what is money management essay

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What Is Money Management?

Understanding money management, top money managers by assets, the bottom line.

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Money Management: Definition and Top Money Managers by Assets

James Chen, CMT is an expert trader, investment adviser, and global market strategist.

Gordon Scott has been an active investor and technical analyst or 20+ years. He is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT).

Money management refers to the processes of budgeting, saving, investing, spending, or otherwise overseeing the capital usage of an individual or group. The term can also refer more narrowly to investment management and portfolio management.

The predominant use of the phrase in financial markets is that of an investment professional making investment decisions for large pools of funds, such as mutual funds or pension plans .

Key Takeaways

• Money management broadly refers to the processes utilized to record and administer an individual’s, household’s, or organization’s finances.
• The term also refers more narrowly to investment and portfolio management.
• Financial advisors and personal finance platforms such as mobile apps are increasingly common in helping individuals manage their money better.
• Poor money management can lead to cycles of debt and financial strain.
• The biggest money managers by assets under management (AUM) are BlackRock, Vanguard, and Fidelity.

Money management is a broad term that involves and incorporates services and solutions across the entire investment industry.

Consumers have access to a wide range of resources and applications that allow them to individually manage nearly every aspect of their personal finances . As investors increase their net worth, they also often seek the services of financial advisors for professional money management. Financial advisors are typically associated with private banking and brokerage services, offering support for holistic money management plans that can involve estate planning, retirement, and more.

In the growing financial technology market, personal finance apps exist to help consumers with nearly every aspect of their finances.

Investment company money management is also a central aspect of the investment industry. Investment company money management offers individual consumers investment fund options that encompass all investable asset classes in the financial market.

Investment company money managers also support the capital management of institutional clients, with investment solutions for institutional retirement plans, endowments , foundations, and more.

Global investment managers offer retail and institutional investment management funds and services that encompass every investment asset class in the industry. Two of the most popular types of funds include actively managed funds and passively managed funds. Passively managed funds replicate specified indexes and usually charge low management fees.

The list below shows the top global money managers by assets under management (AUM) :

BlackRock Inc.

In 1988, BlackRock Inc. was launched as a $1 division of the BlackRock Group. By the end of 1993, it boasted $17 billion in AUM, and, by 2022, that number swelled to a whopping $8.6 trillion.

BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) division, called iShares, has about $2.5 trillion in AUM globally, amounting to roughly 29% of the group’s total assets . Overall, the firm employs approximately 13,000 professionals and maintains offices in more than 30 countries around the world.

The Vanguard Group

The Vanguard Group is one of the most well-known investment management companies, catering to more than 30 million clients across 170 countries. Vanguard was founded by John C. Bogle in 1975 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as a division of Wellington Management Co., where Bogle was previously chair.

Since its launch, Vanguard has grown its total assets to beyond $8 trillion, becoming the world’s second-largest asset manager thanks to the popularity of its low-cost investment funds.

Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Management & Research Co. was founded in 1946 by Edward C. Johnson II. As of Dec. 31, 2022, Fidelity had more than 40 million customers with $10.3 trillion in total assets and $3.9 trillion in AUM.

The firm offers hundreds of mutual funds, including domestic equity , foreign equity, sector -specific, fixed-income , index , money market , and asset allocation funds.

What is the difference between a money manager and an asset manager?

As implied in their respective names, money managers manage money and asset managers manage assets. However, as assets essentially represent money, the two can largely be considered the same thing.

What are the main principles of money management?

The main principles of money management are generally income, investing, savings, and spending. With the right balance, these principles can help individuals to maximize their financial well-being.

What is the goal of money management?

The ultimate goal of money management is to maximize wealth.

Money management is precisely that: the management of money. When people talk about money management, they may be referring to how an individual or company handles their finances, whether that be budgeting, saving, investing, or spending. Alternatively, they could be referring to the companies that many people count on to manage their capital.

