If you are a member of the SSofRFP let me know.

I sorta am and I sorta am not.

My background is in journalism. I don't even particularly like talking about investing (I was forced to learn about investing when some abusive posters invaded a discussion-board community I founded and I had to learn some stuff to protect the community). I certainly don't think of myself as a financial guru. I am a reporter. I'm proud of it. That's plenty good enough for me. I don't possess any desire to be known as something “more” than that.

But I have a podcast at my site entitled “I Know More About Investing than John Bogle (and You Can Too!).” That title sums up what I think about where The Stock-Selling Industry stands today. I agree with the claim made at the link that marketers seeking short-term gain messed things up and the financial-advice field has been done great harm as a result. Bogle is a hero of mine, but the sad reality is that Bogle is one of the ones who has messed up.

There are lots of good and smart people in the financial advice field. But they have let themselves and their industry be damaged in very serious ways by an excessive concern with making a quick buck. It's very sad and it's a very big story and there are very few middle-class investors who have any idea how bad things are.

I like the community tone of the words put forward in this post and in the post at the link. The internet empowers us to create communities to bring about change. Change is needed here. Very, very, very, badly.

Rob

If you are a member of the SSofRFP let me know.

I sorta am and I sorta am not.

My background is in journalism. I don't even particularly like talking about investing (I was forced to learn about investing when some abusive posters invaded a discussion-board community I founded and I had to learn some stuff to protect the community). I certainly don't think of myself as a financial guru. I am a reporter. I'm proud of it. That's plenty good enough for me. I don't possess any desire to be known as something “more” than that.

But I have a podcast at my site entitled “I Know More About Investing than John Bogle (and You Can Too!).” That title sums up what I think about where The Stock-Selling Industry stands today. I agree with the claim made at the link that marketers seeking short-term gain messed things up and the financial-advice field has been done great harm as a result. Bogle is a hero of mine, but the sad reality is that Bogle is one of the ones who has messed up.

There are lots of good and smart people in the financial advice field. But they have let themselves and their industry be damaged in very serious ways by an excessive concern with making a quick buck. It's very sad and it's a very big story and there are very few middle-class investors who have any idea how bad things are.

I like the community tone of the words put forward in this post and in the post at the link. The internet empowers us to create communities to bring about change. Change is needed here. Very, very, very, badly.

Rob