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When Ron Lieber arrived at The Wall Street Journal offices for a job interview in 2002, two editors immediately assessed him.
“They said, ‘We know what your secret is. It's about beating the system,'' said Mr., who last worked at Fast Company as a senior writer covering business, design and careers. Lieber said. “And now you’re going to come here and do that for us.”
After co-founding the Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal section and writing a separate money management column, he was hired by the New York Times in 2008 to helm the personal finance column, Your Money. Sixteen years later, he has developed a reputation for giving readers his own seasoned advice on thorny issues, like how to navigate the maze of college tuition or how to prepare for life after layoff.
“I love introducing readers to characters you might not think would be the subject of a money column, but who are actually perfectly suited to teach us a thing or two about how the world works,” he writes in his online column. said Mr. Lieber, who is publishing . Most Saturdays are in the business section.
As a columnist for The Times, he witnessed two recessions and a pandemic. (In 2009, he also wrote about the case in which his financial planner was accused of fraud.) In a recent conversation, he shared the unexpected lessons he learned while writing his column and the topics he believes will soon dominate the world of personal finance. . This is an edited excerpt from the conversation.
How did you first become interested in finance?
When I was a senior in high school in Chicago and applied for college financial aid, I met Roger Koester, who was the associate director of financial aid at Northwestern University. He had after-hours performances in his office. In exchange for $45, he explained the entire financial aid system to local families trying to understand it. He knew exactly what he was talking about and gave me great advice.
It was a reminder that there is always an adult somewhere who knows how to beat the system, and that if we can find that adult and ask questions, we can help others overcome it too. I don't consider myself an adult, but I feel like I'm looking for an adult who knows the answers to the tough consumer questions that plague our readers every week.
What are the conditions for a good column?
When you think about personal finance, there's a sort of Venn diagram of possible topics. A really complex process; And if we're not careful, our emotions can lead us to decisions that can lead us down the wrong path. I like to think I've found the right topic when I'm at the center of the diagram.
And then there's the problem of voice. The highest compliment anyone can give me is that my columns sounded as if I was sitting in a room with them explaining the topic at hand. I want it to feel conversational, not lecture, sermon, or didactic. That doesn't mean it's always friendly. I do my best to empower organizations and organizations that can and deserve it.
If I can find the right topic and do it with the right voice, I've won the week.
Last month, I saw an article written by a financial advice columnist for New York Magazine. How she was scammed out of $50,000 It went viral. Do you think you might have fallen for that scam?
Never say never. I am constantly telling myself that there is absolutely no reason to rush anything right now. There's almost always time to call one or two people who are smarter than you or calmer than you to ask sensible questions and try to pull you back from the edge of making a big mistake.
What authors and publications do you read to stay current?
I read the Wall Street Journal religiously. I am a huge fan of Ramit Sethi, author of the book “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” and newsletter writer. I love reading Michelle Singletary, who writes a personal finance column for The Washington Post. I also really like the attitude and message of Tori Dunlap, who most people know from Instagram and TikTok.
What trends are you seeing?
People who have worked their whole lives without a traditional pension are all starting to retire, and many of them will run out of money. I'm curious about what will happen if that happens.
I'm also interested in all the work Conor Dougherty and other Times colleagues are doing to address our inability to build more homes in a reasonable way. It is unclear where and how people in their 20s and even 30s will purchase a home.
Is there anything you'd like to add?
If people are seeing something crazy in the world, whether you think they need to expose corruption, or if you just want to say, “I can’t be the only one who doesn’t understand this,” do you explain it?” — That's really helpful to know. Some of the work I'm most proud of started as a reader comment on one of my columns. We're all in this together and none of us are smarter than we are.