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Knight Austin Kiplinger IP-ling-er(born February 24, 1948) is an American economic journalist who heads the
Kiplinger Kiplinger ( ) is an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice that is a subsidiary of Future plc. Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., was a closely held company managed for more than nine decades by three generations o ...
financial media company in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, publishers of business forecasts and
personal finance Personal finance is the financial management that an individual or a family unit performs to budget, save, and spend monetary resources in a controlled manner, taking into account various financial risks and future life events. When planni ...
advice. He serves as
editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...
of all its publications, including the weekly ''Kiplinger Letter'', monthly ''
Kiplinger's Personal Finance ''Kiplinger Personal Finance'' ( ) is an American personal finance magazine published by Kiplinger since 1947. It claims to be the first American personal finance magazine and to deliver "sound, unbiased advice in clear, concise language". It off ...
'' magazine and daily Kiplinger.com. He writes a bimonthly column on financial matters in the magazine and also writes its monthly "Money & Ethics" feature, which explores ethical dilemmas in
consumer affairs Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent businesse ...
, business, and family relations. In the civic realm, Kiplinger is active in nonprofit governance and philanthropy, especially in the fields of
secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
,
choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
, and
historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...
. He is a frequent guest on radio and
TV programs A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...
(on NPR, CNN, Fox and CNBC, among others) and has appeared on "The Diane Rehm Show", "Charlie Rose Show", "The Today Show", "CBS This Morning," and “Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser”. He is an occasional commentator on "Marketplace," the daily business report heard on
public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...
stations nationwide. As a
public speaker Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...
, Kiplinger frequently addresses audiences of corporate and civic leaders, on such topics as the economic outlook, politics, investing and
ethical business Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business co ...
management. Kiplinger is the co-author and editor of several books, including ''World Boom Ahead'' (1998), with David Koenig and the staff of ''The Kiplinger Letter''; ''America in the Global '90s'' (1989), with Jack Kiesner, Austin Kiplinger (his father) and ''The Kiplinger Letter'' staff; ''The New American Boom'' (1986), with Sidney Levy and the staff of ''The Kiplinger Letter''; and ''Washington Now'' (1975), with Austin Kiplinger.


Childhood and education

Kiplinger was born on February 24, 1948, in Washington, D.C., the second of two sons of journalist
Austin H. Kiplinger Austin H. Kiplinger (19 September 1918 – 20 November 2015) was an American journalist and businessman. He was the son of W. M. Kiplinger and Irene Austin. His father was the founder of Kiplinger Washington Editors, publishers of ''The Kiplinge ...
(1918-2015), a native of Washington, D.C., and Mary Louise (Gogo) Cobb Kiplinger (1919–2007), who was born in
Bronxville, New York Bronxville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Adminis ...
, and reared in Chicago and
Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,475 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was ...
. (His first and middle names—Knight and Austin—were the surnames of his maternal and paternal grandmothers, respectively; he is not related to John S. and James L. Knight, of the newspaper-publishing family.) He moved with his family to
Northfield, Illinois Northfield is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located approximately north of downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the village's population was 5,751. It is part of a collection of upscale reside ...
, as an infant in 1948, when his father left the Kiplinger organization in Washington to take a job as the front-page columnist of the ''Chicago Journal of Commerce'' and later went into radio and television news with local Chicago stations and the ABC and NBC networks. Kiplinger returned to the Washington area with his family in 1956 and attended elementary school in
North Chevy Chase, Maryland North Chevy Chase is a incorporated village in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It was established as a special tax district in 1924 and incorporated as a village in 1996.Linda M. Burrell et al., eds. ''Maryland's 157: The Incorporate ...
. He enrolled in the
seventh grade Seventh grade (also 7th Grade or Grade 7) is the seventh year of formal or compulsory education. The seventh grade is typically the first or second year of middle school. In the United States, kids in seventh grade are usually around 12–13 years ...
at
Landon School Landon School is a private, college preparatory school for boys in grades 3–12, with an enrollment of approximately 710 students, in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Background Paul Landon Banfield and his wife, Mary Lee, ...
, a private boys’ school in
Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...
, when his parents restored and moved to "Montevideo," an historic farm in
Seneca, Maryland Seneca is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is located near the intersection of River Road and Seneca Creek, not far from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal) and Potomac River. Its history goes b ...
, 20 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. As a boy he played piano and
folk guitar The steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar that descends from the gut-strung Romantic guitar, but is strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. Like the modern classical guitar, it is often referred to simply ...
, swam on a community team, competed in equestrian events with the Seneca Valley Pony Club and foxhunted with the Potomac Hunt. In the summer of 1963, he joined his father and older brother, Todd, to march in the massive
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
rally on the Washington Mall, where the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
delivered his "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...
" speech. Kiplinger graduated from Landon in 1965, a member of the
Cum Laude Society The Cum Laude Society is an international organization that honors academic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa, which honors academic achievements at the university level. History The Cum Laude Society was fo ...
, president of the
student council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...
, and winner of the Headmaster's Award for the most outstanding graduating senior. Kiplinger majored in government and history in the College of Arts and Sciences at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, graduating in 1969. He was a member of the
Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (; commonly known as Alpha Delt, AD, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP) is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in ...
fraternity and was elected president of
Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University, founded in 1893. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated that election into Quill and Dagger and similar societies constituted "the highest non-scholastic honor within reach of unde ...
, a senior men's honorary society for student leaders. During the summer of 1968 he was an aide and writer in the
U.S. House The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
campaign of Democratic candidate John S. Dyson, a Cornell friend (class of ‘65) who narrowly lost to Republican
Hamilton Fish Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American statesman who served as the sixteenth governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from ...
in the
general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
for the congressional seat in the
mid-Hudson region The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yonkers in Westche ...
of
New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
. He researched and wrote the draft for Dyson's book ''Our Historic Hudson'', a historical and cultural guide to the region. After graduating from Cornell, Kiplinger enrolled in the two-year
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
program at Princeton University's
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of c ...
, majoring in
economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...
studies. He left Princeton after one year to work at the ''Sentinel'' in Rockville. He met his future wife, Ann Sheldon Miller, a special-education teacher, at a chorus rehearsal in 1979 and married her later that year. They are the parents of three children: Brigham Cobb Kiplinger (b. 1981), Sutton Elizabeth Kiplinger (b. 1983) and Daphne Lambert Kiplinger (b. 1985), all of whom work in professions unrelated to journalism and publishing.


