John Manganaro, Senior Reporter at ThinkAdvisor, joins the podcast this week to talk about how media can provide a window into what’s top of mind for clients.

John Manganaro is not affiliated with Hartford Funds

Today, on the Human Centric Investing podcast, I’m joined by John Manganaro of Think Advisor for an inside look at the financial services industry in the media. The tables are turned. We’ll be looking at the industry from a slightly different perspective from somebody who writes about it. Usually John will be interviewing me, but today I’m interviewing him. We’ll be hearing about his perspective on some of the topics that he’s most interested in writing about, and also what he believes he can help financial professionals and their clients engage on in the future. So without further delay, I’m really excited for you to hear about my conversation with John. John Manganaro is a senior reporter at Think Advisor. His coverage focuses on all things retirement, with a special emphasis on the perspective of financial planning professionals and family wealth managers. Before joining Think Advisor in 2022, John was a reporter and editor at Plan Advisor magazine.

Hi, I’m John.

And I’m Julie.

We’re the hosts of the Hartford Funds Human Centric Investing podcast.

Every other week, we’re talking with inspiring thought leaders to hear their best ideas for how you can transform your relationships with your clients.

Let’s go.

Welcome, John, to the Human Centric Investing podcast. I am so excited to have you here with me today.

Yeah. Thank you Julie. It’s great to be here. I’m not often a guest on podcasts. I more, more commonly host them, but I’ve been looking forward to this. And, yeah, looking forward to sharing with, you know, the Hartford Funds audience a little bit about what what I do and and what I think advisor does.

Well, I was going to say this is quite a role reversal for me as well. Usually I’m the one being interviewed. So this is very exciting to have the tables turn today. Maybe we could kick things off, John, by you sharing a bit about yourself and your background, and maybe a little bit about what you report on and for our audience so they can get to know you. The human side of you today.

Sure. Sure. Yeah, that sounds great. And I’m flattered to have been asked to to participate, you know, in the podcast. So I, I’m my job. My job title is senior reporter at Think Advisor. And I specialize my coverage primarily on the retirement beat. But as you know, Julie, you know, retirement is a huge topic. So it really gets me pretty much free range to write about many different issues. I’m constantly interviewing financial advisers, to understand what their, you know, how they’re running their businesses, how they’re serving their clients. I get the opportunity to speak with, you know, asset managers, you know, record keepers, insurance companies. I also cover, the Social Security, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Labor. So it’s a it’s a really wide field that I get to cover. And I really, really like that part of my job. I get some speaking to the human side of things. What I like most about my job is just getting constantly to meet and speak with really interesting, smart people who are working on really interesting and important topics. So, you know, that’s that’s really what I get to do in the day to day. And I think in that, in that sense, I’m lucky. You know, it’s journalism can be a bit of a tough field that I feel like I’ve, I’ve really found a, a good niche for myself. Going further back, you know, I’ve been writing about the financial industry for about 12 years now. Closing in on my second anniversary with, we think advisor. I started my career writing about the defined contribution plan industry for a separate publication, similar name called Plan Advisor. It’s unrelated to Think Advisor, but that’s really where I cut my teeth. And, it’s kind of an interesting story because I, I studied journalism in college and really, you know, I, I didn’t really have any direct interest in finance or the financial services industry. I was really focused on politics and policy. You know, I thought I wanted to be a presidential reporter or, you know, maybe go to Washington and cover Congress. But I kind of I realized early on in my career that that’s, you know, really wasn’t the field that I wanted to cover. I wanted to sort of work in a space that felt a little bit more collaborative and less confrontational. So, you know, as you can imagine, covering covering politics and writing about policy can can really be kind of tough. So, you know, a long, a long winded way to say that I really enjoy my job. And, you know, covering the financial services industry has been extremely eye opening for me. As I said, it’s a it’s a great field to cover.

That’s fantastic. And I can’t imagine that the political arena would probably be very draining very quickly. Yeah, well, when you think about the wealth management arena and you named off obviously a whole host of topics. Do you have a few favorites or some passion topics that you really fuel you, if you will, when when you have the opportunity to really dig in deeper that are really kind of the ones that get you out of bed in the morning, if you will.

