What do you want to do next?
That was the question I heard from friends, family, colleagues, and even some strangers when I stepped away from journalism. I swear, I could hear it coming from my cat as he stared at me from across the living room.
What do you want to do next?
For someone used to asking tough questions, this one hit hard. I was a journalist for 15 years. Aside from odd jobs as a teen and a couple of bartending stints in my 20s, newsrooms were the only work environment I knew.
But I was ready for something different. Not just for my own career, but for a larger change in the financial media landscape. I respect the work of my former colleagues and competitors in the industry press – the news stories about M&A, advisors on the move, and bad brokers need to be reported – but I felt like there had to be something more.
I started to think about what first drew me to writing. I’ve covered a lot of beats — wealth management, consumer technology, sports business, public housing in New York City, arts and entertainment in Colorado, and even some local news in California — but for me, journalism was the outlet that allowed me to tell stories. Stories that were honest and true. Stories about people.
As a reporter, I’d get to do the occasional profile story, but they were usually tied to some award or industry recognition; focusing on the subject’s professional achievements and legacy rather than diving into what really makes them tick as humans.
During my nine years of writing about the wealth management industry, I met people from all over the country from a myriad of backgrounds and walks of life. So many of them had incredible stories to tell about how they started working in the financial advice business, or why they started serving a specific niche, or how they helped a client through a difficult time or achieve a remarkable goal. They had interesting passions, volunteered their free time in unique ways, had quirky hobbies, or battled with personal struggles that others never knew about.
So when TradePMR reached out to me and asked, “What do you want to do next?” I told them:
I want to build a place for everyone in the RIA industry — advisors, executives, marketing experts, thought leaders, and anyone else in our space — to share their stories, in their own words. A platform for people to say what’s on their minds, without having to go to a reporter.
Like TradePMR, a custodial services provider built by a former RIA to serve RIAs, I want a place to publish stories written by people in our industry to share with their peers, their colleagues, and their clients.
That’s what this website is: A space for the people in our industry to offer direct insight into their lives. A publication dedicated to genuine stories, told by genuine people.
Financial advice is a relationship business, and advisors know that it's about more than just money; it’s about helping people pursue their dreams. It’s about building authentic connections and being a trusted human advisor in an era of misinformation, artificial intelligence, and conflicted salespeople.
Let’s tell those stories, together. This is what’s next.
Welcome to RIA Reflections.
Disclosure: TradePMR and any third party mentioned are separate and unaffiliated. Trade-PMR, member of FINRA/SIPC.