Biography
Mark J. Higgins, CFA, CFP, serves as a senior vice president for IFA Institutional where he specializes in providing advisory services to institutional plans, such as endowments, foundations, pension plans, defined contribution plans, and various corporate plans. In this role, he leverages more than 14 years of relevant experience consulting for both small and multi-billion-dollar plans. Higgins is the author of Investing in U.S. Financial History: Understanding the Past to Forecast the Future. The book recounts the financial history of the United States, beginning with the innovative financial programs of Alexander Hamilton in 1790 and ending with the Federal Reserve’s ongoing battle to contain inflation. In March 2024, Investing in U.S. Financial History was awarded a bronze medal in the prestigious 2024 Axiom Book Awards under the category of “Personal Finance/Retirement Planning/Investing.” He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Museum of American Finance, and he is a frequent writer for the Museum’s Financial History magazine. Insights from his writing and experiences as an advisor to institutional investment plans have been quoted by journalists at CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, Morningstar, and many other financial publications throughout the world.
Vanguard's OCIO clients should be wary of the higher-fee active funds and alternative investments that are now open to them.
If you serve as a trustee of an institutional investment plan, these five quotes may help guide your decisions for the benefit of those who depend on your stewardship.
The "Paradox of Speculation" -- how securities speculation drives both pain and progress -- is among the key lessons of financial history.
While investment consultants may claim their advice is conflict-free — and their clients may believe them — it is often heavily biased by the investment consultants' own self-interest.
How can the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora inform investors today?
Who are the greatest investors of all time?
"Neither the Financial Analysts as a whole nor the investment funds as a whole can expect to ‘beat the market,’ because in a significant sense they (or you) are the market."
The current debt ceiling debate reveals a painful reality that the United States must confront.
Investors can protect themselves from the next bubble by recognizing the trajectory that most follow.
“It is difficult not to marvel at the imagination which was implicit in this gargantuan insanity. If there must be madness something may be said for having it on a heroic scale.” -- John Kenneth Galbraith