Money Mindset

Preface

The beginning of the 21st century in the United States has been economically volatile and quite unpredictable. Crises resulting from the dot-com boom and bust to the real estate bubble and bank crises that fueled the Great Recession to the ever-changing geopolitical environment have led people to expect the unexpected and to fear the ways it might affect their financial future.

Many hope that the dust will begin to settle and things will return to a certain level of normalcy. However, what is important to remember is that the only thing that is certain about the world in which we live is its uncertainty. The world is becoming smaller through the advancements of telecommunications, so much so that it can become confusing and convoluted. The world will only continue to become more complicated and interconnected. This may have the adverse effect of leaving people in a state of information overload and wondering where is the right path for them to become financially secure.

Given this new economic environment, the first step in knowing what to do is to understand the fundamentals of today’s economy and how to invest wisely given that context.

As a third-generation financial planner and a professor of finance at W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, my understanding of financial planning and investing seems to be embedded in my DNA. I was mentored by some of the early pioneers of the financial planning industry: my grandfather and father. At the young ...