Financial Digests That Make You Look Like You Know What You’re Talking About

February 1, 2023 | Lena Rizkallah, JD, CRPC®

I’m not a morning person. Especially in the winter, it’s unlikely that I wake before the alarm and jump out of bed ready for a 10-mile run. Don’t judge, but maybe I hit the snooze button 4 times. So, while I’m slowly waking up and before my feet finally hit the dance floor, I force myself to catch up on the latest business news. I subscribe to various digital financial news digests, and from the cozy comfort of my bed, I spend the first 15 minutes of my day with one eye open, scrolling through the most current economic and market news in bite-sized form. Then, I’m ready for the day!

Many clients have expressed how lost they’ve felt over the last few years of market volatility. It’s understandably difficult to get a handle on what the market is doing and where it’s headed, and they often ask me if there is a book or resource they can access that simplifies the market drama. I can’t say that there is one specific book or paper to read, especially as things change by the minute, but I think some news digests do a great job of explaining the hottest and most pressing topics concisely. You don’t have to read all of them, and you don’t have to read them every day, but giving some of these a skim a few times a week can help you stay on top of market movements and general news on the economy. Here are some good ones:

I start the day with Morning Brew which provides a synopsis of how the markets did the day before and then highlighting pressing topics. It’s easy, breezy, cover girl enough that my 75+ year old mom reads it every day and is hooked on the weekly quiz! Click on the link to subscribe: morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=35cffbe0
Next up is Robinhood Snacks, affiliated with the Robinhood trading/investing platform, which mainly focuses on trending company news—like why people are buying Tesla stock again or why Meta is hiring Buzzfeed to improve engagement on the social media platform—questions we maybe never asked ourselves but now need answers!
A Wealth of Common Sense is a fantastic blog and podcast that can be rather technical but is short, sweet and to the point when it comes to market movements. The blogger, Ben Carlson, uses charts and graphs as well as quirky allegories to highlight a particular investment trend or question he attempts to answer (i.e. Is the 60/40 portfolio dead?).
The Daily Upside also does a great job of profiling a particular company and why it’s making news as well as trending topics—and they go kinda deep on the topic, but not too deep that the details become irrelevant, so you zone out and check TikTok.
Living in world that is so connected, it is helpful to learn about what is driving the market and economy of other nations—and how these developments may affect our bottom-line. Emerging World is a quick and dirty financial news digest that covers 5 trending topics in international news in every post, mainly focusing on Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia/India.

Before I entered the wild world of finance, I was an immigration attorney. After practicing for under two years, I decided that my true calling was in finance (it’s the most random story, but hey, here I am!). Problem was that I didn’t have a background or any experience in finance; it just seemed like an exciting field. I was overwhelmed and didn’t know how to begin. So, I started reading the Wall Street Journal, and at first it was as foreign as reading hieroglyphics, but after diligently reading over months, I was starting to connect the dots and comprehend some of the articles and themes I was reading about.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story for me—there was a lot of continuing education, training and certifications that came later, and I am constantly reading books and periodicals on finance, but I think this was a very valid, approachable beginning. Understanding the financial markets without a financial background can seem like a daunting, impossible undertaking. But it can happen and the best way to start is to read/watch/consume the news consistently and from various reliable sources. And now you can do this laying down!