Welcome, Esteemed Reader.
I am asking just a little of your precious time to explain how I hope to command a place on your must-read list. There's no shortage of financial news, bits and bytes, data points, and even strongly worded opinions bombarding investors of every stripe in today's media-rich society. But much of this purported news, research and analysis is as ethically compromised as are its sources or else as vacuous as the celebrity-centric "content" sloshing around the rest of the blogosphere and even dominating the few surviving traditional media outlets supposedly vetted by professional journalists. Sure, all this noise serves its purpose, feeding the maw of an insatiable 24/7 news cycle, but if it raises anyone's investment IQ, it's only by sheerest accident - and, obviously, from an incredibly low base.
What sets WellingonWallSt. apart is our raison d'etre: Serving professional investors with truly independent, timely and incisive insights, research, analysis and opinions -- leavened with the touch of irreverence, occasional irony, bit of wit and above all, the context, needed to bring a semblance of perspective to the investment process.
What will distinguish us even more is our pledge to adhere to the highest standards of journalistic and analytic enterprise and integrity. Thirty-eight years ago, when I joined Dow Jones fresh out of college, that pledge was unexceptional. Alas, not so today. Tweet first and ask questions later - if ever - is much more the rule. Competitive instincts all too often trump news judgment; the need for speed almost invariably tramples analysis. Business news, like virtually every other formerly journalistic enterprise, is these days all about entertainment values, produced for the least common denominator, and delivered strictly in sound bites suitable for digitally attenuated attention spans. Rumor, bombast, banter, chatter, rants and raves are the new received wisdom. Whatever you do, don't blink, stop to kick the tires, read a balance sheet, check the footnotes, or survey competitors, suppliers, customers, or even managements - you'll miss the story - and the buying opportunity. Above all, don't ask probing questions, much less waste time actually listening to answers - or following where they lead - today's investors can't be bothered to read more than a line or two.
Well, call me stubborn, but I am a holdout. Or an anachronism, if you insist. I still do what I was taught all journalists were supposed to do: Dig, question, listen, analyze, connect the dots. Then report what I see, in a manner crafted to convey all the depth, drama, suspense and intrigue inherent in the non-stop battle of wits that is the financial markets. Not to titillate or sensationalize aspects of personalities, but to enhance readers' understanding of the ever-evolving and multi-layered investment landscape; the risks and opportunities lurking therein. And also, I'll admit in all candor, in the service of a somewhat less eleemosynary pursuit: On purely practical grounds I am committed to increasing the reach of this journal; not to boring readers to death.
At WellingonWallSt., our pieces will focus relentlessly on separating the investment wheat from the chaff, and identifying each as such. Our special advantage as an entirely subscriber-supported publication is that WOWS has no ax to grind. No investment banking clients to appease. No asset management portfolios to defend. No advertisers to coddle. We are utterly independent and stand unequivocally on the side of investors. Our goal: to broaden, to deepen and to provide a reality check on perceptions of investment value. And, not coincidentally, to enhance our subscribers' ability to profitably negotiate Wall Street's treacherous terrain.
One other thing: WellingonWallSt. is very much now, and will always be, a work-in-progress. I am counting on your input. Please become a part of my latest, greatest adventure.
Kate Welling
973.763.6320
Kate@WellingonWallSt.com
Welling on Wall St., LLC
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PO Box 1238
Maplewood, NJ 07040 |
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