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Justin L. Mack was the wealthtech reporter for Financial Planning, as well as the host and lead editorial producer of the Financial Planning Podcast. The Cleveland, Ohio, native earned bachelor's degrees in communication and political science from Purdue University before spending more than a decade as a USA Today Network journalist with the Lafayette Journal & Courier and the Indianapolis Star. His work as a reporter, anchor, moderator and host has earned him awards for coverage of crime, politics, pop culture, business, breaking news and investigations. Justin also serves as a board member for the Indiana Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In addition to exploring the role technology plays in the lives of advisors on a daily basis, Justin covered efforts to address the diversity and culture issues that have plagued financial services for generations.

With a huge wave of consolidation expected soon, lenders must carefully adjust their mix of personnel and technology to stay profitable, whether they plan to continue to compete or sell.

Kind Lending founder Gary Stearns told the National Association of Mortgage Brokers that the wholesale channel always feels the pain first in a slowdown and that changes were coming to the industry after a remarkable run, writes the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

Nathan Place is a national reporter at American Banker. A native of New York City, he has worked for more than a decade in both print and video journalism. He got his start in Beijing, where he worked as a copy editor and reporter for China Daily. He then returned to New York, where he earned his master's degree from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Since then he's worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News and The Independent, as well as a video producer for the Daily Mail, the Daily Beast and Men's Journal.

Victoria Zhuang is the professional development reporter at Financial Planning. She has a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Harvard University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School. Before joining FP, she freelanced as an arts and culture writer while working in the Boston nonprofit world for several years. She also completed a Dow Jones News Fund business reporting internship at American Banker. Victoria covers how wealth management firms maintain their competitive edge and how financial advisors can achieve excellence serving clients of all wealth levels. She is a native of New York City. 

Also, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's securitization platform shuns private-label market, UniversalCIS and Credit Plus merge and Arizent research shows work remains to reach industry DEI goals.

Dan Shaw is Financial Planning's wirehouse and bank channel reporter, covering the intersection of wealth management, banking and brokerages. His reporting background in regulation and disciplinary matters informs his coverage of compliance, recruiting and strategic shifts across the wealth management industry.

His reporting on advisor movement and recruiting at large financial firms earned a Folio Eddie Award.

His reporting includes:

• How headline EBITDA multiples are misleading RIA sellers
• Firms make billions from 'cash sweeps.' Could AI take that away?
• When everybody's a 'family office,' what's the term really mean?

Before joining Financial Planning, Dan served as managing editor of the Wisconsin Law Journal for seven years. He has also covered banking and local government in Indiana and spent two years on the business news desk at The China Daily in Beijing. His work has earned multiple awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for business and legal reporting.

Based in Milwaukee, Dan is also a longtime banjo player in a bluegrass band that performs across the upper Midwest.

Matt Dines is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Build Asset Management, an asset management firm specializing in strategies focused on fixed income and options. He can be reached at matt@getbuilding.com

But overall improvement in September employment numbers are likely to encourage the Federal Reserve to begin tapering their asset purchases.

The current volume of distressed mortgages is now down by more than 70% from its peak pandemic level.