Addressing Financial Illiteracy Through Financial Innovation: The Case for Goal-Specific Bonds the Embed Inflation and Compounding
By Arun Muralidhar (AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions; George Washington University) Financial illiteracy is widespread and leads to bad financial decisions (high debt, insufficient savings). Individuals cannot answer basic questions about inflation, compounding, and diversification. While financial literacy can be enhanced, are individuals teachable, and if so, what should they be taught and how lasting is the training? Prof. Merton suggests that some individuals can only be helped with innovation; Prof. Richard Thaler has argued for making the financial system more...