Yeah, yeah. No question. There’s there’s a couple that come, come to mind. The first is retirement income planning, which sounds a bit nerdy, but it’s such a fascinating field because the. I think you’d agree with this, Julie. The accumulation effort. Right. For retirement and just saving and generating assets. It’s it’s somewhat complicated. You have to you have to know about asset allocation. You know, stay the course. You know, don’t panic whenever the markets turn south. There are definitely complicated aspects to saving for retirement and preparing yourself for retirement, but it really pales in comparison to the complexity that you hit when you are deciding to retire. And actually trying to make that transition from accumulation to deaccumulation is the word I like to use. I’m not sure if it’s actually a word or not. But yeah, so and recently we’ve seen tremendous amount of academic and industry research on the topic. It really smart people in this field are working on this question all the time. You know, how can we use technology, the skills of advisors and the, you know, the product development in the asset management field, how can we bring all those pieces together and really create sustainable, retirements that the people can actually enjoy? So, you know, I feel like it’s a really important topic. It’s a little a little nerdy. Like I said, I’m constantly reading and writing about Monte Carlo simulations and, you know, different, you know, statistical methods to try to game out, you know, how people’s retirement may look, you know, based on historical data versus return assumptions. So it it’s definitely a complicated topic, but it’s something that I really enjoy writing about. And and as I said, there’s a just an amazing amount of research and sort work going on right now in that space. So I find myself, you know, constantly reading new papers coming out from, you know, the American College, the Investments and Wealth Institute. They’re doing really, really great work in that field. Part of the reason that, you know, and I love the I love the human centric theme of this podcast. So sort of to speak to that one thing that I hear about that the troubles me, you know, as a retirement reporter is, is the fact that there’s actually a lot of people in this country who have done a really good job preparing themselves for retirement. They just don’t know how they live it. They don’t know how to make that make that transition and start spending down. And there’s a lot there’s a lot behind that. Right? Because people are used to seeing the the accumulation. They’re used to seeing their account grow and grow over time. But it’s scary whenever you see it starting to move in the other direction. And, you know, so I think it’s important to empower people, investors and financial advisors with with the knowledge about how to spend and sort of live in retirement. So that’s a definitely a passion of mine. The other one, it’s related, but it’s Social Security claiming, that’s a it’s also very complicated. I have the, the pleasure of working with some colleagues here at the Think Advisor under the Allen banner. That’s our publisher. We we have a number of guys on the team who do Social Security analysis. And lately, I’ve been working with them to do a series of case studies about claiming and just showing predominantly, that delaying is often the the better thing to do. Right. You get a larger benefit. But on the human side, it’s very difficult for people to sort of hold off on claiming they think, you know, this is my money. I’m eligible for it at 62. So I’m going to I’m going to claim because I don’t, you know, and oftentimes people have fear about where Social Security may be heading. And so they make they make the decision based on fear. They want to get their hands on that paycheck. You know, now, while I still can, that’s something I hear a lot about. So I think it’s very important to sort of write about both of those topics because they’re they’re extremely important. And, you know, if there’s not a lot of insight out there about how to, you know, spend and in retirement. So to two very important topics. Yeah.

I so appreciate the fact that your I can feel your passion first and foremost. And, and so appreciate that you are writing about this. And I think we spend so much time as an industry, you know, focused on the numbers which are crucially important, of course. And the financial plan, which is also important. But there is so much emotion and, and the mental side, like you said, of that transition to retirement. And all of a sudden when those bar charts on the statement start to shrink. I just had a conversation with my mom two days ago and she said, I love it when my bar charts are going up on my statement. But I really it really bothers me when they go down. And I said, well, stop looking, right, stop looking. Don’t don’t let it get you down. But it is. It’s so hard for people to make that mental and emotional. All transition and how do you prepare clients? And it is just there’s so much to our mindset and our emotions and they all come together. And how can we continue to educate financial professionals and ultimately clients. And it all hangs together. And if we can all work together to tell the story and put the pieces of the puzzle together, it really does ultimately take a village to to get that done. And I think you’re just touching the tip of the iceberg. I don’t know if you would agree.

Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I, I think it’s really interesting. There was a survey that came out, I can’t remember the firm off the top of my head, but a large asset manager and, and they showed that something like two thirds of people in the survey said they fear running out of money in retirement more than they fear death, which I think is just a really eye opening finding. I think there’s a lot, a lot to read into there. I wonder if you know really how true that is in a sense, but I think it’s more of an expression of the the anxiety that people feel about retirement, that because it’s a very it is, you know, frankly, a potentially a vulnerable time in life. Something else that we’ve written a lot about lately on. I think advisor.com is just the the expense of things like health care and retirement, the challenges of associated with long term care needs. You know, these are things that really loom large in people’s minds. And, speaking back to the to the research, one reason why I think it’s so hard to plan for some of this stuff is that oftentimes, you know, some some people get really lucky and they don’t end up needing nursing home care, and they’re relatively healthy until the end of their life and things go really well. But there are other families that can do everything right, save, you know, up to millions of dollars in your bank account. But if you know, a long term care event strikes you at the wrong time in your mid or early 60s, you know, you could have potentially decades of nursing home care or, you know, things that can drain even of a successful retirement savings journey. So that that’s just the the reality of, you know, our our current system here, you know, in the States. So it leaves people concerned. Rightly so. I think that’s another passion, topic of mind. Julie, to go back to your earlier question, is encouraging young people to get started early. And because, you know, it’s so essential when you’re facing these types of risks and concerns, really the only solution is to start saving early, get invested in the equity and bond markets, you know, stay invested, stay the course for decades. And that’s how you can prepare yourself for a successful retirement. There’s there’s really if you if you wait to start that that’s it’s really almost impossible to catch up. So I think it’s very important to communicate that to young people.

Right. Time is certainly our friend in those cases.

Yep, yep.

I’m curious, you know, right now as we chat, what are some of the trends that you’re following in terms of are there some specific stories that, you’re working on right now that, you could share with us and maybe why you’re working on them? Is it seasonal? Is it, because there’s something that maybe you’ve been working on for a long term, research project or, you know, any updates that maybe a peek into the tent for our listeners as to, what’s on your docket right now?

