In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, Reporter Justin L. Mack shares his thoughts on his first six months as he hit the ground running on the wealth management beat.
Mack joined FP in November after more than a decade as a USA Today Network journalist for the Indianapolis Star and the Lafayette Journal & Courier. In his Twitter
By the end of the month, Mack will also be taking over as host and lead editorial producer of the FP Podcast. In a conversation with FP Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger, Mack answered the following five questions about his career and what he’s learned during his swift adjustment to a new beat over the last several months.
1. Let’s start with a question about your career. What made you decide to become a reporter? And what are some of the biggest differences between covering wealth management for FP and your prior beat with the IndyStar?
2. What has most surprised you about the wealth management industry as you’ve gotten acquainted with it over the past couple of months? What has confused you the most?
3. What have been some of your favorite stories you’ve done so far at FP?
4. Tell us about your on-air experience as an anchor and host, and what do you think about our FP Podcast? When can we have our first Justin L. Mack-hosted episode, and what types of guests would you be interested in interviewing?
5. What else should our readers know about you? Where are the best places to follow your work and get in contact?
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Transcription:
Tobias Salinger: (
Welcome back to the Financial Planning podcast. This is Tobias Salinger. I am your chief correspondent of Financial Planning, and we're really excited today to have, is our guest, a fellow member of our team at FP, reporter Justin L. Mack. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Justin L. Mack: (
Hey Toby. Thank you so much for having me really excited to be here even though, I mean, I'm at work, so I was gonna be around anyway, so it wasn't too hard to get me in, but really, really excited. Uh, glad to be able to kind of chop it up with you a little bit about all things, me and FP.
Tobias Salinger: (
Absolutely. You know, I just happened to, uh, to be working today a as well. So it, it, it really worked out in that sense how convenient it is. It is. So, Mack joined FP in November after more than a decade as a USA today, network journalist for the Indianapolis star and the Lafayette journal in courier. He describes himself as a Cleveland native and a boiler maker for life after getting bachelor degrees in communication in political science at the great Purdue university, as a reporter anchor and host Mack has earned awards for coverage of crime politics, pop culture, business, and breaking news. So far at F P has. He has been writing about the mini compliance and regulation topics on the wealth management beat. So we're really glad to, to have you on our team. And let's just start with the question about your career. Um, what made you decide to become a reporter and what are some of the biggest differences between covering wealth management for FP and your prior beat at the ND star?
Justin L. Mack: (
Absolutely. And really the, the drive to become a reporter just was a lack of my ability to stay outta other people's business. It was just natural curiosity that I've always had as a kid. And that was really driven by both my parents and my grandparents. Um, growing up in Cleveland, my parents were both really, really involved. My mom was, you know, school board and PTA president, and she also worked as, uh, assistant director of economic development for Bedford Heights. And my dad was in construction. He worked at tower city, anyone who knows Cleveland knows that famous Plaza and worked on pretty much anything that has brick and mortar in it. My dad probably helped build. So we were always very much in the city connected with the city. And as a kid, when I saw things that were off or different about the community, we spent so much time in, I always wanted to know, well, why is it like that?
Justin L. Mack: (
You know, why is that building closed? Why are there police on the street? Why do I hear sirens? You know, at night when I was trying to sleep the night for what happened, and my parents always taught me that, well, the best way to know what's going on is to stay informed. And they were very, very old schools. So for them it was the newspaper, the paper of record. Um, and for us in Cleveland, that was the Cleveland plain dealer, which sadly is no longer the daily that it was. Um, but it was just okay, if this is the place to answer all the questions that they were tired of me asking them, I'm gonna start reading that paper. So when I was a, you know, really, really young, I of course grabbed the paper to grab the comics and then the ads, all the stuff that was colorful.
Justin L. Mack: (
Then as I got older, I started grabbing the sports section naturally the out to follow Cleveland sports because they never did well. And then that progressed into grabbing the Metro section and the education section. Then next thing I know I'm 12 sitting down on the couch on Sunday with my dad. We're both reading the Metro and watching Bonanza. And that was just kind of a thing that we did. Um, that was also kind of driven by my grandmother. Uh, my mother's mother, who was a teacher in, uh, Cleveland schools. And she was one of those stereotypical letter to the editor. Old ladies loved my grandma. Dessy she probably still to this day on her bed, she had one of those beds that were way too high for someone her age to ever climb into. And on her side of the bed was where she slept.
