Biography
Mark J. Higgins, CFA, CFP, is an author, financial historian, and frequent contributor to Enterprising Investor. His work draws from his upcoming book, Becoming an Enlightened Investor, which will arrive in bookstores in fall 2023. For those interested in receiving updates on the book and his research, please feel free to send your contact information. Prior to founding The Enlightened Investor, LLC, Higgins served as a senior investment consultant for more than 12 years. In this role, he advised the trustees of large pension plans, foundations, endowments, and insurance reserves that had aggregate assets of more than $60 billion. As a consultant, he discovered that understanding financial history proved much more valuable than tracking the latest economic data. He also discovered that there was no single book that recounted the full financial history of the United States. Becoming an Enlightened Investor seeks to fill this void. The insights are intended to help investors contextualize current events and thereby improve their investment decisions. The book will be published and distributed by the Greenleaf Book Group and will be available for purchase online and in bookstores in fall 2023.
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
The impact of Fed policy on the global financial system is yet another feature of the COVID-19 pandemic that caught investors off guard.
The month of October strikes fear in the hearts of many Wall Street veterans — and for good reason.
Recession is now a virtual inevitability.
“This is a time of testing -- a testing not only of our capacity collectively to reach coherent and intelligent policies, but to stick with them.” -- Paul Volcker
“The first lesson is that central banks can and should take responsibility for delivering low and stable inflation,”
The inflation storm may have passed. But don't bet on it.
Paul Volcker restored the Fed's credibility through suffering. The Fed's leadership knows that it must pursue a similar course today.