JAN. NEWSLETTER: Verbs make your writing vivid

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I was struck by this advice in Alexander Chee’s How to Write an Autobiographical Novel:

You want vivid writing. How do we get vivid writing? Verbs, first. Precise verbs. All of the action on the page, everything that happens, happens in the verbs.

According to Chee, writer Annie Dillard told her students to “increase the average number of verbs per page.” Strong verbs allow you to avoid using adverbs to fill in what your verbs fail to convey, as Chee says later in the same chapter of his book.

I discovered an interesting exercise from Dillard in Chee’s book. Dillard told her students to print the draft of an essay. Next, follow these steps, as described by Chee:

… cut out the best sentences … and tape them on a blank page. And when you have that, write in around them. … Fill in what’s missing and make it reach for the best of what you’ve written so far.

I might try that exercise with a personal essay with which I’m struggling.

Speaking of essays, here’s an essay I wrote long ago: “A Pink Kimono From a Japanese Mother.”

Punctuation with quotation marks

I frequently find that writers misplace quotation marks around their other punctuation, as I discussed in “Bloggers’ top two punctuation mistakes.”

If you’re puzzled by the rules of when to punctuate inside or outside quotation marks, review this nice summary about “Punctuation with Quotation Marks” on the website of the library of Loyola Marymount University.

Fact versus interpretation in your blog posts

Fact or interpretation, which should you place first in your article, commentary, or blog post? For my take on this, read “Financial writer’s clinic: fact vs. interpretation.”

Click to email me if you’d like to buy one of my digital products

If you’d like to buy one of my digital products—such as the PDF versions of Financial Blogging or Investment Commentary—click on the “Buy” button to email me so I can send you a PayPal invoice. Thank you for your interest in my products!

Research denials of health care claims

Difficulties with health care claims have been in the news lately.

If you’d like to find out why a claim was denied, try using this Claim File Request from ProPublica. I haven’t used it myself, but ProPublica is a respected investigative journalism organization.

Happy 2025!

I hope that 2025 is a healthy, happy, and prosperous year for you.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Email me to buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

 

DEC. NEWSLETTER: Banish “learnings” and take advantage of sale on my PDF e-books

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Down with “learnings”!

I’m not a fan of pedantic expressions like “learnings,” so I was thrilled to read “An insightful alternative to the dreadful jargon ‘learnings’ ” by Josh Bernoff.

Bernoff says, “…a large proportion of your audience, when reading about ‘learnings,’ will tune out or resist. And that doesn’t accomplish your goal of communicating without generating an emotional backlash.” That’s so true!

He suggests “insights” as a good substitute for “learnings.” For example, instead of saying, “Please write up your learnings from the completion of the project in a memo,” he suggests saying, “Please write up your insights from the completion of the project in a memo.” I like it.

Another word that I hate is “mitigate,” as I’ve discussed in “BNY Mellon: I liked your ‘truth ad’ until you used that word” and “Can you make a case for ‘mitigate’?”

If you’re struggling to convince someone about the value of plain language, read “Seven Ways to Talk Your Financial Execs Out of Jargon and Bad Writing,” my guest post that originally appeared on the MarketingProfs blog.

December sale on PDF e-books that will make you a better writer

Keep my practical writing tips handy with my two PDF e-books.

My 45-page Investment Commentary e-book gives you commentary-focused tips for organizing your thoughts, editing for the “big picture,” editing line by line, and getting more mileage out of your commentary.

One financial advisor writes, “Susan’s Investment Commentary book is a must-read. Anyone who writes investment commentary and financial reports should read—and reread this book—in order to avoid the dry, boring reports we see all too often.”

Regularly $9.99, the PDF is $4.99 during December 2024.

 

My 107-page book, Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients, takes you step-by-step through a powerful system for writing blog posts—or just about any communication you’d share with clients or prospects.

Financial planning expert Michael Kitces says, “A great read for advisors who want to blog better—or learn how to start!”

Blogger Mike Lipper says, “I wish I had read Susan’s Financial Blogging before I produced 300 weekly posts.”

Regularly $39, the PDF is only $27 during December 2024.

