Being a beat journalist comes with a special gift: You are instantly viewed as an expert in your topic.
Kelli Grant decided to become a true expert in personal finance. She is among the first working journalists to earn the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation, which recognizes financial advisors who meet education, experience, and ethics requirements. She also had to pass a rigorous exam. With these letters next to her name, you know Kelli’s work at CNBC stands out above the crowd. Good for her.
I talked to the MarketWatch alum and SABEW board member about her current job, how PR people can pitch her and baking a creepy, crawly cake:
Dawn: You are the deputy personal finance editor for CNBC Digital. What does that job entail?
Kelli: I help steer coverage of personal finance on the site. I work with our smart team of digital and on-air reporters, as well as interns and contributors, to refine story ideas and get the copy ready to publish.
Dawn: What is the biggest personal finance mistake that you think your readers and viewers make?
Kelli: One of the most common I see is that we procrastinate on a lot of key personal finance tasks. You see this pop up in what age people start saving for retirement or for a child’s college education. Maybe they don’t have a will made or haven’t shopped for a better rate on their auto insurance. I’m not immune to this either, by the way. I get it. Sometimes what seems like a straightforward task can take hours and require you jump through a bunch of unexpected hoops. But there is a power in starting early, or at the very least, now instead of later.
Dawn: What got you interested in covering personal finance?
Kelli: When I was in college in Ithaca, New York, I worked for the local newspaper as a stringer. The editor there suggested that I might take a look at business reporting. So when I was looking for my first job out of college, I applied for a role at what was then CBS MarketWatch. I ended up as a reporter and assistant to columnist Marshall Loeb, who had been a top editor at Money and Fortune. Part of my job was to write daily money tips with him. I grew to love personal finance because I could see its impact: Readers could come away from an article with some trick or tip or bit of advice that would help them make a noticeable difference in their own financial lives.
Dawn: You’ve furthered your education in this space. I don’t see a lot of beat reporters get certified or pursue an advanced degree. Why did you take this route?
Kelli: My undergraduate degree is in journalism and anthropology. I wanted to have some practical education in my beat and getting a master’s degree in personal financial planning seemed like a good fit. It helped that NBCUniversal has a generous tuition reimbursement program.
Dawn: How has it helped you?
Kelli: It turned out to be a really smart decision. Partway through my degree, the CFP Board began to allow journalists to earn CFP marks. By that point, I had completed all the classes for the designation’s education component, and I had the required work experience. I just had to take and pass the exam. That head start meant I was one of the first working journalists to earn the certified financial planner certification.
My degree and the designation have been helpful for finding story ideas in the intricacies of financial planning. I have a good understanding of how different strategies might interplay. I’m also doing a lot of math, which I think would be horrifying to my middle-school self. But it’s a nice leveling up, to be able to gut-check the equations behind questions like how putting $X into savings with each paycheck can grow over time.
Dawn: Would you advise that other journalists pursue this route? Why or why not?
Kelli: It can be a great way to distinguish yourself and showcase your expertise. Those letters behind my name tell you something about the effort I’ve put into learning about personal finance. It is a taxing process, though. The exam is brutal! It’s not something that’s going to be a fit for every reporter or career path and you’ll have to put the effort in to make it work.
Dawn: Let’s go back in time. What got you interested in journalism?
Kelli: In elementary school, I applied for a local library program that had kids write book reviews for The Asbury Park Press. I still have the books I reviewed. I loved that published clip and started looking for more opportunities to write.
Dawn: You’ve stuck with digital journalism for much of your career. Why is that?
Kelli: I appreciate the speed and impact of digital journalism. There’s nothing like being in a newsroom when there’s breaking news. That’s often when personal finance journalism is at its most interesting and helpful, because we can tell people very quickly what the news – whether that’s the latest Fed rate hike, a new income-based student loan repayment plan, or a string of bank failures – means for their financial situation.
Dawn: We have a lot of PR readers. How can they most effectively pitch your team?
Kelli: To me, a good pitch includes a timely hook, unique angle and a quality, clearly identified expert. I get a good number of pitches about a news event we’ve already covered or a well-trod topic (say, Roth versus traditional IRA) without any fresh insight. Some promise an “expert” without divulging who it is. That source matters when we’re evaluating an idea, and it is important information to have up front.
Dawn: What’s the best advice you received from mentors?
Kelli: Keep a good record of your “wins” as they happen. It’s tough to remember what happened in January when you’re doing your year-end review, and it’s helpful midyear if you want to make the case for a raise or polish your resume.
Dawn: What advice would you give to aspiring journalists today?
Kelli: Some of the best advice I was given as a student was to try a lot of different kinds of journalism, both in the format and the topic. That helps you figure out where your strengths are and which beats you don’t enjoy.
Dawn: If you weren’t a journalist, what would you be doing?
Kelli: Maybe a librarian. I’m an avid reader and am typically juggling two or three books at a time.
Dawn: Finally, what do you do for fun?
Kelli: I do a lot of baking, especially with my kids. I make a killer soft chocolate chip cookie, and my most frequent request is a version of Brooklyn pie shop Four & Twenty Blackbirds’ lemon sour cream pie with gingersnap crust. But the creation I’m proudest of was a birthday cake for my daughter. She requested a chocolate cake with a five-legged, three-eyed, hairy spider on top. It’s my nightmare in dessert form. I’m not on Instagram often, but you can see pictures of it there if you’re interested: Check out the spider cake.
Dawn Wotapka is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who loves to read and write. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children. She is a slow runner and an avid Peloton user. To submit tips for her Media Movers column, connect with Dawn on LinkedIn.
