The Most Dangerous Weapon: Compound Interest

I once had a professor give my class a speech about using our financial knowledge for good.  If you have read every post on this blog, you are in the top few million (probably higher) most financially educated people in the country.  You can use that power to better your life, but it can also be used to hurt people.

Irresponsible people with financial knowledge took predatory and selfish actions that led to the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s and the financial crisis this country is slowly recovering from today.  This cost the world more than just the trillions lost in the stock market collapse.  It cost some people much more than a condo or house.  It cost many more than their jobs.  It cost some people their lives.

I have not been able to find any solid numbers, but it seems that hundreds, if not thousands, of people have committed suicide due to financial stresses in the last three years.  In one heartbreaking story, a woman faxed her suicide note to her mortgage company, which was scheduled to auction off her home later that day.

I am not writing this to make people guilty or upset, but I am writing to make people think.  I like to joke on this blog a lot.  However, as I have been thinking about the moniker that “greed is good,” I also know that my financial knowledge is very powerful.

Civilizations have risen and fallen due to the power of weapons.  Is it possible that countries will rise and fall in the future due to financial distress?  Are Wall Street’s warriors the most dangerous army in the world?  Probably not, but it is something worth thinking about.