Justin L. Mack: (
And on the other side of the bed was a stack of Cleveland plane. Dealers could go back two, three months and she always kept them handy. And she also had a stack of letters that she would write to the paper to talk about what's going on in the community. They need to fix this. This is a problem. Um, why hasn't this gotten better? Let's get more awareness on this good thing. So that has always been in me and it never faded. And, uh, as I went through some school, I, at one point thought I was gonna be an attorney. And then I realized, no, I'd rather write about and, and keep an eye on the attorneys. So my passion for journalism is always alive there as far as the difference, uh, between my old beat or beats at the USA today, network and indie star.
Justin L. Mack: (
And here, honestly, the biggest surprise is how much overlap there is when I first came in, you know, I'm the new guide to the financial services industry, but have a long, long decade plus bit of experience in the criminal justice system. So usually in the past, my intersection with the financial services industry has unfortunately always been the negative someone's been taken advantage of someone has misrepresented themselves and I'm continu. And to do that work because unfortunately that still persists in the financial services industry. And what I would like to do is try to go a little bit deeper with that coverage because I am so familiar and unfortunately I enjoy diving into court documents. How can we continue to cover that? Or how can I bring my experience covering that in FP and add that additional layer stuff that I really love, uh, when I was joining the team, it's, it's never just something happened and we regurgitate, uh, a release or a set of details.
Justin L. Mack: (
It's, let's bring some context, some understanding, what can we learn from this? How can we avoid this? And knowing that unfortunately, wrongdoing is at many times unavoidable, what can we do to highlight the positive parts of the end industry while also keeping a close eye on the wrong doers? So there's been a lot of overlap. Uh, the only other thing that's really different is in my time at IndyStar, I dabbled into a lot of, uh, pop culture as well. And I actually want to bring some of that coverage to FP, have a little bit of fun, because one thing I've also noticed in talking to, you know, financial advisors and attorneys and all the folks that I've met leaders in the financial industry is that there's some really fun, interesting folks. You know, you start talking and then when you're finished asking your questions, you kind of just, you know, shoot the breeze a little bit. And there's so many interesting personalities and that's in, in any beat that any reporter would cover. So I'm really excited about meeting a lot of new people and, and talking to strangers. It's, it's what I love to do.
Tobias Salinger: (
Well, I can really see all of that reflected, um, in the stories, uh, you've, you've done so far for FP and, and can't wait to, uh, to see more, uh, along those lines, we're going to, to get into that in a, in a bit, uh, but it was just really cool to, to hear your motivation and, and how you became a journalist. Certainly, uh, a lot of that rang through with, with my family as well. Um, and, uh, one of the, the great things about FP is we do have a little bit, uh, of, of time and, and breathing space throughout the day to kind of think about the why and why we're journalists and what motivates us and what types of stories, uh, we want to do. So, um, we're really, really excited, um, for, for the future, um, as you're becoming acquainted with this important, uh, but sometimes opaque wealth management industry, um, what has confused you the most and what has surprised you the most
Justin L. Mack: (
Important and opaque? That's a really, really nice way to put it. I like that. Um, probably the most confusing thing and is just getting used to everything that is so second nature to folks who have been doing this for so long, that is still new to me. And understanding that when I do reach out to people, these are experts. We're talking to people who live and breathe financial services. And I'm the guy who spent the past, however many years living in breathing criminal justice. So things that are second nature to me are second nature to them. So it's kind of meeting each other in the middle and, and learning, uh, some of the jargon is heavy with the financial services industry, but that's something that I've kind of been waiting through a little bit. And just a quick note of the financial services industry, not everything needs an acronym like seriously, we can use full words and full phrases because I've been slapped with so many acronyms that I'm kind of losing a sense of the ones I, I used to know.
Justin L. Mack: (
So it, it, that's been probably the most confusing thing honestly, is just learning the language. However, there is the awareness that, Hey, I'm new in the neighborhood, I've gotta learn the language. And that has been a fun challenge. And there have been so many people who've been helpful in that process. So that's kind of been the biggest surprise and, and the biggest, I guess I challenge so for are, and just realizing that everything that everyone does and, and it kind of goes back to my initial passion of wanting to be a journalist in the first place has always been wanting to keep people informed because when I was a kid who didn't know what was going on, that could be scary, um, at any age, that lack of understanding or not knowing what's happening can be terrifying. So my goal is to try and learn as much as I can, so that way I can inform people and kind of teach them the language as I'm te learning the language. So, uh, it's been an interesting process, but, but seriously, the acronyms, they can, they can relax a little bit. We, it's not necessary.
Tobias Salinger: (
That's right. Financial advisors and, uh, fellow wealth management professionals. We love you, but sometimes, uh, you can be a bit confusing with, with all of the acronyms you throw around and, uh, with a certain lack of specificity, but we do love you. And, uh, we're just, we do, we absolutely do. Um, but
Justin L. Mack: (
Look at me making friends, our already that's taking shots at the acronyms they hold dear.
Tobias Salinger: (
Absolutely. Um, and we're, we're, we're going to, uh, do a little bit more of that. Uh, we're going to just take a very short break, um, listeners, we're speaking with FP reporter, Justin L Mack, and we will be right back and we're back, we're speaking with financial planning, reporter, Justin L Mack. Um, what have been some of your favorite stories you've done so far at FP
Justin L. Mack: (
Man, there've actually been in a short period of time. I've had a chance to cover so much interesting stuff. And when I first came here, naturally my thought was a lot of coverage of, of regulation and compliance and, uh, some of, of an element that exists in the industry. So obviously diving into that, but another big surprise has been a lot of the culture that I've had a chance to cover here at FP, just what it means to be a financial planner, what it means to do this job every single day. And some of the rewarding things, or the challenging things that people who are maybe customers or outsiders would have no idea about. That's kind of been a highlight. Uh, one of the first, I guess, beefier stories. I got a chance to dive into when I first came to FP was a story that kind of analyzed all of the things that can go wrong, or some of the horror stories or, or nightmares that can happen.
Justin L. Mack: (
Say when someone strikes it out on their own, leaving a big brokerage, either go independent or create their own RIA. And it was very much centered around something that was criminal justice. It was focused around a very, very, as, as everyone knows a negative case involving, uh, Craigslist sex ads, that then turned into a long settlement, um, readed on financial planning.com, look for name my name, Justin L. Mack cheap plug for my own work. But in that we were able to have a really important discussion, which was just reaching out to folks who have made that move and really talk about here's what you need to know. Here's what you need to keep in mind. Blind spots. You might have, especially since, as I've learned and seen so much of the change in the industry is individuals doing just that making, going out on their own.
Justin L. Mack: (
And I think being able to dig into that topic was, again, something surprising that I didn't really think about. Um, and I think more of that kind of culture, what it means to do the job is, is stuff I love to do because it's just talking to people about the daily struggles and people can relate to that. Uh, something else I was really excited to do was to focus on something that is very much a passion topic of mine is the greater awareness of diversity inclusion and all the struggles that surround the financial services industry. But that's not unique to financial services I'm mean in any industry in the reporting industry, there are issues with representation. There are issues with making sure there are people with varied experiences in the room, and FP has done a great job of that. I think back to a podcast series, uh, access tonight that you did, which is something I listened to before I, you know, joined the team that I felt was fantastic in real, really focusing on, on the struggles that, you know, advisors and professionals of color in this industry face.
Justin L. Mack: (
And it's been really interesting to, to look at that and talk about how we can do a better job of that, because right now there are so many people tuned into that. You know, it took a lot of hard things to get us here. It took a lot of tragedy to, to open some people's eyes and ears, little bit more, but now that we kind of have the room, what are we gonna do with it? And that's been really cool. And one of the things I've tried to do with that is kind of like normalizing, you know, the successes or the things that, you know, black or brown, or maybe nontraditional advisors are doing in the industry. Uh, so something that was really excited about in it's a story that, uh, just published earlier this month, it was a study on kind of looking at why maybe pursuing other financial certifications other than the CFP might be a gateway for more diverse kinds of people to break into the industry.
Justin L. Mack: (
And the study kind of showed that for, uh, women and some people of color, some of the, I guess the other design nations might be an ability to one test your confidence and your ability to go in after the CFP, because that's not an easy thing to do. And obviously when you first think about that, and when you think diversity, it obviously most people think of race, but we were able to capture some really unique perspectives. Uh, one person I talked to was a individual who, uh, considers themselves for represents the child free community. These are adults 55 and up who have made the decision to not have children and never have children. He talked about not seeing any of his life situations represented when he was going after his CFP, because a lot of the financial decisions that people are making, or at least when advisors are learning how to be a planner are focused around life.
Justin L. Mack: (
Things that will happen for married couples, with children, saving for college, who are you gonna leave your money to? But for that community, the child free community, none of that is relevant. It doesn't matter if you have a client who isn't making those decisions. So how do you help that client? So it's about representation in all kinds of different ways. And I thought that was interesting. That's not something I had ever thought about. And when he reached out to talk for the story, I was ecstatic because who knew, you know, who knew that there are so many different kinds of, of subgroups that still don't see themselves, even as we make big overarching strides for better diversity, there are still some pockets that we're missing. How do we bring them to the table and have them part of the conversation too? So that's been extremely rewarding and, and knowing that we have the ability to, to tell those kinds of stories is great.
