This is a short update to my 2012 post Certified Financial Shammer, wherein I discussed an article by Roccy DeFrancesco, JD, CWPP™, CAPP™, CMP™ that appeared in a 2005 issue of the trade journal Financial Planning.  At that time, Mr. DeFranseso advised his financial planner readership to buy a ghost-written financial advice book, the purpose of which was to impress prospective clients:

Most financial advisers buy ghost books simply for credibility… I can’t count how many times a month I tell clients, “I cover that topic in my book.”

Well, it seems the worm has turned, so to speak.  I recently stumbled on this page on the Strategic Marketing Partners (marketing services for financial professionals) website:

“When I wrote my first book, I stopped handing out business cards.  It became instantly clear that handing out a book with my name on the cover was a much better way to get someone’s attention than to give them a business card.”

“The days of doing ghost books are over.  However, the days of writing the Foreword for books is here.  Advisors who work with Strategic Marketing Partners have the ability to write the Foreword for four of my books.  It’s one of the best marketing tools you can use and I strongly recommend you consider stepping up your game by doing so.”  — Roccy DeFrancesco, JD, CWPP, CAPP, CMP

Some people cannot imagine that the person sitting across the desk, who looks so sincere, who may even live in their neighborhood, who is listening to them and offering to help them with their money issues, could be anything else but the modern incarnation of a financial Atticus Finch.  Allow me to point out that the smell of money attracts sharks, and sharks try to conceal their presence.  Remember this the next time your financial advisor invites you to read his or her Foreword.