Larissa Padden 00:02

Hello and welcome to Cogcast, Cognito’s podcast, where we talk to journalists and media pros on everything that’s happening in the world of media and PR. I’m Larissa Padden, your host and a former journalist turned PR professional.

 

Today we have a special episode, special in the sense that I did not host it. This episode is hosted by my wonderful colleague and our in-house wealth management expert, Michaela Morales. Michaela is joined by Diana Britton, Executive Editor of WealthManagement.com, to discuss current investment trends, what makes a good PR pitch and the impetus for Diana’s own podcast, The Healthy Advisor.

 

Now I’ll let Michaela take it away.

 

Michaela Morales 00:40

All right. So Diana, wanted to start things out by asking you a little bit about the news cycle. I mean, I know it dictates a lot of what you report on, but are there any particular news themes right now that you’re particularly interested in?

 

Diana Britton 00:58

Yeah. And thank you so much for having me, Michaela. I’m just really excited about this.

 

I mean, some of the big themes that we’re seeing in our reporting right now, big theme alternatives and private investments, we’re seeing a big proliferation of products coming into the private wealth space. These have traditionally been long used by the institutional side and coming more and more into the retail side and trying to bring access to more retail investors. And there’s also kind of a growing number of tools out there that are coming out to help advisors filter through these products and analyze them.

 

So that’s one big thing. Just in general, M&A, mergers and acquisitions, we’re covering the big deals going on and organic growth is a big theme, a big driver that people are looking at.

 

And finally, a lot of RIAs are kind of diversifying into different areas when they’re doing mergers and acquisitions. So a recent one is a lot of folks acquiring institutional consulting firms and getting into that space and doing that through M&A. And I think like as the RIA space is maturing, you’re seeing a lot of different forms of capital coming into this space, different types of buyers coming into the space. Private equity, of course, has been here for a long time, but you’re seeing other types of buyers coming in.

 

And I think we’re also just kind of continuing to monitor the public market for wealth management firms. We’re seeing that that’s been difficult for a lot of firms. You saw Focus Financial going private. Recently, AlTi Tiedemann, they went public via SPAC and now we’re talking about going private again.

 

And then on the technology side, huge theme is AI and how that technology is going to be used by the industry and how it can be used to run a practice more efficiently. So those are some of the big themes we’re seeing.

 

Michaela Morales 03:29

Yeah. And I mean, we’ve seen WealthManagement.com be at the forefront of all these themes over the years. With that in mind, I wanted to ask you about your podcast, The Healthy Advisor. I know you launched that in 2019, and it really explores, I mean, mental health and wellbeing of advisors, which is a unique theme to explore. What made you launch this podcast with this idea in mind?

 

Diana Britton 03:58

Yeah. So I launched the podcast before COVID, and I was kind of looking out at the coverage of the wealth management industry at that time. And I just saw that it was a lot focused on professional development, like practice management. How do you do M&A? How do you do prospecting, marketing, recruiting? There wasn’t a whole lot focused on personal development. And so I wanted to do something different, not just the same thing that everybody was talking about.

 

And I remember we wrote about a decade ago, Dr. Alden Cass, a Manhattan-based clinical psychologist and sales coach, conducted a study and found that financial services professionals are more prone to burnout, obesity, and addiction than professionals in other industries. And I think a lot of that comes out of the eat-what-you-kill mentality that’s really prevalent in the industry. And so I wanted to dig deeper into some of those issues.

 

Michaela Morales 05:06

In terms of the guests you’ve kind of had on to discuss those issues, have you seen any trends emerge from the thoughts that they share about mental health and wellbeing?

 

Diana Britton 05:21

Yeah. So I’ve had a lot of people come on and talk about near-death experiences or illnesses, like cancer. And for most of those people, these experiences changed their life perspective. And so they now live with like a sense of urgency and purpose and prioritize things differently. The value of time becomes quite salient after going through some of these types of struggles.

 

And a lot of them kind of come out of those experiences with a new thirst and a hunger for exploration, for seeing the world, for making the world a better place. And they have this sense of wanting to make a positive impact in the world. And that often kind of becomes the core tenet of who they are today and is shaping the work that they’re doing today.

