The Mindful Investor: How a Calm Mind Can Bring You Inner Peace and Financial Security

by Maria Gonzalez, Graham Byron

Overview

The most recent market meltdown saw trillions of dollars disappear from the North American economy, and the financial markets drop more than 44% from their highs. Daily volatility was immense, with swings of up to 1,000 points in a single day. A vicious cycle of fear and greed caused panic and suffering for individual investors, investment advisors, and pension fund managers alike.

The Mindful Investor shows you how to use a single tool-Mindfulness meditation-to achieve clarity, focus, and peace of mind with your finances. Oprah, Eckhart Tolle, Phil Jackson, and Tiger Woods have done much to bring meditation out of the mystic shadows and into the mainstream. Google even offers meditation classes to employees. In this book, you will learn how to use Mindfulness and how to combine it with sound financial planning principles-no chanting or patchouli required.

• Replace greed and desperation with calm and focus when considering your finances.
• Make money work for you, rather than being controlled by your money.
• Create your own definition of financial success.
• Stay focused on what matters, and be level-headed about what you can’t control.
• Learn the basics of Mindfulness meditation, including the five hindrances to success.
• Acquire simple Mindfulness techniques you can use anytime, anywhere to create calm and focus at will, see clearly under stressful conditions, and make better financial decisions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470678688
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/23/2010
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	418 KB

About the Author

Maria Gonzalez, BCom, MBA, is a 30-year business veteran who believes that Mindfulness transforms lives. As founder and president of Argonauta Strategic Alliances Consulting Inc., she ensures that Mindfulness is indistinguishable from her business, whether negotiating complex strategic alliances, coaching business leaders to use Mindfulness in their lives and businesses or coaching organizations to function more effectively through Mindfulness. She has been meditating regularly since 1991 and teaching Mindfulness since 2002.

Maria has taught Strategy and Organization Develop ment at Mc Gill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Over the last two decades she has served on numerous boards and has been a member of the Corporate Advisory Board for the Harvard Medical School - MacArthur Foundation’s study on depression and workplace performance. She is a founding member and Vice Chair of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addictions and Mental Health.

Graham Byron, CFP, has been an Investment Advisor and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) for more than 20 years. He has co-authored two other books on financial planning, including the best-selling CARP Financial Planning Guide. Graham believes that applying Mindfulness to money is critical at this turning point in our financial lives. Approaching the financial planning process with calm awareness allows investors to make good decisions and enjoy their wealth.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xi

The Authors xv

Chapter 1: How We Got Here and How We’ll Get Out 1

Chapter 2: An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation 10

Chapter 3: Mindfulness Techniques 27

Chapter 4: The Five Hindrances that Impede Success 55

Chapter 5: The Starting Point 66

Chapter 6: The Financial Plan 80

Chapter 7: Portfolio Construction 102

Chapter 8: Client/Advisor Relations 128

Chapter 9: When Things Go Wrong 144

Chapter 10: Estate Planning 159

Chapter 11: Final Thoughts 172

Appendix A: Making Decisions with Mindfulness 174

Appendix B: The Budget 182

Appendix C: Finding a Mindfulness Teacher 189

Endnotes 191

Bibliography 194

Index 196