For sure. For sure. One thing I’d say, just in general, you know, I think advisor I have the, the, you know, the I’m part of a great team. So I really get to learn from my colleagues. So we have reporters that cover pretty much everything that’s of interest to the financial, professional, financial advisor community. So in that sense, I really feel like I’m a part of a, you know, a team that that’s really covering a lot of great information. As I said at the top, you know, my my beat is retirement, but that ranges into so many different things. Right? Right now I’m writing a lot about taxes because, you know, we’re we’re closing in on tax day. I just filed my own taxes, yesterday or the day before. So there’s a lot of, you know, content that I’m sharing about the opportunities, and that come with tax management, you know, kind of taking a tax smart approach to saving and investing for retirement that it can range from, you know, very sophisticated techniques like, you know, using direct indexing and, you know, separately managed accounts to do tax loss harvesting. You know, that that’s something that I’ve been writing about lately that is, you know, very important. And there’s potentially a lot of opportunity there for advisors to, to deliver value to their clients by, you know, using some of those more sophisticated techniques, both ahead of tax day, but also on, you know, on a year round basis. But there’s also, you know, the more straightforward elements of tax management. You know, just considering diversifying across, you know, both traditional and Roth style accounts. You know remembering the fact that, you know, brokerage accounts can be quite useful for saving for retirement because, you know, you can often pay long, you know, at the long term capital gains rate instead of having to pay, you know, only ordinary income over, over time. So there’s there’s a lot to, you know, consider there. And I’m definitely digging into, into that topic at the moment. You know. One thing is the Social Security policy debate ahead of the presidential election this year. It’s, you know, a hugely important program in this country. Everybody everybody knows that and everybody agrees on that. The question is, you know, how do we right, you know, right. The ship in terms of the finances, so that, you know, I expect to be, you know, writing a lot about Social Security. For more from the policy angle. I’ve been doing a lot of coverage, as I said, about claiming strategies and, you know, optimal retirement planning. But, you know, more and more people are writing to me asking about, you know, what? I expect to come, you know, with this, with this election and into the future, because the Social Security program, the as you probably know, Julie, the primary trust fund used to pay retirement is, you know, according to the trustees is on track to, you know, run out of funds by the, you know, mid to early 2030s at which time we’re facing, you know, potentially a 25% benefit cut, which is not not a great outcome when it comes to, you know, many people relying on the program either for, you know, discretionary spending in retirement or or mandatory spending, a lot of people are in that situation. So that’s definitely something that’s on my radar. You know, as we head into into the end of the year. One thing I would encourage advisors to remember and to communicate with their clients is that, you know, people are worried about the future of the Social Security program. They may not be coming into the meetings and, you know, and raising it as their top issue. But, you know, someone said this to me the other day, even if your clients aren’t talking about it, they’re thinking about it. So you should you should probably be talking about it as the advisor if there was one, you know, message about the program that I think people need to understand is that it’s, you know, it’s not going away. I think people they fear, they hear about Social Security going bankrupt. And they, you know, again, it drives them to claim early and make poor decisions. They, they, they think the program is going to disappear. And it’s really not if nothing happens, you know, in terms of legislation, there will be a benefit cut, but the program isn’t going to disappear. So I think people need to people need to understand that especially, you know, as we can anticipate a pretty, you know, heated, election cycle coming up that, you know, I think that’s we’re likely to hear some pretty, you know, dramatic statements on both sides about the state of the program. Yeah. So, as you can probably hear, I’m passionate about Social Security as well.

Yes. Well, obviously it’s a very, very important topic. And I think that’s that’s a very important statement that you made. Even if clients aren’t talking about it in the meeting, they are thinking about it, they are worried about it and maybe even fearful about it. So I think that’s a really important point you make. And that actually leads me to my next question for you. You know what what kinds of stories are resonating with your readers? And maybe what do they want to learn more about? And how do you find this out? I’m always curious about that as the person that’s typically being interviewed. And maybe I’ll even add an asterisk to that. How do you find out what they don’t like or don’t want to hear about? So maybe the flip side of that as well.

Yeah. Yeah. They’re great, great questions. Yeah. So as I said at the top of the call, I really enjoy I’m lucky. I really enjoy my job in the day to day. I get to speak and, you know, talk with people who are doing really interesting things for organizations that are that are really important. A couple things to say. You know, the power of LinkedIn right now in our industry is not to be underestimated. You know, people often go there first when they’re, you know, announcing their own successes in the industry. You know, maybe they’re proud of a new product that’s coming out, or they’ve worked on a new research paper and they go to LinkedIn and tell people about it. And so I would, you know, that’s a place where I actually find and it would probably surprise you how much of the news that I’m able to find comes from LinkedIn. Both, both the, the public side of LinkedIn, but also the chats, you know, you can people for whatever reason, maybe it feels a little bit more formal to email a journalist, you know, from their corporate account that feels, you know, and you know, frankly, that they may have restrictions on their ability to talk to the press in a formal setting. But, you know, they have a private relationship with me on LinkedIn, and they can drop me a note and say, you know, hey, this is off the record, but we’re working on this. You might want to keep an eye out for it. And so I get a, you know, a lot of, scoops that way, if you will. And so I’ve been really trying to lean into that in the last couple of years and cultivate that as a, as a pathway to, to get, you know, information, you know, and frankly speaking to the human side of things, journalism. And I think it’s true in, in financial services in general, it’s such a relationship business. And I think, you know, establishing trust with people over time is, you know, the most important thing when it comes to writing about potentially sensitive topics. You know, I can think of an example, I won’t I won’t name a specific firm. But there’s, you know, one large, it’s one of the large, wire houses that is facing, an issue with advisors. Who are, you know, suing the firm or arbitrating with Finra. About deferred compensation. And, you know, the firm is obviously very they they believe they’re doing the right thing and that their, you know, their arrangements with their employees are, you know, as they should be. They live up to the law, the properly structured contracts and all this. The advisors and their attorneys see things differently. And, you know, it’s my job to be able to speak to both parties fairly and to understand, you know, both sides of the equation, and then to write a story and just present the facts and not not pick a side so that, you know, but it can be it can be challenging. You know, I, you know, when I email the firm and say, hey, you know, by the way, I’m writing about this lawsuit, you know, what? What do you guys make of it? I figure you probably won’t want to say anything on the record, but, you know, I’ll look at your court documents and, you know, extrapolate from there. But please let me know what you think about this. And I get tough phone calls now and again. People, you know, respect for that. You’re saying, you know, I’ll John, I really think these attorneys have it wrong. You got to be you have to look at it this way and, you know, take their input into account and just try to, you know, write right down the middle essentially, so it can be challenging. I would say that the, the I can’t even think off the top of my head at the time, maybe once or twice in my entire career where I feel like things have gone, you know, poorly in terms of just getting on the same level as people, you know, understanding their point of view. People working in this space realize the the importance of of being kind and being polite for the most part, and just realizing that, you know, that’s a better way. Even if there is a a lawsuit that we’re talking about or a piece of regulation that people are really upset about, I mean, that if everybody remains really, respectful. I mean, I think that’s that’s important. As I said before, different from covering politics, it feels it’s definitely.