Journalism career

Kiplinger started his professional reporting career in 1970, with a brief stint at the ''Montgomery County Sentinel'', an award-winning weekly in
Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...
, under editor Roger Brooke Farquhar. Kiplinger was a Washington correspondent (1970–73) and bureau manager (1976–78) at the Griffin-Larrabee News Bureau, which provided daily Washington coverage to more than 20 newspapers throughout the country, from Maine to Alaska, including all the community dailies of the Ottaway Newspapers subsidiary of
Dow Jones Dow Jones is a combination of the names of business partners Charles Dow and Edward Jones. Dow Jones & Company Dow, Jones and Charles Bergstresser founded Dow Jones & Company in 1882. That company eventually became a subsidiary of News Corp, an ...
& Co. One of Kiplinger's stories revealed that a
Pocono Mountains The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos (), are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the nort ...
(Pa.) vacation home development, whose deceptive sales practices had been cited by the federal government, was owned by a
U.S. senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
who sat on the committee that oversaw the regulation of interstate land sales; the senator soon sold the project. For six years (1978–1983) Kiplinger was chief of Ottaway News Service, overseeing coverage from the chain's bureaus in Washington, Albany, Boston, and Harrisburg. Also acting as Washington bureau chief, Kiplinger wrote columns and features for the Ottaway papers. In 1983 Kiplinger moved to the Kiplinger publishing organization (founded in 1920 by his grandfather, reporter
W. M. Kiplinger Willard Monroe Kiplinger (January 8, 1891 – August 6, 1967) IP-ling-erwas best known as the founder of Kiplinger, a publishing company located in Washington, D.C. Kiplinger was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, to parents Clarence E. and Cora Mill ...
) in the position of vice president for publications. In 1985 he became editor in chief of Kiplinger's ''Changing Times'' magazine (renamed ''Kiplinger's Personal Finance'' in 1991). He succeeded his father, Austin H. Kiplinger, as president of the
parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
in 1992 and editor in chief of ''The Kiplinger Letter'' in 1999. (Austin Kiplinger remained as editor emeritus and non-executive
chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...
.) Kiplinger is a member of the
National Press Club A press club is an organization for journalists and others who are professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press Club ...
,
the Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
, and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Kiplinger believes that young adults should not go into their families’ businesses too early, until they have accomplished something on their own; otherwise they will not get an honest assessment of their abilities. “I spent the first 13 years of my journalism career in the employ of others, as a Washington correspondent and bureau chief, making my mistakes on their dime, learning reporting, editing and management before coming to Kiplinger,” he said in a 2001 interview. “When second- and third-generation leaders eventually come into a
family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by Consanguinity , blood, marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business a ...
, there’s often a presumption of incompetence,” he quipped, “so they benefit from low expectations. If you’re actually good at what you do, others are pleasantly surprised. I’ve joked about this over the years with other publishing scions, like Don Graham ublisher of ''The Washington Post''and
Steve Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician who is the editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'', a business magazine. He is the son of longtime ''Forbes'' publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandso ...
. We all have our favorite
nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...
jokes. Steve says he owes much of his success to his careful choice of grandparents.” Kiplinger was instrumental in broadening the company's scope beyond subscription-based print publishing in the 1990s, to include such new ventures as audio, video, software, custom publishing and a Web site, www.Kiplinger.com. “Frankly, I’m not entirely confident the upcoming generation of 20- and 30-something executives are going to be willing to pay for information in any form,” he told an interviewer in 2007. “So our strategy is to ‘monetize’ the non-paying reader, by providing a certain amount of
free content Free content, libre content, libre information, or free information is any kind of creative work, such as a work of art, a book, a software program, or any other creative content for which there are very minimal copyright and other legal limi ...
to attract them to our ad-supported Web site” and then introduce them to our subscription services.


