Financial bloggers’ posts may violate copyright law

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Copyright law isn’t on the curriculum of most business schools or for CFP or CFA candidates. So it’s not surprising that I’ve seen well-meaning financial advisors unintentionally violate copyright law in their blogs. 

What NOT to do
You cannot copy someone’s entire  newspaper article or  blog post  word-for-word, then make it okay by giving credit to the author. This won’t suffice. Not even if you link back to the original article. You are violating copyright law. 

When in doubt, paraphrase
U.S. law allows you to quote part of a written work under the doctrine of fair use, which you can read about on the federal copyright website.

Fair use is a murky concept. “There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work,” as it says in the federal government’s FAQ on on “How much of someone else’s work can I use without getting permission?”

As the Copyright Office says:

If you use a copyrighted work without authorization, the owner may be entitled to bring an infringement action against you. There are circumstances under the fair use doctrine where a quote or a sample may be used without permission. However, in cases of doubt, the Copyright Office recommends that permission be obtained.

Your safest course is to simply paraphrase or summarize the article that interests you, while also citing the source. It’s courteous to provide a link to the article, if it’s available online.

Using quotes very selectively will keep you safe, while protecting other authors’ copyright.
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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Start with a good lead, or lose your reader

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“…the lead is the doorway into every text. Its job, never a minor one, is to draw the reader over the threshold,” says Francis Flaherty in The Elements of Story, p. 201.

The lead, also spelled lede, is the first sentence or paragraph of your blog post or article.  Write a weak lead and you may lose your audience at the very beginning of your piece.

When you write your lead, Flaherty suggests you ask “What lead will prompt in the reader the most irresistible questions, questions powerful enough to propel him through that doorway and into the story?” p. 202.

When you write an investment or wealth management blog post, the most powerful leads often pose a problem faced by your readers and dangle the possibility of a solution. Have you written a powerful lead of this type? Please post a link to your blog post, so we can see how you’ve mastered the lead.

Using CFP in your Twitter name–Read the CFP Board’s position

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Using a term such as CFP in your Twitter name makes sense as a marketing strategy for financial advisors. It immediately identifies you as a credentialed professional. However, it also means you’re violating the CFP Board’s rules.

Twitter alerted me to this issue. When I dug into the CFP Board’s Guide to Use of the CFP Certification Marks, I discovered that point 1.7 says “CFP certificants may not own or use an email address or internet domain name that includes the CFP mark.” (Sorry CFP Board, I don’t know how to make the (R) mark appear in a Blogger blog). 

Here are some examples from the CFP Board of proper and improper use of their mark.



A Twitter name isn’t an email or a URL. But Twitter does make the name into a URL following the format http://twitter.com/TWITERNAME.

I contacted @CFPBoard to ask if a Twitter name using CFP would violate its rules. Here’s the reply:






It sounds as if the CFP Board is open to your feedback about using CFP in Twitter names. So shoot SLaBonte an email, if you’d like to be heard.
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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Plain English can bring your financial topic to life

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Must an article about how to prevent another Flash Crash be difficult to understand?

Not if you use plain English, as Floyd Norris did in “Time for Regulators to Impose Order in the Markets,” his May 14 column in The New York Times.

Here’s Norris’ first sentence: 
“If your machine makes a mistake that the dumbest human would never make, then maybe you don’t have a very good machine.” 

Even a child can understand Norris’ lead sentence. Norris created an image in my mind that made it easier for me to follow the rest of his column about the changes he believes are needed for the New York Stock Exchange.

The next time you write an investment or financial article, try to use plain language to introduce your topic. Your readers will thank you.

Related posts
* Financial writers clinic: Lessons from Floyd Norris of The New York Times
* Vary your paragraph length like New York Times columnist Floyd Norris
* Financial writers clinic: Rhythm can help you

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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Can you help with my Facebook dilemma?

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Dilemma: I feel as if I need to change my Facebook (FB) strategy. I currently use it to hang out with family, friends, and fellow writers.

I’m sitting on two FB friend requests from people who feel like friends, but they are also in my business. 

Another source of pressure: I need to become a “fan” of client/referral source Facebook Fan Pages, so I can learn more about them. Once I do this, I will face more FB friend requests from people who are not family, friends, or writers. 

Which of the following four options should I pick?

1. Continue to accept friend requests only from people in my target categories. 

PRO: This preserves my relative privacy, though I should keep in mind that boundaries may still be breached. 

CON: Others may feel offended. Plus, I miss opportunities to deepen relationships with them.

2. Set up a second FB profile for Susan Weiner, CFA, which I’ll use for business relationships.  

PRO: There’s less risk of inappropriate information reaching my business contacts. 

CON: It becomes one more social media profile to maintain. Content will overlap with my non-business profile.

3. Set up a FB Fan Page for InvestmentWriting.com and try to direct business connections there, while keeping my FB page “personal.”  

PRO: A fan page is more flexible than a profile for my business. 

CON: Fan page doesn’t solve the problem of having a profile that I can use to “fan” business contacts’ fan pages.

4. Accept friend requests from everyone, but control who can see what. 

PRO: This option involves the least extra work. 

CON: I’m bound to slip up on categorizing my updates, thus letting clients in on my squirrelmania, etc. Family or friends may make edgy comments on some of my posts.

What do YOU suggest? It would be great to get comments from you.

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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

If you enjoy my #CFA2010 tweets…

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…you may also enjoy my free monthly e-newsletter with practical tips for your client communications. You’ll also find at least one investment or wealth management article. 

I often report on presentations to the Boston Security Analysts Society, so you know you’ll see topics of interest to CFA charterholders.

