Matthew Benson

About six years ago Matthew Benson was working with the Arizona chapter of the Financial Planning Association to try to present certain financial planning industry priorities to state lawmakers.

Benson, 33, said the ah-ha moment during that meeting was when the lawmakers started asking about the status of specific bills related to the discussion topics.

“A lightbulb went off and I realized, we’re doing this all wrong,” said Benson, owner of Sonmore Financial.

“As an organization, we started putting together annual workshops where we invite some legislators or people involved in policy to help us understand where and when we should talk to people,” he said. “A year later, we brought forth legislation to protect vulnerable adults from financial exploitation.”

The new law gives financial planners the ability and discretion to report evidence of financial fraud.

“We’re the ones that see stuff like that, but a lot of times advisors don’t feel comfortable doing something about it, because often it’s family members and caregivers doing the exploiting,” Benson said.

A sole practitioner with two support staff, he estimates he spends up to 400 hours a year working on legislative issues related to financial planning both at the state and federal levels.

“We’re not getting business from any of this, but it’s enjoyable,” he said. “It pays nothing, but it’s very enriching to see the light bulbs go off. The legislative stuff takes a while, but just in the past year or two we have seen it turn a corner.”

—Jeff Benjamin