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It's cheers for pro bono advisors and people working to diversify the industry, and jeers for planners who defraud the elderly and big firms that let their regulatory responsibilities slip.

From planning for caregiving to helping artists and couples, these five Financial Planning stories from 2023 show how advisors can add value in estate planning.

Tom Brown is a partner and general counsel at Nyca Partners, and a special advisor at Paul Hastings, LLP.

Phil Calvin is chief product officer at Delinea and brings more than 25 years of software development, technical leadership and entrepreneurial experience to Delinea. His areas of expertise include technical strategy, cloud architecture, and engineering executive management. Prior to Delinea, Calvin spent nearly a decade at Salesforce in a variety of architectural and engineering leadership roles, most recently leading the platform engineering organization and focusing on making the Salesforce platform trusted, accessible and scalable. His earlier career included several startups and engineering roles, including serving as principal architect at Citrix after an acquisition of another one of his companies.

Industry watchdogs weren't concerned only about hot topics like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity but also remote work policies and the ability of brokers to clear their names.

Patrice Meagher is the Founder and CEO of MilkMate, an all-in-one multi-user pumping system purpose-built for the workplace wellness room.

Though more women are entering the industry, gender bias and other historical barriers remain.

LPL Financial, Cetera Financial Group, Raymond James, Ameriprise and other industry giants drove a much bigger volume of transitions this year.

Karen P. Schaeffer is the managing member and co-founder of Schaeffer Financial, a financial consulting firm in suburban Washington, D.C.

She has been advising clients for over 40 years and has developed a diverse client base including professional women, Foreign Service Officers, foreign nationals and federal government employees. In addition to her financial planning practice, she is a popular lecturer and seminar leader. She has spoken on global financial planning issues at many international conferences and has represented the CFP Board at Financial Planning Standards Board meetings around the world. Organizations that have drawn on her expertise include the World Bank, the Department of the Treasury, the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Department of State.

Nancy A. Kistner, CFP, is a managing director, wealth strategy executive and head of business strategy for the Bank of America Private Bank Wealth Strategy Group.

She also serves as the wealth strategy division executive for New York and the West Division for the Private Bank headquartered in New York. In addition to leading business strategy for the Wealth Strategy Group in the Private Bank, she directs the efforts of wealth strategists throughout New York City and the West Division, encompassing twelve markets across eight states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington. She also serves as an executive leader of the Private Bank Onboarding Council, Whole Family Engagement Council and Advisor/Analyst Development Programs.