Vern C. Hayden

Vern C. Hayden, a certified financial planner (CFP) since 1978 has found good success in his five-decade long career as a financial planner contributing editor, author, consultant, professional speaker and TV commentator.

The common thread through all his capacities is his proprietary business helping people manage their financial lives. As a CFP, he focused on retirement strategies and portfolio management as well as overall planning. His knowledge of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds was so extensive that CNBC branded him as “Mr. Mutual Fund” in his many interviews. Bill Griffith, a long-time and current host on CNBC called Mr. Hayden his “favorite financial planner”.

Mr. Hayden began his career in San Rafael, California in 1970 after serving seven years in the U.S. Air Force achieving the rank of Major. He was Assistant Director of Security and Law Enforcement for the 4th Air Force and on the Inspector Generals Team. He was also appointed Air Force Academy Liaison Officer helping to recruit qualified candidates as a civilian.

In 1979, he was retained by Fireman’s Fund/American Express to do five tasks.

1. Create and write the first financial planners training Manuel entitled, “The Process of Financial Planning”
2. Write a policy and procedural Manuel for managing a financial planning practice.
3. Write a marketing Manuel with an emphasis on doing workshops and seminars.
4. Produce a TV Pilot to demonstrate how to communicate financial planning to the masses. The title of the show was “One for the Money” including an interview Mr. Hayden did with William Simon former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. This was professionally produced in Los Angeles.
5. Mr. Hayden will finish his book “Money, Use It or Lose It” giving American Express the right to distribute.

In 1983, he was one of three founders of Independent Financial Services (IFS) headquartered in White Plains, NY. This was a joint Venture with Marine Midland Bank and Sage Holdings of Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Hayden sold his California business to Sage Holdings as part of the arrangement to start IFS. By 1987, it became apparent this company was ahead of its time and Sage, the majority owner, phased the company into a company that trained and supplied financial services to banks.

Mr. Hayden started his own financial planning company in 1987 in Westport Connecticut. The name of his company was Hayden Financial Group. In the same year, he was the founding President of The Greater Hudson Valley Financial Planning Association.

Mr. Hayden was very active as a pioneer in helping to establish financial planning as a profession. In 1975 he was President of the North Bay Chapter(near San Francisco) of the Financial Planners Association (FPA) In 1987 he was founding President of the Hudson Valley FPA, in White Plains, NY. From 1990 through 1995, he was on the Board of the College for Financial Planning, which created the Certified Financial Planner designation. In that capacity along with the rest of the board members, they founded the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) in 1992. NEFE became the parent of the College. Mr. Hayden was Chairmen of NEFE and the College for 1994 and 1995. From 1994 through 1996, Mr. Hayden was on the Board of Trustees of the CFP Board of Standards. Mr. Hayden was elected to the National Board of the Financial Planners Association in 2013 for three years. In his last year, he was Chair of the Professional Standards Committee. In 2020, the Connecticut FPA honored Mr. Hayden by creating the Vern Hayden Lifetime Achievement Award to be given to a recipient every year.

Highly distinguished for his activities and broad knowledge, Mr. Hayden has had more than 200 appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg, NBC, ABC, CNN and others. He has written 91 financial planning articles for TheStreet.com and 32 articles for The Journal of Financial Planning. His first book written and published in 1980 was titled, “Money, Use It or Lose It!” In 2002, his book titled “Getting and Investing Game Plan” was published by John Wiley and Sons. He is currently writing a book entitled “How do I Know You Won’t Steal my Money?” He has given over 200 presentations. He was retained by IBM to teach financial planning in pre-retirement workshops. He was also the honored opening keynote speaker for the 2016 annual Chengdu, China Exposition.

Mr. Hayden earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at Wheaton College in Illinois in 1959. He also did post-graduate studies at New York University, the University of Oregon, American University in Washington D.C., and the University of Southern California.

Mr. Hayden has no desire for a traditional retirement and continues to work with clients, some of who have been with him for over 30 years. He represents the old saying “it’s not work when you love what you’re doing.”