Financial advisors may have some more representation in Congress if two of their own can win in next month’s elections, according to InvestmentNews.
John Chrin, a partner at Circle Wealth Management, could be the first financial planner in Congress, the publication writes. Chrin is running as a Republican in northeast Pennsylvania for a House seat against incumbent Democrat, Rep. Matt Cartwright, and hopes the strong economy will help him win, according to InvestmentNews.
In Maryland, meanwhile, Neal Simon, chief executive of the RIA Bronfman Rothschild, is running as an Independent, also taking on an incumbent Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin, according to the publication.
Simon is already polling higher than any independent in the race, he tells InvestmentNews. The advisor has raised $1.6 million and is favored by 18% of poll respondents, he claims to the publication.
The two advisors’ platforms are somewhat different, but both say their experience in the industry makes them suitable candidates likely to appeal to voters in the mid-terms.
For Chrin, it’s his skills as a “a problem-solver for anything related to financial wellness,” he tells InvestmentNews.
For Simon, it’s part of his job requirement to pull different ideas together “and develop some level of consensus and to get things done,” he tells the publication.
Chrin is in favor of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule and believes he can counter the objections that were in partly responsible for the death of the rule, according to InvestmentNews. The Obama-era regulation, which purported to require retirement account advisors to put clients’ interests first, went into partial effect last year but was vacated by an appeals court this spring.
"Why have it just limited to retirement assets?" Chrin tells the publication. “The push back that you get from companies isn’t that they don’t want to do that; they’re concerned about litigation. If all we did is provide insulation and protection from class-action lawsuits, you got something that’s in place. It’s done tomorrow.”
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Financial Adviser IQ
By Alex Padalka
Oct 23, 2018