 

So that’s like a big theme that comes out. But just some of the things I often ask people, kind of how have they coped with the personal struggles that they’ve had? And what are some of the tactics and things that they do to live a healthier, more balanced life?

 

And I think a lot of these things won’t be surprising, but some of the things that they point to that help them include meditation, the practice of mindfulness, yoga is a big one, and other forms of exercise, of course. And just being intentional about what they eat and being out in nature. Therapy is often used to get through struggles, which is kind of, I think, has had a bit of a stigma, especially in the financial services industry. But these are things that kind of come up in a lot of the conversations.

 

Michaela Morales 07:19

Yeah. And I feel like we don’t hear those type of themes, at least the wealth management podcast that I listen to, you don’t hear those as widely talked about. So I think it’s a really great podcast for that reason, right? It kind of sheds light into some of that.

 

When you’re picking your guests and you get a pitch from a comms person, what do you look for in that pitch to ensure that the guest that comes on the podcast is kind of maybe the right caliber, but also has the right type of story to tell?

 

Diana Britton 07:56

Yeah. So I’m looking for unique and deeply personal experiences that are somewhat outside of work. I mean, I’ll get a lot of pitches about this is kind of what the person is doing with their practice. This is what they’re doing with their clients. They have a unique approach to this or that in terms of being a financial advisor, but I’m looking for personal experiences outside of work.

 

And I also kind of want to know how those experiences have shaped the person that they’ve become and the work that they do with clients, or advisors, whoever their audience is, because sometimes I’m talking to financial services executives, not necessarily just advisors. But I really want to hear authentic, real stories of how people have struggled throughout their life and how they came out of that struggle or learned from it and kind of any words of wisdom that they might have for living a healthier life, both physically and emotionally. And so if they can be open and honest about the issues, that’s really ideal and what I’m looking for.

 

Michaela Morales 09:08

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And certainly comes through with the guests you have on the podcast. One thing I noticed when I was just refreshing myself with your resume, you’ve been at Wealth Management since 2010. What has kept you there for so long? What excites you about the publication?

 

Diana Britton 09:29

Yeah. Well, I guess, first of all, I like this industry. I wanted to stay in the industry. Advisors are a very kind of happy-go-lucky bunch. And most of them will tell you like it is. And they’re pretty open and honest about how they run their business, what they invest in, and kind of the biggest bugaboos that come up when they’re thinking about the vendors and service providers they use, their broker-dealers, custodians, things like that.

 

But I also just have a great team. I’ve really enjoyed working with our team over the years. And I’ve worked with many of them, including David Armstrong, who’s our Director of Editorial Strategy and Operations for many years, for most of that time. And he has one of the best journalistic instincts I’ve ever seen in an editor, and always kind of has our backs when it comes to stories we write, and kind of upholding that journalistic integrity. And he kind of deals a lot with the business side and the events side, so that we can kind of focus on what we do, which is the journalism.

 

And I think with any job, like a lot of the job satisfaction really just depends on who you’re working with. And so that’s been a major reason I stuck around.

 

Michaela Morales 11:00

I totally get that; I totally get that. And when you’re talking a little bit about kind of the journalism side, and when you’re writing columns for WealthManagement.com, I’m sure you get dozens and dozens of emails every week. Do you have a ballpark number of how many you typically can get from comms pros in a day or a week?

 

Diana Britton 11:23

Yeah. I had to look it up because I wasn’t quite sure. But I probably get about 40 pitches a day. But almost immediately I trash about half of those because they won’t be relevant to my coverage. They’re like crypto related or real estate or market commentary. We get a lot of market commentary. Or just something finance adjacent.

 

And with the market commentary, we kind of try to leave that to like the Bloomberg’s and Reuters and Wall Street Journal, because your advisors are kind of already going to those publications for that type of content. So we want to give them something that’s a little bit more unique and specific to their business.

 

But yeah, so I guess that’s about 200 a week, 200 pitches a week. It’s a lot.

