Post-truth: the facts pale in comparison

Laughing, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to highlight the 2016 Oxford Dictionaries International Word of the Year, post-truth, an adjective defined as:

“Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in forming public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

Why was I laughing?

Since 2002, my research, writing, and consulting to help everyday people learn the whole truth about money, wealth, and economics have mostly fallen on deaf ears. As often as possible, I get information, statistics and graphs in the public domain from the Federal Reserve and US government agencies to share and expose the realities of Current inflation, economic policies and monetary mechanics of the central bank.

But it doesn’t seem to matter how official my sources are when it comes to who wants to know.

The problem, as I’ve analyzed over the years, is that the for-profit corporate financial services industry seems to enjoy an evergreen and open marketing budget when it comes to “educating” the public on money issues. , equity credit, debt and the economy. Frankly, I cringe every time I hear the supposed facts and advice of conventional financial wisdom replete with critical contextual omissions. So-called objective facts about money and the economy are half-truths at best when you’re not told the big picture.

As defined, and in this case, post-truth is conventional financial data and advice that simply reinforces existing misbeliefs while appealing to emotions (Chase Freedom, using credit to pay for a wedding, getting rewards, etc. .). Self-preservation and the need for growth is the name of the financial services game when it comes to shaping the scope of monetary facts that are passed on to the “consumer.” What is in their best interest ultimately does not concern them, as is the case with all for-profit entities.

Buyers beware.

I’m not saying that industry professionals are evil and persecute you. No problem. Probably most advisers, consultants, bankers, traders, etc. They mean well, but unknowingly spread costly financial advice that is no longer relevant to the economic times we live in and, in my opinion, is often based on incomplete data. They suffer from the same limitations in their knowledge base as everyone else through their education and training in the industry.

After meeting R. Buckminister Fuller, reading his book, Critical path, and then co-producing the last leg of his lecture tour in 1983, my eyes were opened. There was no going back. I needed to delve into the history of monetary matters.

Post-truth is not a new concept. For me, it started in 2002 when I embarked on my journey to review common knowledge about money, wealth, and economics. It’s been an uphill battle ever since. Perhaps, one by one, people will discover the merit of another way of thinking, earning, saving, spending and investing money. Maybe word will spread to help give more people the opportunity to experience financial relief and wealth building by leveraging a robust, out-of-the-box approach to personal finance.