In financial markets, the term “money management” is generally synonymous with big investment firms, or asset managers, taking people’s money and investing it. The biggest money managers in the world are BlackRock, Vanguard, and Fidelity. Among them, they oversee many of the largest, most well-known mutual funds and pension plans.

Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. “ Rankings by Total Managed AUM .”

BlackRock. “ Introduction to BlackRock .”

iShares. “ Who We Are .”

Vanguard, via Internet Archive. “ Fast Facts About Vanguard .”

Fidelity. “ We Are Fidelity .”

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Essay on Money Management

Students are often asked to write an essay on Money Management in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Money Management

Understanding money management.

Money management is about how you handle your cash. It’s like a game plan for spending, saving, and making sure you have enough for important things. You keep track of what you earn and make smart choices on what to buy.

Saving Money

Saving means putting money aside for later. Each time you get money, you should save a part of it. This can help you buy big things in the future or have money in case of emergencies.

Spending Wisely

When you spend, think about what you need versus what you want. Needs are things like food and clothes, while wants are extras. Always try to spend less money than you have.

Making a Budget

A budget is a plan for your money. You write down how much money you get and then plan how to spend it. Sticking to a budget helps you not run out of money.

Investing is using your money to try and make more money. It can be risky, so learn and start small. It’s a way to grow your savings over time.

250 Words Essay on Money Management

What is money management.

Money management means taking care of your money. It’s like knowing how to use your pocket money wisely. You plan how to spend it, save some, and make sure you have enough for things you need.

Saving is putting money aside for later. Imagine you want a new toy or a book. If you save a little bit of your money every time you get some, soon you will have enough to buy what you want. It’s like filling a piggy bank; drop by drop, it gets full.

When you spend money, think about what you’re buying. Ask yourself if you really need it or if it’s just something you want because it looks cool. Sometimes, waiting before buying something helps you decide if it’s important.

A budget is a plan for your money. You write down how much money you get and then list the things you need to spend money on, like food, school supplies, and clothes. If you plan it right, you can also save some money.

Why It Matters

Handling money well is a big part of life. When you learn about it while you’re young, you get better at making good choices with money when you’re older. It means you won’t run out of money when you need it, and you can even help others. Plus, you’ll feel proud that you can take care of your money all by yourself.

500 Words Essay on Money Management

Money management means taking care of your money. It’s like being the boss of your own cash. You decide what to do with it: spend it now, save for something big later, or even put some away for times when you might need it urgently. It’s important because it helps you make sure you always have enough money for the things you need and want.

Creating a Budget

Think of a budget as a spending plan. It tells you how much money you have, where it needs to go, and what you can spend without running out. To make a budget, list all the money you get, like allowance or birthday cash. Then, write down what you need to spend money on, like school lunches or saving for a new bike. What’s left is your spending money. Remember, a good budget helps you not spend more than you have.

Saving is like planting a seed that grows into a money tree over time. When you save, you set money aside for later. You might save for a game, a trip, or just to have some extra cash when you need it. A good tip is to decide on a certain amount to save each time you get money. This way, saving becomes a regular habit, just like brushing your teeth.

Smart Spending

Smart spending doesn’t mean you never buy fun things. It means thinking carefully before you buy. Ask yourself: Do I really need this? Will I use it a lot? Could I find it cheaper somewhere else? Sometimes, waiting a bit before you buy can help you decide if it’s really worth it.

Understanding Needs vs. Wants

Needs are things you must have to live, like food, a home, and clothes. Wants are extra things that are nice to have but you could live without, like toys and video games. Good money management means taking care of needs first and then seeing if there’s money left for wants.

Dealing with Emergencies

Emergencies are like unexpected storms that can shake up your money plans. It could be a broken bike or a lost school book. This is why you have savings. If you’ve saved up, you can handle these surprises without getting stressed.

Making Money Grow

You can make your money grow by investing, but this can be tricky. It’s like giving your money a job where it can earn more money for you. Talk to a grown-up and learn about things like bank accounts that earn interest. This means the bank pays you a little bit for keeping your money there.

