The “Guru Gap” in Financial Services

In this special episode of the Shares podcast, recorded live at The College’s Horizons 2025 conference, Professor of Practice Steve Parrish, JD, RICP®, CLU®, ChFC®, AEP® speaks with author David McKnight about the ubiquitous nature of financial planning “gurus” in the media today and how their advice, while it may give your clients comfort, may not always be in their best interest. They talk about how to differentiate sound advice from sound bites, and why financial professionals should keep open dialogues with clients about things they hear and what’s backed up by the facts.

David McKnight is an author and president at Power of Zero. He graduated from Brigham Young University with honors in 1997 and has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, The New York Times, Fox Business, Bloomberg Radio, MarketWatch, CBS Radio, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq.com, Reuters, Investor’s Business Daily, Kiplinger, and numerous other national publications. David’s bestselling book The Power of Zero has sold over 400,000 copies and the updated and revised version was published by Penguin Random House in 2018. This book was recently made into a full-length documentary film entitled The Power of Zero: The Tax Train is Coming. When his follow-up book Tax-Free Income for Life launched in November of 2020, it finished the week as the #3 most-sold business book in the world. When his most recent book The Guru Gap launched in December of 2024, it finished the week at #8 on the USA Today Bestseller list and was the top-selling business book in the world. He and his wife Felice have seven children.

Any views or opinions expressed in this podcast are the hosts’ and guests' own and do not necessarily represent those of The American College of Financial Services.

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