Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Source: Wealth Morning
When three former employees were made redundant last year, they didn’t expect to end up running their own financial podcast. It’s a decision that’s proven to be rewarding.
On June 5, their podcast featured Tony Alexander, former BNZ chief economist, who provided critical insights on how stocks and property could perform as the world recovers from COVID-19.
Yet this financial podcast almost didn’t happen.
Money Morning New Zealand was the local arm of the financial publisher Agora Inc., a Baltimore, US-based conglomerate. Despite building a sizeable readership in New Zealand, the firm made the decision to concentrate on their Australian office last year, closing the Auckland office and making five staff redundant.
Simon Angelo, John Ling, and Alistair Bilkey were working in senior analyst, marketing, and technical roles with the company.
‘We decided if they didn’t want to continue serving our customers in New Zealand, we would take that up,’ Simon says.
In August 2019, the team conducted a management buyout of the operation. They quickly formed a new site, WealthMorning.com, and set about expanding their reach into local and global financial news. The site currently serves over 50,000 readers each month.
‘On the whole, most people are not active investors or traders,’ says John Ling, Chief Marketing Officer. ‘So our active focus is looking at opportunities they tend to miss and providing alternative commentary. With our background and experience as participants in the global financial markets, we are well-placed to do that.’
‘But we also wanted to engage with our readers,’ says John. ‘They’re a diverse bunch — from retirees, to dairy farmers, to young professionals, and to people who have recently sold businesses. Each and every one of them are interested in smart ways to grow and protect their wealth.’
‘One idea we had to engage better was to provide a podcast where we could cover key financial issues on people’s minds. Our listeners can send in their questions, and our experts can answer them in a general and detailed way for everybody. While we can’t and don’t give any personalised financial advice — people do enjoy the commentary, especially on the share market and property market.’
Since launching Wealth Talk on April 9, as a weekly show, the podcast has enjoyed exposure to thousands of listeners, with a flood of questions coming in every week.
‘Wealth Talk has been very timely,’ says CEO Simon Angelo. ‘We’ve covered such topics as the investment opportunities and dangers COVID-19 is creating, whether the markets may have reached rock-bottom, and the impacts of this new oil shock.’
Before joining Money Morning, Simon worked in the hedge-fund industry in Europe. The show has also touched on property investing and the role of gold and cryptocurrencies, drawing on CTO Alistair Bilkey’s experience as a Bitcoin investor.
‘Right now, we’re looking for new commentators with diverse areas of financial and economic expertise to join Wealth Talk,’ Simon says. ‘Our listeners and readers are particularly interested in investing and what the economic outlook could mean for their wealth and for the markets.’
Wealth Morning is based in the Auckland CBD, though staff are currently working from home during the lockdown. They may be contacted via their website at WealthMorning.com.
