CapitalSpectator.com is a web-based financial/investment/economics publication that's edited, owned and otherwise managed by James Picerno.

CapitalSpectator.com was originally launched in 2003 on Blogger.com, which at the time was a little-known experiment in bringing Internet-based publishing to the masses. If you're web-savvy, and a little bored, you can dig up the original posts using your favorite search engine. In any case, the initial idea was to post links to stories and research papers and make some brief comments about the economic release or market event du jour. The experiment has since spun out of control into something approaching a full-time job. Actually, it is a full-time job now, along with related matters, including publishing a subscriber-only newsletter (The Beta Investment Report) that goes into far-greater detail about investment strategy and economics. As for this blog, things really started to get serious in 2005, when the publishing gods inspired me to relaunch the site as CapitalSpectator.com.

Along the way, CapitalSpectator.com has built a loyal following of sophisticated and affluent readers. In fact, our subscriber list continues to grow, month after month, year after year. Meanwhile, the wider media world long ago discovered CapitalSpectator, as you can see here.

So, who am I? And why am I here? Let's start with a full confession: I'm a career journalist/analyst who's been crunching the numbers and reporting on the dismal science, business, money management and the like since the late-1980s. Otherwise, I lead a fairly unassuming life in the suburbs of New Jersey as a husband, father and the sometimes perplexed owner of three cats, one house and two cars in varying states of disrepair.

As a writer I've worked for Dow Jones, Bloomberg L.P., and some lesser-known media groups over the years. Most of my journalistic efforts since the early 1990s have focused on portfolio strategy, personal finance, economics, the financial-planning industry and philanthropy. Most of these articles have been published in three trade magazines: Investment Advisor and the now-defunct titles of Bloomberg Wealth Manager and Dow Jones Asset Manager. If you're curious (or just trying to pass the time), you can read a healthy sampling of my Wealth Manager articles here.

Meantime, back to the narrative. In late-2008, in a fit of entrepreneurial fever, I departed the "day job" and transformed into a full-time freelance editor/writer, consultant/analyst and all-around nice guy. In my "spare time," I've published a book: Dynamic Asset Allocation: Modern Portfolio Theory Updated for the Smart Investor

Finally, in case anyone's wondering (or still reading), I graduated from Rutgers University in 1983 with a B.A. in journalism/history. A few years later, I was accepted into the university's MBA program. But the post-graduate project was short-lived and I returned to the world of real-time analysis.