 

Winter soup recipe

My favorite new recipe is “Healing Curry Butternut Squash Lentil Soup (with a slow cooker option!)” I didn’t have the coconut milk called for in the recipe, but the soup still turned out great.

You can use any squash, pumpkin, or sweet potatoes in this recipe. I used tetsukabuto squash instead of butternut squash.

Happy holidays!

I hope you and all of the people in your circle enjoy a lovely holiday season. I’ll see you in 2025.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Email me to buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

NOV. newsletter: Keep your investment commentary fresh!

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How do you keep your investment commentary fresh?

Having wrapped up another quarter’s investment commentary, you might be wondering how you can keep your commentary interesting, quarter after quarter. This is especially tough for long-term investors who don’t chase the latest trends.

In my blog post, “Investment commentary – How do you keep it fresh?” I share two techniques:

  1. Express an opinion.
  2. Highlight what’s new in an old theme.

Read more at “Investment commentary – How do you keep it fresh?”

Prevent LinkedIn AI from using your content

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) harvests content from across the internet to make itself smarter. LinkedIn revealed earlier this fall that it is using your LinkedIn content to train its AI.

If you don’t want LinkedIn to do that, follow the instructions in “LinkedIn is using your data to train AI. Here’s how to turn it off.” from Mashable.

Memorialize a LinkedIn account

It’s a strange feeling when a LinkedIn search brings up the profile of a friend who has died. It’s even worse when that profile appears active, with no indication that the person is no longer living.

Did you know that it’s possible to close or “memorialize” the LinkedIn account of a dead person? A memorialized account includes a prominent label saying, “In remembrance.” You’ll find instructions at “Memorialize or close the account of a deceased member.”

Enjoy discounted shipping

Thinking about buying and shipping holiday gifts? You’ll pay cheaper rates on USPS and UPS shipping with a free account from Pirate Ship. Using Pirate Ship, I recently saved 20% on mailing a copy of my Financial Blogging book to a buyer. I’ve used Pirate Ship to buy mailing labels to send to people across the U.S. and Canada.

Just create a free account and enter the recipient’s mailing address to find the cheapest or fastest option for your package. Then buy and print a label for your package. You can track your package using the information provided by Pirate Ship. It’s easy!

I don’t have any financial incentive to recommend this to you.

However, if you’d like to give a printed copy of my Financial Blogging book as a holiday gift, email me your shipping address to learn how you can snare one of my remaining copies of Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients for only $27 (regularly $49), including shipping within the U.S.

Help your memory

“The best activities for your memory are reading, visiting friends or relatives, going to the movies or restaurants, or walking and going on excursions. It is also cumulative: The more activities, the merrier you will be,” says Barbara Bradley Hagerty in Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife.

That’s a lovely prescription for better health.

Halloween pumpkins in Chatham, Mass.picture of a pumpkin baker wearing a white chef hat and plaid trousers

I enjoyed a cute display of pumpkin figures in Chatham, Mass. It appears to be an annual event that starts in mid-October. Check it out if you’re nearby!

 

 

 

 

 

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Email me to buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

SEPT. NEWSLETTER: Sale on paperback version of Financial Blogging! (& press release tip)

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Financial Blogging’s paperback version is on sale direct from the author for shipment within the U.S. as long as supplies last.

If you live in the U.S., you can buy a paperback copy of Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients for only $27 including shipping. Email me your shipping address so I can send you a PayPal invoice and confirm that you’re eligible for this offer.

The offer expires when I run out of copies. I have a limited supply of personal copies that I’m selling.

Michael Kitces says, “A great read for advisors who want to blog better—or learn how to start!” Learn more about the book.

Act now! The sale price is available only if you contact the author directly.

 

 

Do your press release readers care that you’re thrilled, proud, or happy?

Many companies include self-congratulatory language in press releases about new hires, new products, and other developments. That language flatters the people involved in those developments, but does it serve the companies well?

“Pleased, Excited, Proud, and Thrilled: Press Release (Over)Use Of Happy Words” says there’s no correlation between the use of these words and more clicks on press releases. Moreover, it says, overuse of common wording leads to “releases that are boring, unengaging, and thus ignored.” The blog post recommends, “don’t let the PR person write the release alone – get the unvarnished contributions from the project manager, the engineer, the designer, the people who legitimately are proud of their work, and let them speak to it in their own language. You’ll find the content is far more engaging and  authentic.”

