Financial Professionals Coalition seeks to help ‘disenfranchised’ financial advisors

investmentnews.com:

Stephen Kohn wants to help financial advisors who are looking for a new job, seeking to address a customer complaint on their record, have questions about licensing, or need help with a range of other issues.

Earlier this year, the former Finra board member established the Financial Professionals Coalition, an organization that he describes as a resource for financial advisors at a time when he says they have nowhere else to turn.

“The majority of people in this industry are disenfranchised people,” said Kohn, president of DMK Advisor Group. “They have no say in absolutely anything. It seemed to me they needed to have a voice.”

The core of the coalition is almost three dozen financial firm executives, lawyers, advocates and other professionals who are called founders. They have volunteered to help advisors who contact the coalition with professional questions and challenges they have.

“The coalition provides courtesy consultations with industry experts,” according to its website.

“The background of the founders reveals an amazing history of talent, accomplishment and compassion,” said Kohn, who has nearly four decades of experience in the brokerage industry and sold his former firm, Stephen A. Kohn & Associates, to DMK in 2020.

The coalition serves “1.2 million registered representatives, associated persons, traders, bankers, back-office staff and owners of broker-dealers and registered investment advisors,” it says on its website.

Membership in the organization is free. Kohn said it has an ample budget but declined to reveal how it is funded. Last month, it rolled out its newest offering, a “Marketplace” that offers advertising for open positions at firms, professional services and other announcements.

The coalition is