advisors are held to a fiduciary standard, I would think, they would more often give you good advice. Because doing right by you would be their goal.

Evensky and a small band of like-minded financial professionals have made the trek to Washington four times now to argue for the standard.

“All the discussions we’ve had with the Treasury, with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), with Finra (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) suggest to me there is a growing and a strong understand and a believe that advisors should be tied to a fiduciary standard,” he said the other day.

“My impression is they want to be able to make it work.”

If it happens, Evensky, of Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, says there will be a “substantial and dramatic change in the culture of the business.”

Indeed. How will it be if the investment industry is about the investors and not about the products being sold?

Plenty of good people in the investment industry are all about the investors. This standard would bring the rest in line. And make everyone’s priorities clear.

Look for this debate, along with the broader financial reform issues, to begin shortly.