Bob Veres once ran a story warning readers away from a limited partnership that, in his words, looked like a criminal enterprise. The sponsor sued him personally for $100 million, which Bob points out was almost exactly $100 million more than his net worth at the time. The judge called the article an honest account, the firm went out of business shortly after, and that story is a fitting introduction to a journalist who has spent 45 years chronicling (and occasionally provoking) the financial planning profession.
For this Author Chats episode, we start with his reading life. A Wrinkle in Time, which he read in sixth grade, convinced him that small evils should be named wherever you find them, and Catch-22 taught him to question the conventional wisdom, which he argues usually has an agenda behind it. His current example is the claim that every firm needs scale to survive. From there we get into The Origin of Wealth, Eric Beinhocker's critique of traditional economics, and a market simulation in which no investment strategy stays on top for long.
Then we turn to his book: why he finally wrote it himself, why he thinks the AUM model isn't the future, the magazine error that made readers trust him more, and why he believes a uniform fiduciary standard will come from consumers rather than the SEC or Congress. We close with the IAFP's financial plan contest, a story that shows how far the profession has come.
In this episode
The $100 million lawsuit over a limited partnership story, and how it ended
A Wrinkle in Time, Catch-22, and why Bob assumes conventional wisdom has an agenda, starting with "you have to get scale"
Why marketing is the profession's most dysfunctional area, and his advice to meet with everyone who calls
The hate mail he got for predicting fee-only would win, why he thinks AUM is next, and the syndicator who banged his fist on Bob's desk
The Origin of Wealth: physicists versus economists, a market with no equilibrium, and what worries Bob about AI
Why he wrote the book, the magazine mistake that built trust, and what history says about change and inertia
AI agents as "silicon staffers," the path to a uniform fiduciary standard, and the IAFP plan contest
Books mentioned
A Behind-the-Scenes History of the Financial Planning Profession — Bob Veres (available on Bob's website)
The AI-Enabled Future of Wealth Management: A Leader's Guide — Spenser Segal (Bob's pick for the one book everyone in wealth management should read)
Notable quotes
"What's better is seldom the conventional wisdom. What's better is usually somebody makes a break from the conventional wisdom, does something different." — Bob Veres, on what Catch-22 taught him
"I don't know any other profession when you say, you know, how much are you going to charge me? And the answer is, I don't know, how much have you got?" — Bob Veres, on why he doesn't think AUM is the future
"When you own up to your mistake, and you correct them immediately... people trust you more than they did when you didn't make a mistake." — Bob Veres, on the magazine error that built his credibility
Chapters
(00:00) Intro
(00:27) Welcome, and who is Bob
(01:05) The $100 million lawsuit
(03:03) A Wrinkle in Time and Catch-22
(06:37) Conventional wisdom has an agenda: the scale argument
(08:20) Why marketing is the profession's most dysfunctional area
(10:04) Hate mail, fee-only, and the case against AUM
(12:28) The honest journalist
(13:21) Advertisers, conflicts, and the syndicator in his office
(15:37) The Origin of Wealth
(18:46) What worries Bob about AI
(20:16) Why he wrote the book
(24:10) Owning your mistakes
(26:15) What history teaches about change
(28:04) Follow the crazies, and the first planning software
(30:12) AI agents as "silicon staffers"
(31:09) Will we ever get a uniform fiduciary standard?
(33:56) How fiduciary advisors should prepare
(35:54) Challenges on the horizon
(36:32) The IAFP plan contest
(39:41) Lightning round
(40:24) Where to find Bob
About the guest
Bob Veres is the editor and publisher of Inside Information, a subscription service for financial planning professionals, and has covered the profession for 45 years. He was editor of the IAFP's Financial Planning magazine and later a contributing editor and columnist there, and he created the Insider's Forum conference. He is the author of A Behind-the-Scenes History of the Financial Planning Profession and The Cutting Edge in Financial Services. He has received NAPFA's lifetime achievement award and the FPA's Heart of Financial Planning Distinguished Service Award, and has been named one of the most influential people in the profession by Investment Advisor and Financial Planning.