Similarly, “You’re not delighted, proud or ecstatic, really… So why say it in press release quotes?” says, “we’ve found that using the same words repetitively can make a company’s messaging sound robotic and uninspired. Banning these overused words encourages our team to explore a richer tapestry of language, which not only keeps our press releases fresh but also provides more opportunities for creativity and originality.”

Stop being “pleased” and ratchet up the appeal of your press releases!

Do you spend too much time at your desk?

Working at a desk can give you aches and pains. Check out NASA’s guide to easy exercises to keep you healthy, DeskFit: 20 Essential Desk Exercises You Can Do Without Leaving Your Office or Home Workspace (PDF)! Some of the exercises are staples of my weekly routines. I particularly like the wrist/forearm stretch on page 14.

I recently discovered live and recorded exercise classes through OmPractice. You might be able to access it for free with your library card. I especially like the live yoga class for tight necks and shoulders.

Check out this elephant migration across the U.S.!close up photo of an elephant carved by an indigeneous artist

On vacation in Rhode Island this summer, I visited the Great Elephant Migration of 100 animals made by Indian artisans. The website explains it’s a “collaboration between indigenous artisans, contemporary artists and cultural institutions” with the goal of raising “millions of dollars to power human-wildlife coexistence projects and protect migratory animals making spectacular journeys across land, rivers, skies and oceans.” The individual elephants are for sale.

The Newport, R.I., version of the show ended on Sept. 2, but it’s moving across the U.S. to the following locations:

  • The Meatpacking District, New York City, N.Y., September and October 2024
  • Miami Beach, Fla., December
  • Blackfeet Nation, Buffalo Pastures, Browning, Mont., May and June 2025
  • Los Angeles, July 2025

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

Adapting to SEO’s changes

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Is search engine optimization (SEO) changing for the better? That’s the sense I get from “How to Write SEO-Driven Content That Customers (And Search Engines) Love” from Contently. The article makes me feel as if good writing and good SEO are converging,

I like the article’s four suggestions for improving your writing’s search engine ranking:

  1. Get specific about your audience.
  2. Solve customers’ problems with your content.
  3. Infuse your SEO-driven content strategy with a point of view.
  4. Write SEO-driven content that’s actually interesting.

The article offers tips for implementing each of its suggestions.

You can tackle #2 with my post “Blogging the mistakes your clients make.” It’s a template for writing about client mistakes and solving the problems their mistakes create.

My basic writing techniques

Want a short e-book that teaches you my practical approach to writing financial content?

Buy my investment commentary mini e-book. It takes you step-by-step through a four-part process that gets results.

Watch the heat!

Did you know that common medications can raise the risk of dehydration and heat exhaustion? It happened to someone I know.

“These Common Medications Can Make Heat Waves More Dangerous” is a gift article from The New York Times that explains some of the risks.

New York Times Connections puzzle

If you have ever struggled with the Connections puzzle from The New York Times, you might enjoy “An open letter to Wyna Liu, the New York Times’ Connections editor” in McSweeney’s. It made me laugh.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

 

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

Those pesky split infinitives!

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Did you ever learn that you shouldn’t “split infinitives”? You probably know that it means to insert an adverb or adverbial phrase between “to” and a verb. The proponents of “no split infinitives” don’t like Star Trek’s mission “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” However, apparently, no such rule exists, according to many experts.

Grammarly says, “It’s generally preferable to place an adverb as close as possible to the verb it is modifying.” Also, it says, “Sometimes, even when a sentence could be rewritten to avoid splitting an infinitive without its meaning being obscured, the result sounds awkward, unnatural, or like the emphasis is in the wrong place.” Moreover, it says that split infinitives can make the meaning easier to understand and improve the rhythm or emphasis of the sentence.

Despite the popularity of the no-split-infinitives rule, Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty says she has never found a grammar book that insists on the rule. Grammarly agrees that “Most usage experts today agree that there is no grammatical objection to the split infinitive and that there are quite a few circumstances in which splitting an infinitive can be preferable to leaving it intact.”