Justin L. Mack: (
Uh, another story that, you know, really sticks out to me as far as really focusing on having new people, coming to this industry was something we did on the very first, uh, at least the first reported N I deal that happened in the world of wealth management. There was a, a Texas based firm with a young man who is a advisor by the name of XON Harris. Uh, the story is up now, but he was a college athlete, uh, at the university of Texas San Antonio football team. He's got family in the NFL, as far as he knew he was going to the NFL and he was a heck of a player. So all tracks were leading that way. An in an injury changed his life. So he came into the financial services industry as only less than a year into it. And he had the thought to let me use I connections at college and my old athlete friends and the world that I know to one, not only represent athletes, but I'm gonna go ahead and, and strike out and help make the first NIO deal in this industry come to light.
Justin L. Mack: (
That's, that's incredible. Um, and we didn't have to really focus on the fact that he was non-traditional. You can look at him and see, he's not what you typically see when you look at the world of wealth management. Um, so I think doing more of that and just normalizing the stories of all kinds of advisors is gonna do a lot of good, because I'm also cognizant that diversity issues happen from the media side as well, how we cover the industry, how we cover any, anything can create the image of that in, for people who aren't part of it, if we're presenting or, or covering things that don't reflect the true makeup of the industry, or don't show those different kinds of faces, then are we helping the effort or are we holding it back? I'm mindful of that. I wanna make sure we're not creating a barrier for things to get better, cuz I think we all want things to get better.
Tobias Salinger: (
Absolutely. And, um, it really means a lot. Uh, to me it means so much, uh, to, um, hear that access denied, um, you know, uh, stood out to you as you were, um, thinking of, of joining our team. Um, and just like you said, as journalists, um, we have a, a, a long legacy as an industry with respect to historically excluded groups, um, both with portrayal and, you know, the, uh, attention that we give one issue or, or another. Um, so it's just exciting to, um, you know, to think about the, uh, say the intersection of football and wealth management, like your U T S a road runner, uh, story there, uh, thinking about name, image, likeness, um, and intersections with financial advisors, um, which could be really exciting, um, in the future and, uh, just all of the, the other topics, uh, that, that you're getting into. Um, it, it all sounds great and, and we can't wait to, to see more, um, definitely listeners. We encourage you to, to go out to our, our website to, to check out Justin's work. Um, what a little bit more about you, um, because we'd like to hear a bit more about your OnAir experience as an anchor and a host, and what do you think about our, our FP podcast? When can we have our first Justin L Mack hosted episode, and what type of, of, uh, guest would you be interested in interviewing? Absolutely.
Justin L. Mack: (
Well, hopefully the first Justin L. Mack hosted episode will be coming, uh, sooner than you think. And I've really, really enjoyed the pod because it one captures a wide range of different kinds of voices and from the, from different industry leaders and, and just advisors who are doing the job again, it really speaks to one of the things that attracted me to wanting to join the FP team, the, the kind of guests that are highlighted on the podcast, or exactly the kinds of people that I wanna sit down and learn about to, um, it's just a desire to meet these new people. And honestly, the format I'm a fan of it's, it's a podcast for busy grown folks. It doesn't take too long. You, how many questions do you got in and out, go get your coffee and continue to do the work that you're doing as hopefully you're checking out the podcast as well.
Justin L. Mack: (
So I've really enjoyed it. And, and, and I'm excited to hopefully put a little bit of my own flavor onto it as well. Uh, and give you a little bit of a break. You work so darn hard, man, but, but some of the guests that I wanna bring in one I'm really focused on, especially in, in 2022, as we've kind of set up, um, a lot of talk about regulation changes. This is a big year, uh, S E Gary Ginsler and, and the regulat, everything era is upon us. There's a lot of big change coming. And as someone who's gonna be covering that very, very closely, I would love to talk to the people who are gonna be either helping to make some of those changes and decisions, but the people who are gonna be directly impacted by any changes in decisions that come with regulation.
Justin L. Mack: (
And, and there's so many other things we've seen, uh, the form CRS clarity fights that going on, I'm gonna be continuing to cover that. We've seen the, the ESG clarity fights continuing to go on. I'm gonna be digging into that. So all the change that I think this industry is poised for is, or those are the folks I wanna sit down and meet. And again, I wanna talk to financial advisors, not only about doing this job, but anything and everything else. There are probably a lot of stories in this industry that have nothing to do with this industry. I wanna find them like, is there a, a, a, a, you know, a group of financial advisors who are also musicians who possibly perform in a cover band somewhere in New York city? I don't even know if that exists. I just made that up. But if that exists, I would love to talk to those people.