Civic interests

A lifelong choral singer, Kiplinger began singing at Landon School under
glee club A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it was very popular in ...
director Dr. Hugh Hayward, M.D., then continued in the Cornell Glee Club and Sage Chapel Choir, under Thomas Sokol and Donald R. M. Paterson, respectively. In 1972 he joined the Oratorio Society of Washington (founded a decade earlier by Dr. Hayward and later renamed
The Washington Chorus The Washington Chorus is a symphonic choir based in Washington, D.C., United States. The three-time nominated and two-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble has over 200 members and often performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ...
), and he still sings in its bass section. As members of this large chorus, Kiplinger and his wife have sung in dozens of
Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
performances with the
National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930 by cellist Hans Kindler, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The NSO regularly ...
, under such renowned conductors as
Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enl ...
,
Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...
,
Seiji Ozawa was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After cond ...
,
Sarah Caldwell Sarah Caldwell (March 6, 1924March 23, 2006) was an American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director. Early life Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cit ...
, and Karl Richter. They also sang on its live recording of the
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...
War Requiem The ''War Requiem'', Op. 66, is a choral and orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten, composed mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The ''War Requiem'' was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, in the Englis ...
, conducted by Robert Shafer, which won the 2000
Grammy award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for best classical choral recording. Kiplinger is a trustee and past board chair of The Washington Chorus. “When I’m part of an artistic whole, standing in front of a demanding conductor, I forget that I’m a journalist and the boss of a company—which feels good,” he wrote in The New York Times. “I can rush from an interview at CNN to a chorus rehearsal, and suddenly I’m in a different world. Singing and yoga—these are the kinds of things that give balance to a life.” He has been a member of the advisory board of the Children's Chorus of Washington since its founding. A longtime supporter and past trustee of the Levine School of Music, a community music school, he chaired the school's capital campaign to acquire and renovate its first permanent home in Washington, D.C. As a trustee (and later board chair) of Landon School, he co-chaired the school's first endowment campaign. In 1998 he was honored with the Anthony Edward Kupka '64 Award, given annually to a distinguished Landon alumnus, and a few years later, he was given the school's W. Landon Banfield ’50 Award for outstanding service to the school. Kiplinger is also a member of the Cornell Council, an alumni advisory body of Cornell University. He is on the board of directors of The White House Historical Association, which supports the furnishings and fine-arts collections of the President's home. He also serves on the advisory board of the historic
Congressional Cemetery The Congressional Cemetery, officially Washington Parish Burial Ground, is a historic and active cemetery located at 1801 E Street in Washington, D.C., in the Hill East neighborhood on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the only American ...
in Washington, the resting place of hundreds of notables from the early days of the Republic. He is a former advisory committee member of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which owns and manages George Washington's home in Virginia. He co-founded a campaign to restore the ruins of an historic 1802 Episcopal chapel and cemetery, Zion Church, in Urbana, Md., 35 miles north of Washington. Kiplinger is “not a plain-vanilla moneyed guy,” according to a ''New York Times'' interview in 2004. “He’s a share-the-wealth advocate who writes hefty checks to charity and has often written advice columns that list philanthropic contributions as morally, and fiscally, right.” He is a trustee of The Kiplinger Foundation, a family foundation created and funded by his grandfather, W. M. Kiplinger, in 1948. It supports a wide array of charities in the Washington area and nationally, in the fields of secondary and higher education,
professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing Praxis (process), praxis in addition t ...
for journalists, the arts,
social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...
and historic preservation. Beginning in 1972 the foundation, under its president Austin H. Kiplinger, created and endowed a mid-career fellowship program for journalists, the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism, at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
, in memory of W. M. Kiplinger, who was one of the college's first two journalism graduates in 1912. The foundation was also the primary funder for 25 years of a Washington, D.C. program of resident fellowships and public-policy seminars for journalists from around the country. It was later absorbed into, and became today's core mission of, the
National Press Foundation The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit journalism training organization. It educates journalists on complex issues and trains them in reporting tools and techniques. It recognizes and encourages excellence in journalism through its awards. ...
. In 2008 Kiplinger, his father and his brother were honored for their civic leadership by the Washington chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.5/29/08 issue of the ''
Washington Jewish Week ''Washington Jewish Week'' (''WJW'') is an independent community weekly newspaper whose logo reads, "Serving the nation's capital and the greater Washington Jewish community since 1930."
'' and obituary of Todd L. Kiplinger, ''The Washington Post'', 10/8/08.


References


Further reading

* Wells, Rob. ''The Insider: How the Kiplinger Newsletter Bridged Washington and Wall Street'' (U of Massachusetts Press, 2022
online review of this book


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiplinger, Knight American male journalists Living people 1948 births Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni Cornell University alumni People from Northfield, Illinois People from Winnetka, Illinois