Money Mindset

Appendix Economic Energy

When I first started this project, the idea was to begin the book with the history and future of energy in the United States. My thought was to describe the importance of why and how North America is working toward energy independence. I would then parlay that mindset of becoming “energy independent” into the importance of becoming “financially independent.”

This concept inspired the rest of the book. As I was writing it, I could imagine many of my closest confidantes asking “Why do you want to start a personal finance book with the history of energy?” I began to ask myself that same question. . . .

Once John Wiley & Sons signed on as my publisher, the direction of the book made a major shift. In the end, I feel that the final manuscript of Money Mindset better reflects my philosophy of money than the book Economic Energy could have shown.

That being said, I do think it’s valuable to share the origins of this book. Here is a condensed version of the first two chapters of Economic Energy.

The History and Future of Energy in the United States

Scientists and sovereign nations tend to agree that energy can be viewed as both leverage and currency. Leverage in the sense that energy powers the machines of industry, enabling us to produce more, and produce it more quickly and efficiently than we could if we were reliant solely on human-powered labor. Since energy is used to create the tangible goods that drive the economy, it is currency in the sense that ...