Yeah. Do you read all of the online comments that people make on your articles? I’m curious.

I try to. Yeah, yeah. What’s interesting is that so we don’t on the website itself, we don’t have a comment section, but we do in in lieu of that, my email address is right there on, on every story. So people, people can, you know, tell me exactly what they think. And they often do like, you know, to give, I guess, to give myself a bit of a compliment. You know, I, I tend to get good feedback on my articles because I take, you know, I take the job very seriously. And, you know, I, I think it’s important as a journalist to be very just cognizant of the fact that I do have a bit of a voice and to, to realize the, the, you know, the, the, not the importance of searching for the right word, but just the responsibility, I guess, of having a voice online. I think it’s important to remember that. So yeah, it’s again, it’s, it’s a it’s a really interesting job, I enjoy it. One thing I’ll say is that, you know, when I, I welcome all feedback on my article. So the last thing I would want is for someone to see something that they know that I got wrong and not tell me, because, you know, that’s what getting things right is, is the most important part of the job. And no, it’s no one’s perfect. I make I make mistakes, you know, everybody does. And sometimes I need to correct an article or, you know, usually it’s it’s very minor. But every once in a while you make a mistake and you just have to. I think it’s important to fess up to it.

So no, I, I a great, great leadership coach went told once told me feedback is a gift and without it we have no opportunity to improve. So yeah, yeah I agree with that.

I have I’m lucky I have, you know, not to. I guess I’m going to compliment my bosses on, on the podcast, but I have great editors. You know, I’ve, I’ve always I’ve always had respect for my editors and I’ve worked with the prior publications, but, Katie and Janet, really, they help. They helped me a lot, you know, to, to make sure that my content is, you know, is accurate, is is relevant, it’s timely. You know, it’s, for example, the art of headline writing is is something that, you know, my, my editor Katie and and Janet are very good at. I, I find them I often turn my articles in with a pretty technical headline. And you know, when it when I see it come online, I’m like, oh, that that is a much better way to sort of hook people and get them into the story. So yeah.

And that that’s probably the most fascinating part of journalism to me are the headlines. I’m like, oh, that that sucked me right in. So that that creative part of it that, I’m always so impressed with the minds that can come up with those headlines. So yeah, I love that and is a different, you know, so you mentioned obviously litigious type situations or challenging to cover, right, where there are sort of two sides. Are there any other topics that from your perspective are are difficult for you to cover? You know, when you think about it or is that really the main one where it’s, you know, kind of involves more of, you know, where two sides are sort of fighting, if you will?

Yeah. That’s a really interesting question. Definitely. I mean, of course, the loss. Suits, you know, come to mind? In my in my prior publication, you know, in the world of 401 K plans and DC plans that excessive fee litigation, there was a wave of that. And so so I felt like I was constantly writing about lawsuits. And it almost became difficult because at what point do you cover allegations versus actual developments in a, in a lawsuit? Because I, you know, you can anybody can allege anything in a filing. So that that was challenging. I don’t deal with that quite as much in this job now because I’m more focused on the retail wealth management world. I do write about retirement plans in the context of retirement planning, but I don’t write about the administration or litigation issues there. But, we have a sister publication, if you will, called Benefits Pro. And I do feel for some of my reporter colleagues on that side of the aisle because they’re they have to deal with this because it’s, it’s a major, major trend in the in the 401K plan industry. Things have actually improved quite a lot. And I don’t think the pace is quite as high as it, as it was in years past. But that’s something that comes to mind. Almost the flip side of the answer. I think I’m lucky, Julie, because there aren’t a lot of things that fall into that category for me, and it’s because retirement is one of the very few truly bipartisan topics in in our this, our public discourse today. You know, I talked about Social Security before, but when it comes to just, you know, the employer sponsored retirement planning system, our our legislators in Congress are extremely supportive of the system. We’ve had the you’re probably familiar with the Secure act from 2019. I guess it was really included a bunch of features that the industry has been pushing for, you know, greater adoption of automatic enrollment, you know, opportunities to invest in annuity type investments within retirement plans and in a more, and an easier way. And then we even had secure 2.0, you know, several years later. So in that sense, it actually is, is great. That, you know, I don’t find, you know, when I published an article that maybe one side of the aisle or the other has a, a strong perspective or, you know, I don’t I don’t get accused of being partisan the way that many other journalists do. And that’s it’s a great thing. So in that sense, I think I, I picked a good beat. Right. Because there’s not a lot of, not a lot of really challenging things. I do, I sometimes I find myself reading, you know, some of these reports that I mentioned earlier, you know, new analyzes of retirement income. And, you know, I’m, I have a decent mind for, for mathematics. But when it comes to, you know, the real deep statistics, I kind of have to rely on some of the experts, you know, you see some of these formulas and you know, this stuff stochastic, you know, regression and that stuff can go a little bit above my head so that I’d probably say, you know, that side of things can be challenging. But the good news is that there’s so much more to write about than that. There’s the whole human side, as you know, as we’re talking about today. So, yeah, those are those are the things that that come to mind.

