The New York Review of Finance Welcomes You Into Its Bubble

 

The founders of the New York Review of Finance (NYRF) are not in the business of offering investment tips. They are not CFAs; they do not clock late nights at banks or funds. Lest there be any confusion, the print-only publication’s cheeky tagline-cum-disclaimer, which appears on the front page of its first two issues, reads, “This is not financial advice.” But if you’re looking to start a scrappy newsprint magazine, the trio can share what worked for them: Go to magazine league softball games. 

Michael Nicholas and Niccolo Porcello, both 31, first hatched the idea for a publication focusing on capital — of the social, political, and, primarily, traditional varieties — in late 2024. However, it wasn’t until they encountered Paige Oamek, 27, in the summer of 2025 that NYRF started to take shape. 

“We met Paige playing softball for the New York Review of Architecture,” Nicholas, an urban planner who works in affordable housing and has written for NYRA, explained in an interview last month. While facing off against teams made up of players representing the New York Review of Books, Defector, and Hell Gate, the three discussed the idea, and, with increasing seriousness, strategized the first issue. Oamek, a reporter who covers business, technology, and city life for Gothamist and other publications, “really added some journalistic heft to the project,” he continued. Porcello, for his part, runs a record label and works at a wine store. In addition to being co-founders, all three are editors.