Financial media speaks two languages: kindergarten or PhD. Either articles oversimplify markets to the point of uselessness, or they’re packed with jargon that assumes years of Wall Street experience. For ambitious students and young professionals, there was nothing in between.

We experienced this gap firsthand as finance and economics students. Despite taking rigorous coursework and reading financial news daily, we struggled to connect academic theory with real market movements. When preparing for finance interviews or trying to understand why our potential employers’ stock prices moved, we found ourselves translating dense financial reporting for each other.

If three motivated students at a competitive university were struggling to bridge this gap, we realized thousands of others faced the same challenge.

The Beta Brief exists to provide market intelligence for people who are knowledgeable but not yet experts. We write for students preparing for finance careers, recent graduates managing their first portfolios, and young professionals who need to understand markets for their jobs.

Our approach is straightforward: respect our readers’ intelligence while acknowledging they don’t have decades of market experience. Every piece we publish asks whether it would help someone understand markets better, make more informed career decisions, or feel more confident in professional conversations about economics and finance.