That makes perfect sense. I’m curious as as you think forward. You know, and to the future topics. What? What are some of those on your wish list, if you will, for some themes or storylines that you are looking forward to writing about in the future?

Yeah. I mean, again, there’s there’s just so many different things I could point to. One thing I’m personally interested in and kind of kind of thinking about the human side, I just want, I’m interested to see where this, the whole cryptocurrency and sort of meme stock phenomenon goes, because I think that’s an, you know, I’m not going to give a personal perspective about the value of Bitcoin, but I there’s no question that there’s this just desire for people to sort of catch lightning in a bottle. Right. And I think that says a lot about about people’s emotions and psychology when it comes to, comes to investing. So, you know, and there are there other, you know, other meme stocks you could point to. So I, I’m very interested in that. And just seeing where where that goes in the future because, you know, to me it’s a bit heartbreaking to see people, you know, say, no, I don’t I’m not going to participate in my 401 K plan and do the things that we know can help people be successful long term. They don’t trust the system. So they’re going to invest in Bitcoin because that’s you know, the future. And you know everything will be will be fine if I just get, you know, buy and hold some bitcoin for the long term. So I, I think that’s something that, you know, seems like it’s sort of a a side topic, but I think it’s just speaks to a really important dynamic that’s sort of playing out. I’m also, you know, there’s so many other things I could point to, again, the retirement income topic and where that goes, especially as, you know, the baby boomer generation enters retirement as really the first generation that has significant for 401k plan wealth and maybe less pension, maybe less of an access to pension. Maybe many boomers do have pensions, but many do not. And I think they’re really the test case of the for 401k plan system. And, and the ability of people to to spend and sort of live and live in retirement. And of course, I couldn’t, you know, wouldn’t be a good retirement reporter if I didn’t mention the topic of longevity and how, you know, people’s longevity continues to increase. One thing I think that’s extremely important for financial advisors to grapple with is, is to realize that not only is the average life expectancy increasing, but their clients just it’s the sad, I guess, the sad truth. They’re healthier and wealthier than the general population. And so it’s not appropriate to be doing Monte Carlo analysis that look at 87 as, as the projected longevity. It’s it’s 92. It’s 95 for your clients. So that’s something that’s extremely important, especially in the context of a couple. And you know, this this and so that’s something I’m definitely going to be writing about. The great wealth transfer first from I think people often talk about money flowing from the baby boomer generation to to Gen Z or millennials, but there’s an interim step there, and it’s the fact that many women are going to outlive their husbands in the future, and they are going to be the inheritors of this money before, before the next generation. And I think that’s sort of a blind spot in the industry right now. I think a lot of advisors, they’re thinking about next gen, but they’re they’re not thinking about exactly how that, you know, transfer of wealth is going to happen. So those are three things, you know, that I’m definitely, definitely tuned into when it comes to the mid to to long term future.

Absolutely. Those are certainly things that we at Hartford Funds are thinking about as well. Not only how can financial professionals help their clients fund retirement, but how will they help clients think about what will they do with their time in retirement? Because, as you said, it’s no longer, you know, maybe ten or 15 or 20 years. It could be 30 or 40 or 50 years of retirement. Right? So the funding is just one piece of it. But how will I spend my time and stay safe in my home? And, you know, all of those longevity related questions. So it’s it’s really exciting, but it’s a lot of questions to answer. So yeah, I.

Think it’s.

To do.

Yeah. And that topic of like visualizing what life and retirement will look like. Exactly.

It’s it’s like life after work. Right. Maybe we don’t even call it retirement anymore. Maybe it’s just life after work.

Yeah, I actually I like that phrase. I use it in my, in my writing often because I think it sort of gives people the more of an image of what it is, life after work. It’s not like it’s it’s not just one thing. It’s it’s your. Yeah. I don’t know. I think I’m just speaking on a personal level. I think I’m lucky to be covering this topic, too, because it sort of forces me to to grapple with some of the things that other people are able to put off thinking about. Right? So, yes, you know, I’m still relatively early in my career. I, you know, hope and expect to have, you know, decades of reporting left to go before I retire. But, you know, I’ve had the, the opportunity to, to sort of think a little bit more about that. And, and I don’t know, I guess I have enough hobbies and interests that I, I’d like to think that I’ll be able to transition smoothly. Into retirement, but I don’t know if my work is important to me, and it’s an important part of so many Americans identity. So it has to be considered.

