…Your Goalie
…Your Closer
…Your Kicker
…Your 4th Quarter Free-Throw Shooting
…Your Short Putts to Force a Playoff in the US Open
…Your Worst Bluff
…The Worst Day Your Brakes Have
You get the picture. So where’s the investing angle? There’s always a tie-in! Here it is:
Regarding investment professionals….
You’re Only as Good as Your Worst Conflict of Interest
Dave Ramsey recently caused a stir in the world of Finance Twitter because of his ridiculous tweet regarding pending legislation to force stockbrokers to act as fiduciaries toward clients:
The thing about Dave is he has a lot of good philosophies regarding personal finance. He has a very large following because of the huge megaphone his radio program provides, and it allows him to share all of his ideas with the world. There’s one problem with all of this:
Dave has a fatal flaw. He gets all the way to the 9th inning with the lead, and then he coughs it up. A home run that erases all of his hard work and good ideas.
Mr Ramsey directly profits when his large following take his ideas to heart. When his listeners go to his website to find a financial product salesperson — yes, Dave recommends you buy products with huge up-front commissions — he wins. Dave’s fighting legislation because it would undermine the network of “Endorsed Local Providers” who pay Mr Ramsey to be on his list of “endorsed” investment professionals. Forcing all stockbrokers to act as fiduciaries will put a serious strain on Dave’s income statement because the pool of “professionals” selling crappy A-share mutual funds will likely shallow considerably.
Any investment professional is only as good as his worst conflict of interest. Dave Ramsey’s is really bad.