Sharing and Giving

Money isn’t just for spending on ourselves. Sharing with others can make us feel good. You might give some money to help people in need or support a cause you care about. This is a part of money management, too, because it’s about deciding how to use your money to make a difference.

Managing money is a big responsibility, but it’s also a powerful skill. When you learn to manage your money well, you’re in control. You can reach your goals, handle emergencies, and even help others. Start practicing these money management tips, and you’ll be on your way to being a money management pro!

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Money And Happiness
• Essay on Modesty
• Essay on Modernism

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Money Management: 4 Tips for Mastering Your Finances

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What is money management, exactly? It’s a plan for your money so you can make the most of it. This plan typically involves budgeting and saving money, avoiding or reducing debt and investing in your future.

If learning how to manage your money sounds intimidating or stressful, take it one step at a time. Below are money management tips to help you gain control and, more importantly, peace of mind.

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How to manage your money

1. Take inventory of your finances 2. Build a money management blueprint 3. Make the most of your savings 4. Be persistent

1. Take inventory of your finances

Money management is about more than making the math work out. It’s about adjusting your mindset, too.

Take a mental inventory of your current position.

Are you consistently overspending?

Do you have enough saved up to survive an unexpected expense?

Do you live paycheck to paycheck?

Do you feel overwhelmed by financial jargon?

Be honest with yourself about where your weaknesses lie. You might’ve made some missteps in the past, but you don’t have to continue on that path. Here’s how to manage your money now, while preparing for the future.

» MORE: How to make money working from home

2. Build a money management blueprint

Use the steps below to build a blueprint that works for your finances.

Start with a budget

If you’re not sure how to budget , start by choosing a system that you’ll stick with. We like the 50/30/20 budget plan, which allocates 50% of your income for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings and debt repayment. This 50/30/20 budget calculator divides your income into these categories.

If the 50/30/20 rules don’t work for you, there are plenty of other types of budgets to choose from. You may also find that a free budget app helps you stay on top of your finances.

Track your spending

By tracking expenses , you can see exactly where your money is going. It may inspire you to stop spending so much in a certain category or adjust your spending habits so they better align with your goals.

Find ways to save

As you pay more attention to your finances, you’ll likely find opportunities to save. Here’s how to save money , from tweaking daily habits, to negotiating bills, to making long-term changes.

Ideally, over time, saving money will become part of your lifestyle. If you want to learn more about saving money with coupons, freebies and DIY hacks, check out our guide to frugal living .

Use designated accounts for spending and savings

One way to make money management easier is to keep money designated for bills and budgeted expenses separate from your emergency fund . This will reduce the temptation to dip into it for nonemergencies. Saving for a house, vacation or new car? Stash those funds in separate accounts so you can see progress toward each goal.

Make a plan to pay off debt

A strategic approach to debt repayment will help you reach the debt-free finish line faster. We recommend tackling your most expensive debt — the accounts with the highest interest rates — first, while making minimum payments on the rest. Then, work your way down through any lower-interest rate debt until it is all paid off. Consider using windfalls, such as a tax refund or bonus at work, to make a dent in balances.

» Here are tools and tips to help you pay off debt

Develop good credit habits

Your credit can determine whether you’re able to get loans and the rates you pay on them, as well as many other aspects of your financial life. A credit check may be part of getting a cell phone plan, apartment or car insurance.

To stay on top of your score, focus on the two biggest factors that influence it: payment history and credit utilization (how much of your credit limits you’re using). Aim to pay everything on time, because just one missed payment can hurt your score, and use less than 30% of your credit limits on each card and overall.

» Learn what a good credit score is and how to get one

Invest in your financial future

Set money aside now, in a 401(k) or IRA , and let compound interest work its magic. The ultimate goal is long-term financial freedom and stability. Not sure how much you need to save? Try our retirement calculator .

