Inside Brett Klasko’s World

Investor education

By Ben Voyles
Spring 2004

Brett Klasko keeps his composure on the field and in business.

Brett Klasko ’05BBA has most of the usual worries of a college junior–midterms, papers, fraternity events. And then there’s the investment website and weekly newsletter he publishes for 70,000 subscribers. “It’s quite a balancing act,” Klasko admits.

For the past six years, this twenty-one-year-old Cherry Hill, N.J., native has successfully juggled schoolwork and a flourishing financial services company. Klasko’s interest in investing began almost grudgingly, after receiving a subscription to Kiplinger’s as a gift from his grandparents one year, and ten shares of McDonald’s stock the next. But as he began following the stock, he soon found the market fascinating.

His keen interest coincided with the Internet boom and soon he began a personal website offering his stock opinions and writing about the market. When that first effort started to attract a following, Klasko says, “A light bulb went off in my head. Why not take this up a notch and try to get a bigger following and make some money?”

To do this, Klasko recruited his first writers on investment message boards. Message board posters also worked cheap, another key advantage: “We started out not paying a single writer. Now, depending on experience and quality of work, some are paid and some are not.”

Advertising soon followed. Today, Klasko says, he gets ads from Ameritrade and The Wall Street Journal, along with a number of smaller companies.

Klasko and his company are developing another online publication, New Age Investor at http://www.newageinvestor.com, which he says will differentiate itself by promoting financial literacy among young adults.

In the meantime, Klasko is enjoying campus life as a member of the club baseball team, serving as president of the investment club, and spending time with friends. Contact brett.klasko@investorsalley.com for more information.