You’re you’re so right. I’m. I’m. My husband and I are thinking about the same things. And we don’t have kids. So we’re thinking about the caregiving thing as well. And, you know, again, it kind of helps. I think we’re all thinking about that maybe a little bit earlier. And if we can continue to spread the messaging and encourage others to think about it, I think it will just help everyone maybe prepare and and visualize. I love that how you use that word. So yeah, I’m I’m curious, maybe we can, transition to a slightly different topic and maybe this is a little bit of a selfish question, but, you know, when you sit down with a wealth management source, how can they be most helpful to you or to media in general? You know, when when conducting an interview, you know, I always whenever I sit down, I try to be as prepared as possible and think through, you know, as many different themes and topics and bullet points and, and then at the end, I think, oh, I hope I gave them what they needed. But you don’t really know just. Well, could you share with our audience, you know what? What is most helpful to you when you’re sitting down with someone and trying to extract information? Just because I’m sure many of our listeners probably do engage with with the media from time to time and any tips or tricks that you have for our audience.

It’s a really interesting question. I think to begin with, Julie, like, that’s a great approach. What you just described, you know, you know, realizing that and realizing that this is a, an important, interaction and that it’s worth, you know, put you don’t have to write a whole term paper ahead of an interview, but it’s probably worth thinking about it a little bit. I think a lot of people, you know, there are people who have such expertise and experience in this industry that they can do things off the cuff, and it’ll probably still be useful and, and interesting to the, to the journalist and, you know, be a mutually beneficial experience. But, you know, especially if it’s maybe your early on in your engagement with the media probably makes sense to do a little bit more of that formal planning and preparing what you’re what you’re talking to. On the flip side, you know, I, I can think of certain executives or leaders in the industry who’ve been kind enough to share, you know, their cell phone with me, and they don’t mind if I just give them a quick call for a, you know, a quick take on something that’s happening in the industry. So maybe the best way to describe it would be, you know, just kind of understand what the journalist is sort of trying to accomplish is this sort of very formal or informal thing. You know what? You know, what are some of the most important topics? I’d also say, you know, in my experience, it’s great to be, you know, working with third party agencies, you know, press people who help make these connections. And, you know, a huge amount of respect for the people who help in that sense and the firms that work in that space. I would just say, you know, if if a an adviser or a wealth manager source or whoever it is is connected with, you know, a person via a third party like that, you know, feel free to bring more topics to the table, because I think there’s sort of there’s a there’s a strategy that, the third party press people use and it’s they kind of they think of an interesting idea and bring it to the table and connect a journalist and a and the source and that’s, that’s great. But I think you could also see that connection is an opportunity to, to share more information. And so I always like to, you know, go through the questions that were planned and in that type of an interview, but then also just ask, you know, what else are you working on? What what do you think I should know about your job and the day to day? Or you know what? What’s something that would you found surprising or exciting in the past, you know, 3 to 6 months. So, you know, I guess it’s sort of similar, similar to what journalists are told or what writers are told, which is, you know, right. What you know, when you’re coming to an interview, you know, same thing like share, share what you really know. And, you know, you never know if the journalist is going to find it useful or interesting. And, you know, if if they don’t, then, you know, so be it. It’s just an opportunity to have a have a discussion. Okay.

I think.

Yeah. Thinking I, I’m trying to think what, what other tips I could give. Usually, you know, it’s always better to have advance notice of things. I think the vast majority of journalists are they they value their trustworthiness and their ability to, you know, be professional. And so I, I often have the opportunity to get news in advance under embargo. That’s extremely helpful. You know, from our perspective to be able to prepare ourselves to, you know, participate in the the breaking of news. I think it, you know, as, as a news website, you know, we we write a lot of content that is instructive and, and sort of analytical. But this, you know, the most important stories from our perspective are when when there is, you know, genuine news involved. So whether that’s important people moving positions, you know, big, big product or service launches, you know, acquisitions, you know, these these more news events, of course, we’d love to hear about them the day they happen. But. If at all possible. You know, we love to get that embargoed information. And I, you know, I’ve never broken an embargo, I never will. And I think most the vast majority of journalists are in the same boat because we are our credibility is the is really the only thing we have. So if we’re breaking embargoes or, you know, reneging on promises we’ve made to people that that’s just that’s not a good way to go.

No, I hear you. I always say my word is my only currency, right? Oh, that makes perfect sense. I’m curious when you have an interview and you’re hoping to get, you know, a, a piece of information or a sound bite that you need, and you just don’t really get it. You. The interview ends. And maybe it wasn’t the subject matter expert that you thought you were going to get. And, you know, you’re coming up against a deadline. What do you do? Do you try to find another source? Do you miss the deadline? Do you scrap the piece? I mean, again, this is just all the things that are always swirling around in my, my head as I’m in that interview thinking, you know, did I get them to where they needed to go? Yeah. Well, you’re very curious on your perspective.

You’re very conscientious, Julie. I think there’s a lot of I.

I overthink everything. This is why at 2 a.m., there’s a very, very much going on in my head. So it’s a very scary place.

No, no, I and I think it just, it shows that, you know, you have respect for the journalists in their time and I, you know.

Frankly, I try I can’t even imagine sitting in your seat and the deadline driven or, you know, and all the things that you’re juggling. So that’s why I always try to think, just trying to be respectful of your time and all of the things you’re juggling. But that’s what I’m always thinking about, is did that achieve the goal that you were trying to achieve? Well, being authentic to my point of view, right. Of course, there’s a fine line. Of course.

Yeah. First thing to say is that, you know what? I like working in the world of digital journalism. Because, yes, we we have deadlines in a sense. But it’s like in my early in my career, I was writing for newspapers and there was a deadline. It was like, if the content was not in by five, you know, or whatever the time was there, could there could literally be a blank space in the, in the thing that’s being printed. So though those days were more stressful, it’s definitely.

I can’t even imagine.