 

Michaela Morales 12:20

A lot, it’s a lot. For the ones that stand out to you, and you end up either engaging with a spokesperson or writing a story eventually, what is there a common theme of pitches that work?

 

Diana Britton 12:34

Yeah. So I want to caveat by saying that, I think a lot of our best stories come not from PR pitches necessarily, but from things we find elsewhere in maybe lawsuit filings or from things sources tell us just by being on the phone, things that you won’t find in other publications.

 

But here are some kind of key ingredients of a good pitch in my opinion. So I want some kind of a news hook or at the very least relates to current events in the industry, has an appeal to a wide audience in the wealth management industry. I want something that provides as much detail as possible with as few platitudes as possible. So just tell me like it is in plain language, don’t fluff it up, don’t put a lot of marketing language in there. Yeah, just in plain simple language. That’s what I’m looking for.

 

Authentic and genuine is another element that I look for. And I guess I’m also looking for what does this particular piece of news mean from a larger perspective? So why should I write about this? And so just as an example, CAPTRUST is a huge RIA, and they recently reached a trillion in assets. And normally I would not write about these types of milestones. If a firm reached a certain size, we wouldn’t write a story about that. But in the pitch, they pointed out that this was the first trillion dollar RIA. That’s why this was important. And so I did end up writing about it because that kind of gave me an idea of what this means from a larger industry perspective. This is the first trillion dollar RIA, that’s big.

 

And then another thing I’m looking for is access. So we want access to the top executives. And I know a lot of times PR professionals kind of put us in front of the top CEOs in the industry, but then they don’t say anything. Do you know what I mean? And so I know you’re pretty good about that, Michaela, about giving us access to the senior executives and kind of training them on being open and telling us the information that we’re looking for.

 

And then the other thing is just opinionated, just another thing that we’re looking for. Opinions, tell us about it.

 

Michaela Morales 15:38

Yes, I obviously won’t name names, but I’ve often had clients come to me with something that doesn’t really have an opinion yet. And sometimes we have to work a little harder to kind of find out what that point of view is before we go to the journalist. And I think it’s important to do that work.

 

Diana Britton 15:56

Yeah. It doesn’t necessarily have to have an opinion all the time, but that’s something that pops out at us for sure.

 

Michaela Morales 16:03

Yeah. Totally, totally. That makes sense. Well, I noticed that WealthManagement.com has a lot coming up, notably the RIA Edge event in Los Angeles this fall. What should we know about it? What do you think is important for industry players to know why should they come to RIA Edge West?

 

Diana Britton 16:26

Yeah, it’s a mouthful.

 

Michaela Morales 16:29

It is a mouthful.

 

Diana Britton 16:29

So RIA Edge in LA is the West Coast counterpart to the flagship RIA Edge experience. So it brings together the most growth-oriented RIAs and wealth management leaders to dive into strategy, innovation, and scale. It’s on October 7th through 8th in Marina Del Rey, California, right on the water. It’s beautiful.

 

And the event is intentionally intimate. It’s built for real conversations and actionable insights. It’s not just another big expo hall experience. And the event is very tightly programmed to respect the attendees’ time. And so there’s no filler sessions. It’s just high-impact conversations with peers that you actually want to meet.

 

Michaela Morales 17:24

Those are the most impactful conversations. It’s when you’re meeting people on the ground and sharing an experience together. I’ve been to a few, and as you know, and I think that’s what resonated for me for some of the RIA Edge events in particular.

 

Diana Britton 17:42

Yeah, that’s definitely the idea. I mean, for any conference, I think that’s a lot of the value for me is just the networking.

 

Michaela Morales 17:50

Yeah. Will you be recording any podcasts on the ground?

 

Diana Britton 17:56

No, but maybe I should. Yeah. I mean, I guess like my podcast is a little bit difficult because I can’t just kind of pull people off the conference floor because it’s a very unique and specific topic, but maybe I could line some up. It’s a good idea.