Topics in the May 2010 issue included

  • Watch out for inflation, says veteran value investor, Jean-Marie Eveillard
    Treasurys vs. Treasuries–Which is the right spelling? 
  • How to guest-blog on personal finance or investing 
  • Poll: How do you sign your business emails? 
  • Last month’s reader poll about ghostbloggers 
  • Morgan Creek Capital’s Yusko on investing

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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Dan Ariely says disclosure may hurt investors: Report from his #CFA2010 talk — #CFA2010

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Most investment professionals, including CFA charterholders, figure that more disclosure about financial advisors’ conflicts of interest will help investors.

Not so, said Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, to the CFA Institute’s annual conference on May 16. In fact, disclosure may not improve investors’ decisions.


Two countervailing forces apply when a financial advisor reveals conflicts of interest, said Ariely.

Let’s assume the financial advisor tells a client that he’ll receive a higher payment if the client chooses Fund A over Fund B.

On the one hand, the client will tend to discount the advisor’s opinion because of the potential bias, said Ariely. On the other hand, the advisor will feel freer to push Fund A because he has revealed his conflict. Ariely believes that this second force will overwhelm the client’s discounting of the advisor’s opinion. As a result, investors end up no better off despite disclosures. 


You can watch Ariely present
Some of Ariely’s past presentations have been captured on video. You can view Ariely on YouTube. 


Follow the CFA Institute’s annual conference
You can learn about presentations at the CFA Institute’s annual conference as they occur. Read the CFA Institute’s conference blog or follow the conference using the #CFA 2010 hashtag on Twitter.
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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Timely, creative financial ad from Northwestern Mutual

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Somebody was on the ball in Northwestern Mutual’s marketing department or ad agency. 

I like their new ad, which I spotted in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. You can view the complete ad on Northwestern’s website.

I like this ad because it
* Plays off a timely topic as well as people’s emotions
* Is written in a conversational tone, without any 10 dollar words or extensive compliance disclosures

Nice job!
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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

10 blogs I can’t live without–Writer’s edition

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You’ll learn the names of some useful resources for writers in this post. But first I must tell you why writing this blog post was so hard for me.

Blogs? What blogs?
“10 blogs I can’t live without” is a topic that participants in the WordCount Blogathon are supposed to post about on May 10. When I read the topic I thought “Blogs? What blogs?” I simply don’t consume blogs as blogs. I’m more likely to catch my favorite bloggers on Twitter. 

On the other hand, some of my readers probably don’t think of me as a blogger because they visit my blog through my monthly e-newsletter or my LinkedIn status updates. They might respond to the WordCount Blogathon assignment by saying, “I don’t read any blogs.”

People consume their online information in different ways. This  assignment reminded me that it’s important to make information available to readers in the format they prefer.




Online resources for writers 

Here are some of my favorite online resources for writers. They’re not all blogs. Nor have I limited my list to 10. 

B2B example 
If I were stranded on a desert island with such slow Internet connection speed that I could only read one e-newsletter or blog, I’d choose Michael Katz’s E-Newsletter on E-Newsletters. It has a charming style that sets a good example for business-to-business writers communicating. 

Attracting readers to your blog
Some blogs do a great job of showing how to write copy that captivates readers. When I began blogging I regularly read Brian Clark’s Copyblogger and Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger. More recently, I’ve found some good ideas on Nicholas Cardot’s SiteSketch. They’re worth reading, although I enjoyed them more when their creators wrote more of the content.  


Grammar, punctuation, usage 
When I’ve got a grammar, punctuation or word usage questions, sometimes I’ll just Google it. But I often don’t trust the answers I find. This is when I mosey on over to Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty’s Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing or the Purdue Online Writing Lab. By the way, remember how I mentioned delivering content the way that readers like to receive it? Fogarty has been podcasting her blog posts for awhile. She’s also on Twitter and Facebook. Plus she has published in old-fashioned print book format.  

Onlinestylebooks lets you search 42 style books at once. It’s a relatively new site, so I haven’t used it much.

For occasional tips, I follow APStylebook on Twitter. They’re the folks who officially changed the spelling from “Web site” to “website” earlier this year. As you may have noticed, I was ahead of them in using “website,” but I still respect them as a style setter.

Some other tweeps with useful style tips include EditorMark, Copyediting, and LawWriting. There are many more worth following. You’ll find them if you’re a Twitter devotee. 

Inspiration 
Jon Winokur’s Twitter feed, AdviceToWriters, is great for inspiration. I like his book, also called Advice to Writers. 

Humor 
For word geek humor–yes, there is such a thing–follow FakeAPStylebook on Twitter.

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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Spice up your blog with free or low-cost photos

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A photo can make the difference between whether someone reads—or skips—your financial blog post.

Here are some free or low-cost sources for photos you can use in your blog and elsewhere.

  1. FreeDigitalPhotos.net
  2. stock.xchng
  3. Wikimedia Commons, which I discussed in “When your blog demands a photo of a public figure“
  4. Compfight
  5. Flickr’s Creative Commons licensed content
  6. morgueFile
  7. RGBStock.com
  8. Pexels.com
  9. Pixabay.com

Make sure you carefully read—and abide by—the licensing agreements for each photo. Photos on the same website may have different requirements. I like FreeDigitalPhotos.net’s clear explanation of how its photos should be credited. If you’re using photos on your blog, you may need photos that are approved for commercial use.

I learned about some of these sources from @LawWriting,@ErikSherman, and my fellow writers at Freelance Success. Thanks, friends!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy “When your blog demands a photo of a public figure.”

Note: This post was updated on May 29, 2013, and April 23, 2017.