One of the original missions of NAPA was to make sure that the people in Washington — both regulators and members of Congress — understand what really dedicated and experienced plan advisors do to help their clients plan for retirement. In addition, NAPA hoped to be able to give advisors access to the leaders in Washington who are making important decisions affecting the future of the retirement industry, from IRAs to DB and DC plans.
While NAPA has leveraged ASPPA’s Government Affairs staff — the largest and most effective such staff in DC focused on retirement issues — to try to inform government officials about the value of advisors, and NAPA Net has brought some needed exposure, we have not yet flown in a large group to lobby Washington as many other advocacy groups do regularly. Until now.
On September 17-18, an elite group of plan advisors — whom we’re calling “NAPA Delegates” — will convene in Washington to lobby Congress. In addition to one full day of round table discussions and meetings with congressional leaders and regulators, 30 groups of Delegates will be escorted to Capitol Hill to let individual members of Congress know what you do and what you need. All Delegates will be fully briefed beforehand by ASPPA’s Government Affairs staff.
The NAPA DC Fly-in Forum is supported by nine providers who will pay for the cost of the meeting — Delegates who are selected need only pay their own travel expenses.
The criteria for Delegates are:
• $100M+ in retirement plan assets
• 10+ retirement plans
• 2,000+ plan participants
• 25%+ of overall financial services business in retirement plans
• 5+ years of experience servicing retirement plans
• NAPA member — Principals only
The announcement of the first annual NAPA DC Fly-In to NAPA’s general membership was held until we confirmed the agenda, which includes Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Rep. John Kline (R-MO), Mark Iwry (Treasury) as well as other leaders still pending.
Already, 100 of the 150 Delegate positions have been filled through word of mouth from advisors that are part of various NAPA committees, as well as pre-conference announcement invitations from broker dealer Firm Partners and conference sponsors. So if you’re interested in applying and meet the criteria, we urge you to apply to become a “Founding Delegate” of the NAPA DC Fly-in Forum. Just click here. We will accept applications on a first come, first serve basis.