 

Michaela Morales 17:50

Well, I for one am looking forward to it. Wealth Management is considering the speaker lineups, and you probably have a lot of people emailing you about arranging speakers, and how do I get my spokesperson in with RIA Edge? Are there typical kind of ways you go about building panels and selecting speakers for these type of events?

 

Diana Britton 18:44

Yes. So when building the panels, we don’t look for titles. We look for leaders who are actually shaping the future of advice. And they’re often C-suite execs of billion-dollar-plus RIAs, platform architects, M&A strategists, and the tech minds driving transformation. And we prioritize real operator voices over vendor pitches. And so if someone is on stage, it’s because they bring substance, not a sales pitch.

 

And also, speaker lineups are curated with our editorial team and events team, industry insiders, and feedback from the advisor community. So we just want those conversations to stay sharp and relevant. And every panel is designed with one goal: Give attendees something that they can act on Monday morning. And so the content is organized around key growth levers, which include M&A and strategic partnerships, organic growth and marketing innovation, operational scale and tech stack, and leadership and talent development. So those are all things that we’ve identified that RIAs are focused on and want to know more about.

 

And the panels are moderated by our editors and expert facilitators. So they stay focused, insightful, and punchy. There’s no rambling sales decks or panelists talking past each other. So, yeah, that’s just a little bit of an idea.

 

Michaela Morales 20:41

Well, I’m assuming you’ll be moderating or participating in some way on stage too?

 

Diana Britton 20:47

Yes, I’ll be moderating, I think a couple of panels there.

 

Michaela Morales 20:51

Nice. Looking forward to it.

 

Before we wrap up, I just want to ask you a fun question. You moved to the West Coast, well, relatively recently, right? In the last few years. Have you been able to find a good bagel on the West Coast? Do you have any favorite spots that, or do you miss the New York bagel scene?

 

Diana Britton 21:18

That’s a great question. When I got here, I immediately started looking for bagels. And I do miss the New York bagel. It does not measure up. I went to Noah’s Bagels, which is a chain bagel place out here. And I don’t know, their claim to fame is that it’s supposed to be New York bagels, okay?

 

So I go in and I order a bagel, and I’m like, “I’ll have a bagel with scallion cream cheese.” Okay, that’s like pretty easy, right? And the girl looks at me and she’s like, “What’s scallion cream cheese?” She didn’t know. And I was like, “How can you call yourself a New York bagel place when you don’t know what scallion cream cheese is?”

 

But I did find a bagel place. It’s not Noah’s. It’s like a small mom and pop shop. And their bagels are pretty good. They’re definitely not as good as New York, but it’s like a nice place where they know our name and everything.

 

Michaela Morales 22:23

I love it. Those are the best spots.

 

Diana Britton 22:23

I will just also say that New York is better at bagels, but California is better at donuts. So we have a lot of donut places. And yeah, that’s all I will say.

 

Michaela Morales 22:38

Well, we’ll have to get you a New York bagel next time you’re out East.

 

Diana Britton 22:42

Yeah. That’s like the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning when I’m in New York.

 

Michaela Morales 22:47

Yes. When you land, you gotta go straight to it.

 

All right, Diana. Well, anything else you want listeners to know, or also please share how we can find you and The Healthy Advisor.

 

Diana Britton 22:59

Yeah. So you can find me on LinkedIn. Or if you have a possible pitch for me that might fit, you can email me at [email protected]. And you can listen to the podcast on WealthManagement.com or any of the major podcast platforms, Apple Podcasts, Blueberry, all the others. And I guess I didn’t mention this, but my podcast did win the Jesse H. Neal Award this year. for our best podcast. So check it out.

 

Michaela Morales 23:33

Yeah, I think I saw that. Belated congratulations on that. That’s awesome.

 

Diana Britton 23:38

Thank you so much. Yeah. I was just very proud of that. It’s been my baby for many years.

 

Michaela Morales 23:45

Well, we’ll tune in more, see what else you have in store for us, especially after Edge of this fall. Well, thank you, Diana. It’s been a pleasure. I really enjoyed chatting with you today and more to come.

 

Diana Britton 23:59

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I’m happy to do it. Thanks so much.