08/19/2025
WHAT IS A FIDUCIARY, ANYWAY, AND WHAT IF WE ALL WERE?
Years ago, When Tony Robbins’ book *Money* came out, I was invited as a Financial Professional, onto a webinar put on by some graduates of his programs. The very first question for me was, “Are you a fiduciary?”
I don’t even know if the person asking the question knew what the word meant. She did know that Tony Robbins wrote to only trust Fiduciaries with your money, and that’s why she asked.
Yes, I am a Fiduciary. And I started thinking about --
“But what does that MEAN?” I hear you interrupt my thoughts. “What IS a Fiduciary, anyway? And why should we care?’’
Well, as a Fiduciary I have the “Duty of Loyalty” to my clients. I must place the interests of the client above my own, and above the interests of my firm. I cannot have even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Yes, that is part of the code of ethics from the CFP Board, but what if this went far beyond us CFP® Professionals.
What’s extraordinary about being a fiduciary is that we must be someone legally and ethically obligated to put others, especially our clients, first.
And that had me wonder:
What if EVERYONE, in every interaction, had to be “that someone” who was legally obligated to place the interests of others ahead of themselves?
If you are old enough to remember the movie “Miracle on 34th Street, do you remember that Macy’s hired a man to play Santa Claus who, when asked for a product that Macys didn’t have, would suggest that they go to a different store where they could find the product they wanted?
What if every salesperson was like that? What if every time you went into a store to purchase something, or even online, the store and its people were required to put your interests ahead of their own?
What if every *company* was required to only hire people that they could train to act as Fiduciaries?
What if every *employee* in every *company,* including yours(!), including you(!), were trained to act as Fiduciaries? To put the interests of the client or customer or consumer ahead of the company or the salesperson, or the clerk, or the executives?
What if Town Hall, and your Town Clerk, or City Hall, and everyone in it was required to put us constituents ahead of their own political ambitions?
What if every State House, every Governor, every member of the State House and Senate in every capital was required to put us constituents ahead of their own political ambitions?
What if Congress & the Senate, if every bureaucrat in Washington put us constituents ahead of their political power & ambitions? What if every government organization, everyone who worked for a governmental organization, every Think Tank, every NGO, all worked to train every employee to act as a Fiduciary?
What would your world look like? What would our world look like?
Yeah. I know. It’s a ridiculous thought – but is it? I know it’s ridiculous to think that it will happen anytime soon, but that’s not the point.
The question is this: If I had a magic wand & could magically transform us into a world of Fiduciaries, as improbable or impossible as it may seem --
Would you WANT that?
Would you want to live in a world of that kind of honesty and integrity, with consequences for those who did not act as Fiduciaries?
Is this a world you would WANT to live in if it WAS possible?
I know it’s crazy talk. But if it WAS possible, would you want it?
If not, then you can stop reading.
There is a website, www.fiduciaryinallthings.com . Fiduciary In All.Things. Or FIAT for short.
Be honest. The answer is not “That’s ridiculous” or
“That’s impossible” or
“Don’t you have better things to do than to daydream about such nonsense?”
That’s not the answer because that’s not the question.
FIRST we decide if we even want it. If we do, THEN we figure out the rest.
Too many people see that backwards. You probably think it's impossible.
The question is not "Do you think it can happen?"
The question is:
If it could, would you want it?
How would your life change If every institution you engaged with was fully trurstworthy?
Ponder that. How would that feel?
FIAT. The "how" & "why" are in the link below. In tiny acts & small shifts, things happen. small shifts, tiny changes in the way we do things, will change the way we do other things. And might find more people becoming interested in an idea that won’t ever happen, except another little thing occurs, and a few more people notice,
FIAT. I invite you to check it out.
"A Fiduciary standard of obligation is required for all institutions (corporate, non-profit, and governmental) to place the interests of all stakeholders, of truth, of humanity, democracy, and the living planet that sustains us, first above their own self-interest."
