What was your first job as a journalist?
I'm not a traditional journalist. I started as an independent contributor on Seeking Alpha, writing structural risk diagnostics for REITs. My first published piece examined Realty Income's distance from the BBB- cliff. That diagnostic approach — mapping credit distance rather than recommending positions — became the foundation for everything I've written since.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
No. But I treat every sentence like it can't be deleted — one claim, one source, no filler. Maybe that's the same discipline, just without the ink.
How is social media changing news?
It's making speed the default and depth the exception. Everyone can report a number. Few map what the number means structurally. Social media rewards the first take. I'd rather be the last take that's still relevant a month later.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
I don't have one. But if someone wrote a character who spent every night reading credit rating reports and refused to tell anyone what to buy — I'd read that.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To show what the numbers say without telling people what to do about it. In my case, that means diagnosing structural risk and stopping before the recommendation. The reader decides. That boundary is the whole job.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
on a REIT that just lost its investment-grade rating. There's nothing diamond about holding through a covenant breach.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email only. Short — two or three sentences. Tell me the structural event, the ticker, and why the credit positioning changed. I don't need background on the company. I need the trigger. dividendforensics@gmail.com.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
SEC EDGAR for filings. Rating agency press releases for credit positioning. Earnings call transcripts for management language. And a spreadsheet where I lock seven numbers before I write a single sentence. The framework matters more than the software.
What's your favorite social network?
I don't use social networks for distribution. My work lives on Benzinga and Seeking Alpha. If it's good enough, Google finds it. That's been more effective than any algorithm.
Who do you wish followed you?
Institutional credit analysts and REIT IR teams. Not because I want visibility for its own sake — but because the structural diagnostics I write sit in a gap between sell-side research and retail commentary. I'd like the people who actually monitor covenant triggers and rating thresholds to see what an independent voice is flagging from the outside.
Why did you become a journalist?
I didn't set out to become one. I was studying REIT balance sheets for my own understanding and realized no one was writing about the structural layer — the distance to a downgrade, the mechanics behind a dividend cut, the covenant triggers that move before price does. So I started writing what I couldn't find. That turned into Seeking Alpha, then Benzinga, and now a framework that covers 15 tickers across five sectors. I still don't think of myself as a journalist. I think of myself as a diagnostician who publishes.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
No. I didn't start writing publicly until I was analyzing dividend structures on my own. Sometimes the best preparation for financial writing isn't journalism school — it's staring at 10-K filings until the patterns stop hiding.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
The ADC vs NNN comparison after Q4. Two companies in the same sector, same earnings strength, same investment-grade ratings — but capital structures pointing in opposite directions. One built to accelerate, one built to endure. That piece defined what Dividend Forensics Bureau does: I don't pick winners. I map the structural bet each company is making and leave the choice to the reader.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Pick a question no one else is asking and answer it with numbers. The market is full of opinions. What's scarce is someone who maps the structure underneath. Find the gap between what everyone assumes and what the data actually shows — then write from that gap. And never recommend. Diagnose.
When's the best time to pitch you?
When you have a structural credit event — a rating action, a leverage shift, a covenant trigger, or a dividend policy change in REITs or income equities. I don't cover price moves. I cover what changes the distance to a threshold. If your story involves that, email me anytime at dividendforensics@gmail.com.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
No one has pitched me yet. That's partly why I'm here. But the pitch I'd want to receive would be one sentence: "This REIT just got put on negative outlook — here's the 8-K." Give me the filing. I'll find the story.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
"Can you write a bullish case for [ticker]?" That's not a pitch. That's a conclusion looking for a writer. I don't start with a position. I start with a structure and see where the numbers land.
What's your favorite drink?
Black coffee. Late at night, before an earnings release. That's when the 10-K reads best.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Walking at night. Most of my best angles — the BBB- cliff series, the Upgrade Ceiling framework — came to me away from the screen. The numbers need time to settle before the structure reveals itself.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Moody's and S&P credit rating reports. They're not flashy, but every REIT story I've written started with something a rating agency flagged — or didn't flag. After that, SEC filings. The 10-K risk factors section is the most honest writing in finance.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That credit ratings are just letter grades. They're not. They're structural gates. When a REIT crosses from BBB- to BB+, three things happen simultaneously — institutional mandates force selling, borrowing costs spike, and equity reprices. Most dividend investors never look at the rating until after the damage is done. My entire framework exists because of that gap.
