Insult to Injury

Rising unemployment, record level home foreclosures, and ever-shrinking 401Ks characterize our now gloomy economic state. Investment losses in the trillions of dollars have devastated many households. Adding insult to these injuries, some in the media, government, and business communities have implicated hapless consumers as willing and guilty participants in the debauchery that led us to this humble state.

The most common accusations are based on observations that many consumers willingly accepted loan amounts and loan terms that were well beyond their means, and/or made reckless investments without a proper understanding of underlying risks. In both cases, consumers laid the groundwork for their own financial destruction.

The painful fact is that these accusations are at least partly correct!

Many consumers contributed to their own financial problems through a combination of ignorance and greed. The good news is that the former is relatively easy to remedy. Evolution from ignorance to knowledge is the objective of this blogging platform.

This blog is intended as a first step to equipping the average consumer with a better understanding of:

1. financial markets
2. risk exposures
3. investment strategies

It is not about stock tips.

It is about education.

It is about taking back control of one's financial future and ensuring the mistakes of the past are not repeated.

This is meant to be the first of several mechanisms intended to improve financial literacy. It is expected that different approaches may be required in order to properly connect with people of different backgrounds and generations.

Please stay tuned for more, and share thoughts about how and what you'd like to learn.