Yeah. Yeah. So that was, you know, maybe why I don’t have any hair anymore. Because the early, the early part of the early part of my career, I would either. Yeah. No, I’m just kidding. But, so that the early part of my career that that deadline pressure was stronger and, you know, now writing for a new a news website, it’s more flexible. Right. But of course, the flip side of that is balancing balancing the ability to delay and seek that next source, or take that next step in the reporting versus the timeliness of your coverage. And Google is is very it involves the first story on a new topic. So that’s something, you know, that all journalists need to keep in mind. And it really the time matters of when you publish. So like for example, if there’s a big acquisition that’s announced by a firm, it matters in terms of the traffic, who is covering it first, even if the stories are very similar. You know, it’s it’s Google does care which one came first because I think the way the algorithm works, it views that as the original content and it sort of is seeing and ranking everything else is sort of a copy, even if it is original reporting. So that’s, that’s the the pressure in these days. So it’s less of a specific deadline and more of that give and take between having original high quality information and being early to the subject. So that that’s sort of how the yeah, the deadline pressure works. And in the the online news world at this moment, when it when it comes to, you know, if an interview doesn’t go all that well, there’s, there’s, you know, if it’s not a really newsy, time sensitive subject, you know, no problem. I’ll, I’ll call someone else tomorrow. I’ll put that on the backburner and, you know, it’s again, you know, it’s I think most journalists enjoy speaking with people and talking about topics. So even if it’s it’s not 100% what they were expecting, very rarely I think it is. Does a journalist leave a conversation and be like, oh, what a waste of time like that. That really doesn’t that really doesn’t happen. There’s, there’s at least I always try to get value out of the conversations that I have. And I feel like at the very least, it I view it as an opportunity to, you know, deepen that relationship. Maybe there’s an opportunity to break news in the future, you know, with, with this person. So, in terms of, you know, if there’s a, you know, something that I really need to get information about, can’t be afraid to call somebody back and ask, you know, sometimes it’s it’s sort of embarrassing and, you know, you don’t want to you don’t want to have to do it. It it can be a little, you know, embarrassing, frankly, to call up and say, you know, I know we just spoke, but I, my editor really needs me to pin you down on this. I guess that’s a little a little trick. And maybe this could be used in other people’s, walks of life too. But, you know, often you can pin it on the editor, right? I can call someone back and say, oh, you know, my editor really wants me to figure this out. And, you know, you can sort of create that little distance. You can say, like, you know, I know you don’t want to talk about this and that. It’s sensitive. But my, my editor is really hounding me to get the information. So. Can you help me out? You kind of make it. You know. You’re not playing with their emotions in that sense, but you’re, you know, kind of demonstrating that there’s, you know, it’s important. And I really want to get this information if you can share it. And the most important thing is, you know, if I ask somebody something twice and they don’t give it to me, then that’s it. I’m not going to not going to have them for for information because they’re, you know, in this it’s a sensitive field. You know, a lot of people are subject to literally, regulatory restrictions on what they can say and when and how they can disclose information. So that’s something I try to try to keep in mind.

Well, that makes perfect sense. Oh, my final question for is from your perspective, you know, why is media important? I know from our perspective in the wealth management industry why it’s so important, but we would love to hear and I’m sure our listeners would love to hear, you know, why it’s important from your perspective. And then after we hear your answer, maybe we could transition into our lightning round of questions, which is our very special segment. To get to know you a little bit better on a human centric level. But I’ll tell you a little bit more about that in one moment. But, what are your thoughts on kind of the importance of media and I guess maybe why you do what you do. What is your why?

Yeah, I that’s a really interesting question. And you would think that I would have a, you know, a really insightful or specific answer to that, but, I don’t know. I mean, it’s, I think a couple things to say, you know, number one, it’s a the media, you know, is, is a huge is a huge thing. Right? So I think, for example, the role that I play at a publication like Think Advisor is very different from, say, a national reporter at The New York Times, who’s, who’s covering the election. You know what? I I’m sort of in more of a niche world where I see my role as, as a, you know, a communicator and a connector, really. So some of the most important things that I get to do, I think are, are participating in podcasts like this or hosting webcasts where I can really bring together experts and encourage the dialog amongst themselves and really showcase their expertise. Because, you know, in this space the things that people can do, you know, the skill sets, the financial planning, skill sets that people have are extremely important when it comes to people’s long term financial success and happiness. And so, you know, I kind of view, you know, my job as sort of just helping to share that information. Right? It’s it’s almost just, you know, to convey the information and the expertise that they have. So, you know, I think advisor you could probably classified as a trade publication is the term used to be or an industry publication. So I think our role is should be thought of a little bit differently. You know, it’s it’s it’s definitely more of a I think I said at the, at the top of the call, Julie, that, you know, I really feel like, for example, think advisor in an organization like Hartford Funds, we have many similar goals, right? It’s educating people. It’s helping people to participate in the markets. It’s helping financial advisors find success so that they can help their clients find success. So it’s I really see our role that way. It’s it’s not a confrontational sort of model. It’s it’s, you know, and I think there’s a role for that. There’s a, an extremely important role for investigative journalism for, you know, war correspondents, all these, you know, there’s there’s really important work that those people are doing. But my world is a little bit different. It’s more of that, you know, trade publication style where we’re really, you know, getting really close relationships with our sources, that that’s something that I think is important in my space. So a bit of a long winded answer, but yeah, I mean, I’m hugely passionate about the importance of of media and, you know, the First Amendment to the, you know, open communication. I think it’s all extremely important.

