Investors who neglect to study the past are forced to rely primarily on their life experience to make decisions. This often causes them to overlook powerful, cyclical forces that repeatedly reshape economies and markets. Investing in U.S. Financial History fills this void by recounting the full financial history of the United States. It begins with Alexander Hamilton’s brilliant financial programs in 1790 and ends with the Federal Reserve’s battle to contain inflation in 2023. Mark Higgins will discuss several of the most important lessons that help contextualize challenges that the United States currently faces. Examples include:

1. The danger of persistent inflation and the important lessons from the post-Great Influenza pandemic inflation of 1919 and the Great Inflation of 1965-1982

2. Key drivers of major financial crises, the dangers of deep depressions and principles for preventing them

3. Current threats to US economic prosperity, such as the persistence of unsustainable fiscal deficits and decline of productivity growth.

Attendees will discover there is virtually no financial event that is truly unprecedented. It only seems that way because of the limits of our collective memory. This event will provide attendees with a glimpse of how a deep understanding of financial history can improve investment decision-making. Those who read the book will arm themselves with even more powerful knowledge.

About the Speaker
Mark Higgins is the author of Investing in U.S. Financial History and is a senior vice president within Index Fund Advisors (IFA) Institutional. Mark’s written works appear regularly in the Museum of American Finance’s Financial History magazine and the CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor. Mark is also a frequent speaker both domestically and internationally on topics related to US financial history and institutional investment management. Mark joined IFA in August 2023 to expand the firm’s footprint in the institutional investment plan market. Prior to joining IFA institutional, Mark served as an institutional investment consultant for more than 12 years. In this role, he served clients such as endowments, pension plans and foundations, that had aggregate assets of more than $60 billion.

Mark graduated from Georgetown University Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology. He received an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Mark is a CFA charterholder and CFP® practitioner. He resides in Portland, OR with his wonderful wife and two children, Jack and Lila.

This program is free, but advance registration is required. Registered guests will receive the link prior to the program. The first 100 guests will receive a FREE electronic copy of the book, courtesy of the Fordham Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis.