What would you say to President Donald Trump if you were given a few minutes to chat with him?
CNBC asked that question of financial advisors Scott Hanson, Peter Mallouk, Ron Carson, Louis Barajas and Cathy Curtis, who each welcomed the opportunity and weighed in with some professional financial advice.
Other topics that surfaced: Giving Trump with some direction on ways to be a better listener and to slow the pace of making very key decisions.
“I would probably tell him that he’s got to stop making such knee-jerk reactions,” said Barajas, founder and CEO of Wealth Management Lab. “I think he doesn’t really know how big an impact he makes when he speaks now.”
Hanson, co-CEO, Hanson McClain Advisors, said: “I would talk to him [Trump] about how investors hate uncertainty.” With Trump there’s so many things that are uncertain right now, and that “spooks investors,” Hanson said.
“I would implore [Trump] to please listen to the women in this country,” said Curtis, founder of Curtis Financial Planning. Women are an economic power in this country, so he needs to take the message they are sending him seriously, she explained.
Mallouk, president and CIO of Creative Planning, and Carson, CEO and founder of the Carson Group, both said they would tell Trump not to roll back regulations on the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, which says if an advisor is working with a client on a retirement plan, they need to act in the client’s best interest.
“It’s kind of amazing that anyone would argue with this standard,” Mallouk said.
“Delaying the DOL rule, while it’s not perfect, is much better than what we had, and it’s brought awareness and a focus on putting the client’s interest ahead of Wall Street,” Carson said.