Well, thank you for the work that you do and for sharing your passion with all of us, and for educating us and connecting us to all of these topics and resources that ultimately make us better at our jobs every single day. It really is important and we appreciate what you do and.

Thank.

You for professionalism.

So that’s the goal.

That’s the goal doesn’t go unnoticed, that’s for sure. But as I mentioned, we would love to take you into the Lightning Round segment of our Human Centric Investing podcast. And all right. These are just some fun questions, nothing business related. Just to know you, John, as the as the person. So sure, if you’re willing, I’ll just go through some questions. And if you just want to answer with whatever’s top of mind. And we’ll just get rolling if it’s all right.

Yeah. Okay.

Sounds great. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how good of a driver are you?

Oh eight.

I’ll take it.

Confident. I live in I for context, I live in New York City and drive in this place all the time, so. You have to be on your game for sure.

We go, I love it. Okay. What’s your favorite holiday?

Got to be Thanksgiving, I think. Less less pressure, no gifting, but family and food.

Oh, I like that. Yeah, I very much like that. What’s the best age?

Well, right now I’m 34 years old. I’ll disclose that. I’m. I’m enjoying this time in my life. You know, I feel like I’ve. At this point, you kind of. Well, first of all, I’ve been able to pay down my student loans, so that’s a good feeling. You know, second of all, I feel like I’ve got to the point in my career where I, you know, Im able to participate in things like this, and, you know, I have a little bit of a little bit of momentum that, you know, I think everybody’s searching for when they’re a little bit younger. So I like where I’m at.

Absolutely. I think that that makes all the sense in the world. Yeah. What’s the ideal outside temperature?

Let’s say 60. 65. Little, maybe cooler than other people would say, but.

That is a little cooler than, say.

I love to, to ride my bike and I commute to work on my bicycle as much as I can. And so that’s a good temperature for not being cold on the way to work, nor nor breaking a sweat on the way to the office.

Perfect. Would you rather binge watch a TV show or watch a movie?

Probably a binge watch TV show. Like, I I’m a bit, I don’t know. These days it’s hard to watch. Like, for example, the new Dune movie that came out, my my wife went to see it was extremely excited. I skipped it because I know that I can’t sit there for that long and watch. You know something I love? You know, the Dune universe, read all the books. But just the movies these days are getting longer and longer.

It is amazing. It is amazing. And I think our attention spans have changed to these.

Well, exactly. I could sit down and watch many episodes of something or if I’m, you know, it’s.

You know, it’s really interesting, but I’m with you. I sometimes see at some movies 3.5 hours long and I think, I don’t know that I can do it. It’s almost like I’ve checked out before I’ve ever even sat down. Yep. Do you prefer a beach house or a lake house?

Beach? I love the ocean. Yeah. I had the great, pleasure of going to the, Holden Beach in North Carolina with my family last summer, and it was amazing. Yeah, I wouldn’t.

Oh, that sounds fabulous.

Swim. It’s swimming in the ocean. It’s can’t be that.

Would you rather travel to the past or to the future?

Oh.

Good question. I suppose the future, I suppose the future. But, you know, thinking about some of the topics we talked about earlier, logic, longevity, you know, I these questions tech, you know, technology. So I got to say got to say the future, a lot, you know, a lot of ways our society could, could improve upon itself. So hopefully, hopefully we’ll see that.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Probably a pilot. And then in high school, I was extremely passionate about chemistry. And my, my chemistry teacher, was I was just fantastic. And so I thought I wanted to be a chemist. And until, my mom bought me, a notebook, you know, when I was, I think, 18 years old. And for whatever reason, I just started journaling, and that changed my life. Honestly, I fell in love with the written word and, like, you know, I started reading great classic novels, and then all of a sudden, I just found, you know, I went from wanting to be, you know, a Nobel Prize winning scientist to being like, you know, the next Jack Kerouac or whatever.

So it was unbelievable. Yeah, it’s a great story.

Yeah, it’s it’s true. I still have yet to write write a novel, but it’s on. It’s on the to do list.

Incredible. I’m confident that you’ll do it. Thank you. And our final question today. What’s the first concert that you ever went to?

It would be a band called Gaelic Storm, which they’re kind of popular. It’s an Irish rock band, but my, my grandmother, my my late grandmother, Mary Kay O’Neil, was Irish and loved Irish music. And I think when I was probably 10 or 11 years old, she took my my twin brother and I to to see Gaelic Storm. Funny, really a random story. I was asked that same question in a in a group with other people, and one of my, one of my current work colleagues had the same experience, same band, and went to went to see that, went to see them with their with their grandparents. And I was that was kind of freaky. But yeah, great, great band. I’d recommend people check them out.

And what a special memory I love that. Yeah, special memories of special grandmothers. Well that’s great. Well, John, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your insight today with us on the Human Centric Investing podcast and for our listeners who want to read more of John’s work, you can check out his full coverage. I think advisor.com/author/profile/john-mangini. Roth. Thank you again, John, for all of your time today out of your very busy schedule. And I’m sure you have a deadline to make. So we will let you go and get back to that.

Yeah, yeah I got 1 or 2 stories to finish today, but this was this was great joy. I love the human human centric theme. You know it’s and I appreciate your your lightning round questions that that was fun. So thank you so much.

Thanks for listening to the Hartford Buttons Human Centric Investing podcast. If you’d like to tune in for more episodes, don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the guest who is not affiliated with Hartford Funds.

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