Financial News Writing Resources: My Four Favorite Sources for Finding Story Ideas, Experts and Examples of Stories Written From Them

1. Calendars

Why Use Calendars“Paying attention to major dates is a surefire way to come up with topical story hooks that editors know will resonate with readers. For example, food stories naturally tie into holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo.

“Finance stories connect organically to year-end planning and tax season. Faith pieces are natural fits for holidays such as Christmas and Ramadan. And even major event anniversaries ranging from D-Day to the O.J. Simpson trial have proven to be solid pegs.”

-- Michael Solendar of Contently.com in “How to Use the Calendar to Brainstorm Ideas Editors Need.”

Economists and analysts are glued to calendars and will have likely have quotable analysis you can share.

Best Calendars for Financial News

Investing.com Earnings Calendar

Bloomberg Economic Calendars

Investing.com Holiday Calendar

Calendar Stories From Forbes

1. In Honor Of Cinco De Mayo, The Case For Investing In The Most

Interesting ETF In The World

2. Sell in May and Go Away: It's True But Here's Why You Should Ignore It3. Stock Market 2015 Scoreboard: Year's No. 1 Industry Exploded 35%;

Can It Continue To Shine?4. Q2 Investing Strategies: Top Five ETF Buys From Powerhouses With $1

Billion+ In Assets Under Management5. The Underdog That Outperformed All Global Stock Markets In The First

Quarter: A Buy Or A Bubble?

2. Research Reports

Why site research?

Research reports offer great material to quote.

“Sometimes important insights can be locked away in research studies and

journals. Understanding how to read studies can allow you to bring sunlight to

issues and knowledge that might otherwise remain obscure.”

-- “Academic research and studies: How they work and why journalists should

care” at JournalistsResearch.org

Sources for research reportsInstitutional Investor Journals provides a database of academic research published by a dozen journals relating to finance and investment.

Social Science Research Network offers a open access database of hundreds of thousands of research articles from a variety of fields including economics and finance.

Online brokerages: Merrill Edge provides economic research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and equity reports from BofA ML, Morningstar and S&P Capital IQ. TD Ameritrade provides stock reports from Credit Suisse, Morningstar and S&P CApital IQ.

Research stories from Forbes1. This Overlooked, Undervalued Territory Is In A Stealth Bull Market, Says

Jefferies2. Stock Market In Long-Term Bull Run That Could Go Well Into 2017: BofA

ML3. Five Reasons Japan's Stock Market Should Stay Red Hot: Credit Suisse4. Best Emerging Market Countries To Invest In Now: Credit Suisse5. Two Health Care ETFs With The Most Growth Potential: S&P Capital IQ

3. Books

Books

Books provide great content to quote.

Review a new book in your niche. Tell readers why it’s awesome or horrible.

Share gems of wisdom from a favorite book and your opinions or personal experience with the matter.

Stories from books1.How To Invest Like The Ivy League Endowments With ETFs --

Unconventional Success by David Swensen

2. Peter Lynch Was Wrong -- One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch

3. Websites That Use Fidelity Legend Peter Lynch’s Analysis to Pick Stocks --

One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch

4. How Mohnish Pabrai And Charlie Munger Use A Checklist - The Checklist

Manifesto by Atul Gawande

4. Discussion Boards

Discussion Boards

It’s very likely that many people have the same questions so discussion boards are a great way to find see what people are interested in learning about.

Discussion boards bring together people affected by the matter and experts in one place you can contact to get more info.

Top Discussion Boards

1. Quora.com2. LinkedIn.com Groups3. TheLion.com4. ZeroHedge.com5. Reddit.com