Grammar Girl adds, “The only logical reason to avoid splitting infinitives is that there are still a lot of people who mistakenly think it is wrong.” For example, if your boss insists on no split infinitives, I think that’s a fight not worth having.

So Star Trek can continue “to boldly go.”

Visual design vocabulary

As a writer, I typically don’t deal with visual design issues for content or systems. Design vocabulary is like a foreign language to me. So I was delighted to discover the Nielsen Norman Group’s visual design glossary.

Some of the words—like infographic—are familiar to me. Others—like skeuomorphism—are not. And, to be honest, I had to click on the related, more detailed link about skeuomorphism to understand what it’s about. But the NNG glossary still seems like a good starting point to uncover the mysteries of visual design lingo.

Public health updates

I’ve become interested in public health since the start of the pandemic. I recently started subscribing to the free version of the informative newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist. You might enjoy it too.

How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read

Want to write better investment commentary? The recorded version of my webinar How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read is for sale on my website. Writing about topics that will interest your clients—and packaging them in a reader-friendly way—will boost your return on investment. You’ll attract more readers and deepen your relationships with clients, prospects, and referral sources who’ll become more likely to share your commentary with others.

 

Have a great summer! Happy Independence Day to all of my American readers!

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

JUNE NEWSLETTER: Coping with generative AI in articles

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Protect your publication against AI-generated text

You need a policy on text created using generative artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, if you’re publishing a blog, newsletter, or other communication using articles that you haven’t personally written.

Here’s my policy.

To protect against allegations of plagiarism and copyright infringement, we have a policy on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in preparing articles.

  • The writer agrees that all of their work is originally produced and not the product of any AI program, bot, or application.
  • Generative AI (such as ChatGPT) may not be used to write stories submitted to us unless the generative AI tool’s use is disclosed and the point of the text is to discuss the use of generative AI.
  • Generative AI may not be used to create images for use in stories submitted to us.
  • Any use of generative AI must be disclosed.

Forcing AI-generated text to sound more natural

If you must use AI-generated text, please try to make it sound more natural.

One way to do that is to rewrite it yourself. If that’s not an option, consider the tips in “ChatGPT and Tone: Avoid Sounding Like a Robot” on the Nielsen Norman Group blog.

Author Taylor Dykes’ advice:

Including several tone words or an example in the prompt, as well as asking for multiple alternatives, are more likely to produce satisfactory output from AI.

Dykes concludes, “Human brains are still the best tools in the content writer’s tool kit, and they should always look over ChatGPT-generated work.”

AI-generated headshot photos

I was surprised to learn in a neighborhood Facebook group about an AI-driven website that will generate “professional headshots” from selfies or other photos that you provide. Check it out at secta.ai.

You should also read one user’s objections to the overly prettified results from the AI tool.

Help your downsizing clients create their legacy

Decluttering to downsize might be challenging some of your clients. It’s partly a matter of how many decisions have to be made. After all, a mere one-inch stack of photos holds 100 pictures, according to a presentation I recently attended by Matt Paxton, host of the PBS program Legacy List. Another challenge is the emotions tied to the people and memories associated with one’s possessions.

I summarized some of Paxton’s tips in “Help your downsizing clients create their legacy.”

Brown rice salad recipe

I enjoyed this brown rice salad, which I made with leftovers. I didn’t have most of the vegetables that the recipe called for, but I substituted others.

Thank you, engaged readers!

I am grateful for the engaged readers who supported my newsletter during the many years that I circulated it via Constant Contact. So I asked those identified by Constant Contact as “engaged” if they’d like to receive a brief email notification once this newsletter is published on my blog. I was very touched by the many requests and lovely notes that I received in response. Thank you! (And a special thanks to Warren!)

Please email me if you’d like to join the list.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

May newsletter: Better quarterly commentary

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Want to do a better job on your next quarterly commentary?

You’ve finished your first-quarter commentary, but you have a nagging feeling you could have done a better job editing it. Check out the five-step process in my blog post on “5 steps for rewriting your investment commentary”!

Also, if you’re writing for an audience of individual investors, pay attention to my list of “Words to avoid in your investment communications with regular folks.”

You might also enjoy “Investment commentary numbers: How to get them right.”

