The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors has tapped Ron Rhoades to succeed Susan John as chairman of the fee-only planners group.
Rhoades, a certified financial planner who also serves as assistant professor and program chair for the Personal Financial Planning Program at Alfred State College in Alfred, N.Y., will assume his role as Napfa chairman on September 1. Before he was at Alfred State College, Rhoades was the chief compliance officer at Joseph Capital Management. The announcement was made last month at Napfa's annual conference in Chicago.
Rhoades' mandate will include advocating for a new industry fiduciary standard. As one of the association members of the Financial Planning Coalition, Napfa participated in an April 25 coalition statement that opposed legislation to create a self-regulating organization (SRO) for investment advisors.
In response to the introduction of the Investment Adviser Act of 2012, sponsored by Rep. Spencer Bachus, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, the coalition argued that enhancing existing oversight is a better and more cost-effective option than creating an added layer of regulation.
"Creating an SRO for investment advisors would unnecessarily burden small business owners with additional costs," the coalition said in a statement. "While we agree with Chairman Bachus that better oversight of investment advisors is needed, we oppose the legislation introduced in the House of Representatives."
Napfa also used its conference to roll out two Web sites: FeeOnlyNetwork.com and FiGuide.com, which are designed to aid financial planners and their clients.
FeeOnlyNetwork.com is designed to make Napfa's fee-only advisors more visible throughout the Web, according to the association. The site features profiles of more than 1,500 advisors, with information about their businesses, their areas of specialty and their certifications and affiliations.
The second Web site is a redesign of FiGuide.com, which Napfa bought in 2011 after previously partnering with the site to create the association's personal finance blog. The redesign is to provide fee-only planners with a broader national profile.
-Jim McConville