FPA ADVOCACY DAY

By Bryan Beatty, CFP®

Ever since I have been a member of the FPA which now is over 10 years, in late April or Early May we have done Financial Planning Day on The Hill. I am sure we were doing this event before I was a member, too. I have participated in this event at least twice always eagerly spreading the word of the profession of financial planning and the need to plan for your future. We have helped countless numbers of pages to Senator or House members and government employees that work on the hill. Many came to ask questions about debt management or investments and college education planning as well as retirement. We have definitely helped promote the profession as a very necessary and useful endeavor. Yet, we never really were able to reach the decision makers in Washington who make policy about Wall Street, Banking and Financial Services. 

FPA led an important charge against the "Broker Dealer Exemption". The FPA filed the lawsuit in July 2004, five years after the SEC adopted the “temporary” B/D Exemption rule, officially entitled “Certain Broker Dealers Deemed Not to be Investment Advisers.” The suit challenged the SEC’s authority to adopt the rule, which effectively allowed registered reps to be compensated by clients with fees—an arrangement that until then was only allowed to investment advisers—but avoid being regulated as investment advisers under the Investment Adviser Act of 1940 –as long as any advice they gave was “incidental” to the brokerage services they provided. The business of providing financial advice is not clear to the average person. The industry of financial services is rife with conflicts of interest and inconsistent messaging making it hard for a consumer to know what is in their best interest. 

In the aftermath of the 2007-08 Financial Crisis with the drafting of the Dodd Frank legislation, it was the hope of the FPA and NAPFA and the CFP Board that we might see the Fiduciary Standard emerge as the preferred standard of care in our industry. That hasn’t happened as of yet with the legislation still being written. Those same old influences have bent the ear of the lawmakers in Washington again and much of the potential good consumer oriented changes have been given little teeth in anything written so far.

In the past any influence we had on Financial Planning Day on the Hill was limited to the individuals we spoke with on that day but little leverage was created to influence policy makers to take a closer look at our profession to understand what policy actions might benefit the industry and most importantly the consumer.

This year we will be changing the focus of the Financial Planning Day on The Hill to FPA Advocacy Day in Washington, DC on June 24. An email went out the first week of April asking members to sign up. This will be a 2 day affair that will not only be packed with appointments with representatives in Washington but it will also contain training about how to build a grassroots movement for support for the FPA values and core beliefs all around the country back in the home districts of many of those representatives.

Because we are the local chapter and have such easy access to be involved I am coordinating the National Capitol Area Chapter members for National to help them have a strong showing. You are asked to register on the FPA National website, but please let Peggy Nelson, peggynelson8@verizon.net  and me, bbeatty@ebwllc.com  know about your involvement so that we can maximize our coordinated efforts. Please follow this link to the FPA National web site to register! Thank you for your involvement in this new first time event!