Justin L. Mack: (
Just anything that really stretch the margins a little bit about, you know, what people might be interested in, because yes, while FP has that huge and, and, and deep, um, award-winning legacy of covering this industry, there are things that are happening that are a little bit on the lighter side that I would love to sprinkle into your day a little bit. Um, it's something I did a lot in my broadcasting career previously, um, with the USA today network, obviously I started a lot of my on-air work, just doing the traditional standups crime, breaking news at the scene, breaking things down that kind of, you know, expanded a bit into more long form work. When the rise of, you know, Facebook live and everything. We did a lot of live sessions, the precursor to our pod podcasting, in a sense, we were just trying to figure out how do we, you know, present new platforms to people and moving on to different, more traditional news podcasts, but then it was all right, let's play with the format a little bit.
Justin L. Mack: (
What else can we do? Uh, one of my favorite things I'd did was when we were doing our daily hard news coverage, I developed something that was, or what are the other big stories of the day that people are following that have nothing to do with sadness and criminal justice. We developed a show that was called the drop. It was a daily web series that published every single day. And it was basically a three to five minutes. Satirical news, show me at ask telling really bad jokes. And it was something that was all right. Let's change the formula that expanded into me hosting a every single week, a Friday night football show centered around Indiana high school's football called Friday night live. Uh, we went live for two and a half hours, kind of like NFL red zone, but with high school sports, we J jump in from game to game. We'd give people a little bit of commentary. We'd have different students on as guests. We'd go to our insiders. Let's play with the formula a little bit. So I don't know how much we're gonna play with the formula here at FP, but kind of, you know, breaking things and putting them back together is one of my favorite things to do. So hopefully you let me break a few things around here, man,
Tobias Salinger: (
Please, please, please play with the, the formula. Um, as I've mentioned, uh, this is the financial planning podcast. This is not the Toby podcast, um, and, uh, to speak in the third person again, Toby would love to, uh, you know, uh, keep following other other stories, uh, give, give more people a chance to host I've been and pressuring the team all year to, you know, have people host episodes. Um, now we have a, a, a pro come into our team. Uh, so listeners are in for a treat. Uh, this is going to be great. And yes, uh, let's, uh, let's break things let's, uh, uh, think about changing it up, um, or, you know, stay in this aim or, you know, bringing in different guests. Um, I, I, I foresee great things, so, um, very excited about that. Uh, and you know, wanna to let you go, uh, and get, get back to, uh, you know, uh, another busy day, uh, oh, man. On the beat. Uh, but I do have one more, one more for you. Um, just, uh, just in closing out, um, what else should our readers know about you and just where's the best place to follow your work and get in contact?
Justin L. Mack: (
Absolutely. Well, easy thing. Best way to follow my work is on the good old Twitter machine. Justin L. Mack on Twitter, super easy to find, uh, traditional spelling, J U S T I N L Mack, like the truck, easy to remember. Um, but really what I want people to know about me is that I'm here and that I'm open to talk to anyone and everyone about anything that's interesting or thought provoking or something that we might have missed. You know, with me kind of coming in as the new guy who has, of course, an affinity for certain coverage areas, you know, crime and, and criminal justice, diversity culture. I'm an open book and I'm ready to meet a bunch of new people who I've never had a chance to talk to before. And I really want people to know most about me is that I love doing this.
Justin L. Mack: (
I love talking to anyone who reaches out, whether you're happy about something I did. You're mad at me, whatever, reach out. It's all the same. Remember I spent most of my life as a crime reporter. I'm used to sources being upset with me and I'm used to getting angry voicemails. So if you think that there's a way for us to improve, do something a little bit better, shine, a light where there's darkness reach out. That's the, the only thing you need to know about me and, uh, whatever we can do, we'll make it happen. And if we can't make it happen, at least we hopefully have a good conversation along the way.
Tobias Salinger: (
There you have it. Listeners FP reporter, Justin L Mack. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Justin L. Mack: (
Thanks again, man. Uh, go get back to work
Tobias Salinger: (
And thank you for listening to the financial planning podcast. This episode was reduced by horizon with audio production by Wen-Wyst Jeanmary and Kellie Malone. Special thanks this week to Justin L. Mack of Financial Planning. Rate us, review us and subscribe to our content at www.financial-planning.com/subscribe. From Financial Planning I'm Tobias Salinger. Thanks for listening.