For a handy overview of my approach to investment commentary, you can buy my mini e-book.

Is that really a word?

I sometimes ask my clients to substitute a different word when they use a word that’s not in the dictionary. However, if you think that we ought to be more flexible about counting words as “real,” you’ll enjoy “What makes a word ‘real’?” a TED talk. I think she has a point when she says that usage should eventually affect correctness.

I admit that I’m one of those people the speaker discusses who complains about the incorrect use of the verb “impact.” See the MLA Style Center on “Impact as a verb” for an explanation. Also, see “affect/effect/impact.”

Pursue diversity for better investment results!

The CFA Institute attracted close to 800 registrants to its March 2024 conference, “Thrive: Enhancing Outcomes through Collective Intelligence,” which made a business case for why the organization and many of its leading members are committed to pursuing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Below are some ideas that interested me.

British neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow talked about how you can use “groups of brains” to balance out biases if the group is truly diverse in genes, experience, and age. You must also ensure that the diverse group can communicate freely so don’t get an echo chamber. To achieve that, she suggested techniques such as letting the junior person speak first (which I would find intimidating if I were on the spot like that) and letting people submit ideas anonymously.

It’s hard to prove the benefits of diverse teams for investment performance through a scientifically rigorous study. That’s because, as Wylie Tollette, head of client investment solutions at Franklin Templeton Multi-Asset Services, said, that would take 30 years and a double-blind study, but no one would want to be in the control group.

Daryn Dodson, managing director of Illumen Capital, shared the startling finding that as black fund managers outperform, they face more bias and misallocation. I believe he was referring to this study: “Race influences professional investors’ financial judgments,” which he coauthored. Here’s an excerpt from the summary:

Asset allocators favored the White-led, racially homogenous team when credentials were stronger, but the Black-led, racially diverse team when credentials were weaker. Moreover, asset allocators’ judgments of the team’s competence were more strongly correlated with predictions about future performance (e.g., money raised) for racially homogenous teams than for racially diverse teams. Despite the apparent preference for racially diverse teams at weaker performance levels, asset allocators did not express a high likelihood of investing in these teams. These results suggest first that underrepresentation of people of color in the realm of investing is not only a pipeline problem, and second, that funds led by people of color might paradoxically face the most barriers to advancement after they have established themselves as strong performers.

The conference was the first DEI-focused event I’ve attended to feature an Indigenous presenter, Geordie Hungerford, CFA, CEO of the First Nations Financial Management Board, who spoke on “Reshaping the Inclusion of Indigenous Communities in Investment.” He said that Indigenous people make up only 6% of the world’s population but are stewards of about 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. I thought about that when I read a Boston Globe article about an art exhibit that:

…asks you to imagine that “the future is Indigenous,” drawing on the collective knowledge of native peoples all over the world who managed their respective ecosystems very nicely before industrial-minded colonials came along and ruined everything. Or in its own words: “A Western lifestyle that relies on extraction and pollution has disconnected most of the global population from the rhythms and systems of the earth.”

Bookmark my blog, and visit it on the first Tuesday of every month!

If you’d like to keep up with my newsletter, please bookmark my blog and visit it on the first Tuesday of every month.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

April Newsletter: This is where you’ll find my newsletter from now on!

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Starting in May, this newsletter will be published on the first Tuesday of the month here instead of arriving in your email inbox via Constant Contact. I’ll also share it via social media.

Set a calendar reminder for the first Tuesday of every month, and follow me on LinkedIn to increase the likelihood that you’ll see the newsletter.

Thank you for being a loyal reader and for understanding my decision to migrate the newsletter here!

Once you define an abbreviation, should you skip the spelled-out term?

Once you’ve introduced GDP as the abbreviation for gross domestic product, should you only use GDP in your articles or other publications? Yes, you should. At least that’s the opinion of most of the writers with whom I checked.

I also lean toward defining an abbreviation once and then using only the abbreviation. However, in a long piece, I could see redefining the abbreviation after a big gap in its use. How long is a long piece? As soon as the reader can’t find an abbreviation on the same page, you might make a case for reintroducing the complete term. However, this depends on the frequency with which the term is used. It’s easier to remember a term that’s used often.

