New Voices Are Coming
One of the most delicate tasks an editor of a magazine for information-hungry professionals faces is striking the right balance of writers to deliver the most compelling periodical possible.
When we started Financial Advisor five years ago, I knew that this business possessed a trove of advisors who were gifted writers in their own right, as well as successful professionals. Ideally, we wanted to start with a team of top financial journalists who could report on the business with the objectivity of an informed outsider, coupled with experts and consultant types who would provide readers with unique insights into their practices and a cadre of professionals who could share lessons that they had learned in the trenches which could help you run your practice better.
Starting out with professional journalists like Dorothy Hinchcliff, Ray Fazzi, Tracey Longo, Eva Marer, Eric Reiner, Alan Lavine, Marla Brill and Gail Liberman, we felt we covered base one pretty well. Within the next year or two, others like Dave Drucker, Joel Bruckenstein, Jeff Schlegel, Karen DeMasters and Greg Bresiger signed on, strengthening our lineup.
In the expert/consultant arena, we were able to kick off our premier issue with Nick Murray, Russ Alan Prince and Hannah Grove. Had we not had the support of these three individuals, launching Financial Advisor during the worst bear market in half a century would have been infinitely more difficult than it turned out, and that was challenging enough. To Nick, Russ and Hannah, we are eternally grateful. Whenever the temptation of familiarity might lull one into taking them for granted, all I have to do is pick up the current issue and read their latest column and I'm reminded of how lucky we are.
Since we launched the first issue, in June 2000, other expert/consultant types have joined Nick, Russ and Hannah in writing regularly, including Bill Bachrach, Leo Pusateri, Ron Carson and Steve Sanduski. Which brings me to the topic of the day. Starting next month, we will feature a bi-monthly column on practice management from Rebecca Pomering, principal at Moss Adams in Seattle, and co-author with her co-conspirator, Mark Tibergien, of Practice Made Perfect, a soon-to-be-released book from Bloomberg Press. A rising star in the consulting world, Rebecca enlightened attendees at our Financial Advisor Symposium last October, and we are delighted to have her on board.
Of all the groups I identified at the top of the
page, the hardest group to get to write is professional advisors like
you. Still, two of the professionals who appeared in our premier
issue, Dick Wagner and Mike Martin, are among the best writers
I've ever worked with. Mike wrote a monthly column for us for three
years when, alas, his practice began booming to the point where he
lacked the time to write every month.
That experience made me think twice about how to
work with insightful writers who have full-time jobs but also have
something to say that's too important for you to miss. In this issue,
you will see an article on page 65 by Roy Diliberto and Mitch Anthony
that will be a bi-monthly column on life and money. Shortly thereafter,
we plan to introduce a quarterly column on wealth management by two
advisors you all know, Harold Evensky and Deena Katz. Harold, who
conceived the term wealth management, wrote in April 2001 what may have
been the finest article we ever published, arguing that we were about
to experience a decade of very pedestrian returns from equities, a view
that has become so universal since then that it's disturbing. As an
author, Deena's books have been best sellers among this audience, and
she's already working on a piece I know will be a must-read.
So to Rebecca, Roy, Mitch, Harold and Deena, welcome. We're very grateful.
