Bob Veres

Here's what I've realized since I penned my original missive to the commission.

I’ve been watching, with increasing dismay, the trend of outside investors taking ownership of advisory firms.

Most advisory firms are not systematically spreading public awareness of their services. That’s a big mistake.

The trickle of brokers leaving wirehouses for greater independence is quietly becoming a flood.

The CFP Board’s new code of ethics should be celebrated for embracing the fiduciary concept — will the standards be strengthened even more in the future?

It appears the regulator bought into the investor choice argument of sales reps right from the beginning.

Instead of thinking about fiduciary purely as an obligation or regulation, advisors should envision it as something much bigger: a way of life.

As the financial planning industry nears a fee-only, fiduciary world, independent broker-dealers will face some important choices about their future business models.

What do they bring to the table? Lobbying clout, alternative fee structures and technical expertise are just part of the equation.

It is not the fiduciary rule or whether robo technology is friend or foe.

If you’re reinventing the wheel with every single task, you are forgoing all the benefits that technology was intended to provide.

Winding down a long and successful career often comes with angst. Follow these steps to make the process a little bit easier, Bob Veres says.

Face-to-screen technology will allow advisors to seek clients from around the globe — it also will increase competition.

There has to be a better measure to use in ranking the performance of a planning firm relative to its peers.

The founders of today’s most successful advisory firms won’t change because of an “invisible scar,” says columnist Bob Veres.

Will young RIAs lead the profession’s second uprising against the established status quo?

The sales-first crowd is trying (desperately) to make sense of the new regulation.

For the first time in his 30-year career, columnist Bob Veres is starting to hope the sector may catch up in the areas of trust, transparency and a fiduciary mindset. A promising new app is helping him get there.

The Broker Protocol is just the first step. Those entering the fiduciary world still have to proceed with caution.

There’s a big difference between what advisers think brings in new business and what actually works.