3. Make the most of your savings

Money management goes beyond spending less than you make. A true sign of financial prowess is saving enough to live comfortably in the long term as well as the short term.

You can achieve this in four steps:

Start socking away extra money to build an emergency fund. Ideally, you should have six months’ worth of living expenses at your disposal in case the unthinkable happens. If that seems too ambitious, start small. A $500 reserve is a great first goal.

Invest extra money for your future. Set yourself up for retirement by contributing to a 401(k). If your company offers a match, contribute enough to get the maximum.

Pay off debt

Whether it’s a loan or a looming credit card bill, you probably have some debt obligations. Always make at least the minimum monthly payments so you don’t suffer credit score damage due to a late payment. If you have extra money for bills, pay down the high-interest debt first .

Keep building up that emergency fund, investing for retirement and knocking down debt.

4. Be persistent

Despite their good intentions, many people fall off the financial bandwagon. Sticking to a budget that’s too restrictive can be suffocating. Navigating investment jargon can be confusing. But don’t get discouraged.

You didn’t get in the financial position you’re in overnight, and you won’t get out of it overnight, either. Give yourself time to learn and grow. With hard work and dedication, you can manage your money with confidence.

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5 Ways to Manage Your Personal Finances

• Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar

First, let go of your limiting beliefs about money.

Talking about money can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and even scary. Here are five pieces of advice from our authors on how to feel in control of your personal finances.

• Let go of your limiting beliefs about money.
• Take ownership of your money.
• Always set a timeline for your money goals.
• Build an emergency fund.
• Create a diverse portfolio of investments.

Money can evoke a range of difficult emotions for many of us. This anxiety only grows when we’re living through economically fragile times or don’t come from wealth . It can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and even scary to navigate these feelings when they show up. But know that it’s still possible to make smart decisions that will help you become financially stable .

• RR Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar is an associate editor at Ascend.

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The Importance Of Having Good Money Management: Benefits and Tips

Last Updated on March 15, 2022 by Ngozi

We all know that money is essential. But what many people don’t realize is just how important money management is.

Believe it or not, managing your money is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your finances.

This blog post will talk about the importance of money management and why it’s so crucial for everyone, regardless of income level or net worth.

I’ll also share some tips on how you can start improving your money management skills today.

So if you’re ready to learn more about the importance of money management, keep reading!

What is money management? 

Financial management is the process of organizing and planning your financial life. It involves creating a budget, tracking your expenses, and making smart money decisions to improve your financial standing. 

Money management is crucial because it helps you take control of your finances and makes it easier to save money and achieve your financial goals.

Why is Money Management Important?

A big reason it’s essential to have good personal money management is because if you don’t have your finances in order, it can lead to stress and anxiety. 

It can be tough to focus on anything else when you’re struggling to make ends meet. Good money management can help you avoid these problems and stay organized and control your finances.

Another reason it’s important to have good personal money management is that it can help you save money. 

If you know how to budget your money and stick to a plan, you can avoid overspending and save money for things like retirement or a rainy day fund.

Good personal money management can also help you avoid debt. Most people don’t enter into massive amounts of debt overnight. 

It usually happens gradually due to several bad money management decisions over time. If you learn to avoid these decisions, you won’t need a miracle to get out of debt – just some patience and willpower.

How money management can improve your finances

It is never too late to learn money management skills. Money management is a crucial life skill that can improve your finances in many ways. Here are just a few of the benefits of money management:

• improved budgeting and spending habits
• better financial planning and goal setting
• increased savings and reduced debt

Money management skills are essential for anyone who wants to get their finances on track. If you are unsure where to start, plenty of online and offline resources are available. 

Start by evaluating your spending habits and creating a budget that works for you. You may also want to consider enrolling in a financial planning course or workshop. With a bit of effort, you can become a money management expert!

11 Money Management Tips to Improve your Finances

Money management is essential for people of all ages. It’s never too late to learn money management skills, and they can have a significant impact on your quality of life. 