A writer friend suggested that you can remind readers of the full word or expression by spelling it out in headings. That’s a judgment call.

However, if the complete term is used in a quotation, don’t abbreviate it when you use the quotation in your article.

Whatever you decide about this issue, your organization should consider adding your preferred practices to a style guide to ensure consistency. Also, if you use many abbreviations, you may find it useful to “Help your readers by linking to definitions,” as I discuss on my blog.

Tool helps you distinguish between seemingly similar words

Check out the WikiDiff website if you want to compare the definitions of two words that seem similar.

For example, go to the site to compare different and diffident. The two words sound similar, but their meanings are unrelated. Sure, you could Google the two words separately, but it’s handy to compare the definitions on one page.

The future of investment management

“Building a Future-Ready Investment Firm” is the focus of a research study released earlier this year by research partners including Deloitte. It touches on topics such as “How Digital Technology and AI Will Change Wealth Management.”

Your cooking and your microbiome

I was interested to learn that “Cooking dramatically increased the calories humans and mice got from food. Cooked meat yielded 10 to 15 percent more calories than raw. Cooked sweet potatoes were a whopping 30 percent more caloric than uncooked ones.” This is according to “You Are What (Your Microbes) Eat” in Harvard Magazine.

Speaking of cooking sweet potatoes, I enjoyed this sweet potato recipe using miso.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.

March Newsletter: Comma or colon before a quotation?

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I instinctively choose between a comma and a colon before a quotation. But I wondered if there was a rule that I should know about.

I was happy to discover Grammar Monster’s “Comma or Colon before a Quotation?” The blog post features an easy-to-follow flow chart for picking a comma or a colon. The key is deciding whether what precedes the quotation is an independent clause (in other words, could it be a standalone sentence?).

Write a great “about” page

“The 7 Questions Your ‘About’ Page Should Answer” by Andy Crestodina was highly recommended by my friend, the extraordinary copywriter Robyn Bradley, so I had to check it out. It features a nice template and practical tips.

I was interested to learn that Crestodina thinks conflict is an essential element of a good “about” page on your website. His explanation makes sense, but I’d never thought of the topic that way until I read his article.

Discounted paperbacks of Financial Bloggingbook cover: Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients

Buy a paperback copy of Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients for only $39 (regular price is $49) while the supply lasts. This offer is only for shipment within the U.S. Simply email me with your mailing address, pay the invoice I’ll email you, and I’ll send your book via priority mail.

I’m happy to sign the title page of your book. Just tell me to whom to inscribe it and what you’d like me to write.

Why there’s no apostrophe in writers room

My post on “Why there’s no apostrophe in writers room” inspired a piece of fan mail to me recently. Honestly, this topic continues to confuse me, so I circle back to this post occasionally.

As I proofread this newsletter, my software tells me that I need an apostrophe in “writers room.” This is an example of why you can’t rely solely on automated grammar and spelling checks.

Reminder: April will be my last month on Constant Contact

April will be the last month that I’ll email this newsletter to you via Constant Contact. After that, you’ll find it here on my blog. Visit my blog monthly and follow me on LinkedIn to ensure you keep up with the newsletter.

How AI affects evaluating student performance

With generative AI making it easier for everyone to write exam answers and essays, the role of written communications will become less important in academia, according to “AI in the Academy: Cautious embrace of a new technology” in Harvard Magazine. As a result, “The role of oral, live, public speaking assignments is going to increase,” says Professor Jeffrey Schnapp.

I wonder if this will also affect how companies interview writers and editors before hiring them. However, I think the best way to assess editorial skill is with a paid assignment. Even before AI, readers never really knew if a published article or editing sample was solely the work of one individual.

What my clients say about me

“Fast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.”

“Susan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.”

“Susan’s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That’s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they’re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.”

Read more testimonials!

Improve your investment commentary

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the InvestmentWriting.com blog.

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the “big picture,” edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Buy it now!

Boost your blogging now!

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients is available for purchase as a PDF ($39) or a paperback ($49, affiliate link).

Hire Susan to speak

Could members of your organization benefit from learning to write better? Hire Susan to present on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read,” “Writing Effective Emails,” or a topic customized for your company.