Can (Financial) Ignorance Be Bliss?

Arun Muralidhar

Financial Analysts Journal, 2019, vol. 75, issue 1, 8-15

Abstract: Financial illiteracy is widespread and leads to bad financial decisions. Individuals cannot answer basic questions about inflation, compounding, and diversification. This article argues that financial literacy programs should be complemented with a new class of financial instruments that embed goal-specific compounding and inflation protection. These income-only real bonds, with a forward start date, would pay investors for the period required for the respective goal. Further, there is ample potential supply from natural issuers. This innovation trivializes the investment problem to just simple multiplication or division, thereby addressing the challenge of financial illiteracy with financial innovation across a range of saving/investment goals.Disclosure: The author reports no conflicts of interest. Editor’s Note This article was externally reviewed using our double-blind peer-review process. When the article was accepted for publication, the author thanked the reviewers in his acknowledgments. David Chambers and Raul Leote de Carvalho were the reviewers for this article. Submitted 18 March 2018Accepted 5 October 2018 by Stephen J. Brown

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1080/0015198X.2018.1547053

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