The more money you save, the better off you’ll be in retirement or if an emergency strikes. Here are ten money management tips to help improve your finances, so it’s time to get started!

1. Track Your Spending. 

Spending can be a touchy topic for some, but it is something to watch closely for others.

It is important to track your spending no matter which category you fall into. This will help you stay within your budget and help you see where your money is going.

There are several different ways that you can track your spending. You can use a pen and paper method or use a financial software program. 

Whichever method you choose, make sure that you are consistent with it. If you are not consistent, it will be challenging to track your spending accurately.

Tracking your spending might seem tedious at first, but once you know where every penny is going each month, it becomes much easier to control spending habits – especially impulse buys!

2. Make a Budget. 

A budget forces you to prioritize. 

When it comes to making a budget, there are a few things that you’ll need to keep in mind. 

First, you’ll need to figure out your income and your expenses. This is achieved by tracking your spending for a month or two. 

Once you have a good idea of how much money you’re spending each month, you can start to make a budget .

Your budget should include both your fixed and variable expenses. Fixed expenses don’t change from month to month, such as rent or mortgage payments, car payments, and insurance premiums.  

3. Live Within Your Means. 

Living within your means living below your income. 

This includes having a budget, saving money, and not spending more than you earn. It means being mindful of your expenses and making choices that align with your overall financial goals.

4. Save Before You Spend. 

It means being mindful of how much you’re spending and ensuring you’re not overspending. Make sure you have money set aside to cover unexpected expenses.  

This helpful money management technique applies to most purchases you make throughout the day, from a coffee in the morning to buying clothes at the mall.

5. Make Savings a Habit. 

Making savings a habit is important because it allows you to have a financial cushion in an emergency. When you have money saved up, you don’t have to worry about unexpected expenses, which can help you avoid debt.

One way to make saving a habit is to automate your finances. You can do this by setting up a budget and automatically transferring money from your checking account to your savings account each month. This will help you stay on track with your savings goals.

6. Sleep on Large Purchases. 

While rushed, decisions can lead to spending money impulsively, so it’s important to sleep on large purchases before going ahead with them. 

When making a big purchase, it’s important to ask yourself some key questions to ensure that you’re making the right decision. Here are three questions to ask yourself before buying anything expensive:

1. Can I afford this?

Before you buy anything:

• Make sure you can afford it.
• Ask yourself if you have the cash to pay for it now.
• Don’t take on more debt than you can handle, and always make sure you have enough money saved up for emergencies.

2. Do I need this right now?

Think about whether or not you need the thing you’re buying. Sometimes we get caught up in the excitement of buying something new and don’t stop to think about it if we need it.

3. Is this a good deal?

Before making a large purchase ask yourself if this is a good deal. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in the moment and make a purchase that you may not need. 

Take some time to think about if you are getting a good deal or if you could wait a couple of months and get a better deal.

7. Set financial goals. 

When you have a specific goal in mind, it’s easier to take the necessary steps to achieve it. For example, if you want to save up for a new car, you’ll be more likely to put money aside each month.

There are many different ways to set financial goals. You can aim to save a certain amount of money within a specific time frame, or you can try to reduce your debt by a certain percentage.

 Whatever your goal may be, make sure it’s something that inspires you and makes you want to take action.

8. Shop Around For the Best Deals. 

When shopping around for the best deals, it’s important to be patient and do your research. Not all stores offer the same prices, so it’s important to compare rates and find the best deal possible. 

Sometimes, you may have to wait a few days for a sale to come around, but it’s worth it in the end! By doing some research and comparing prices, you’ll save money in the long run.

9. Cut Unnecessary Expenses. 

One way to cut unnecessary expenses is to review your budget and eliminate any expenses that are not necessary. This could include canceling subscriptions to services you no longer use or finding cheaper alternatives to your regular expenses. 

You can also save money by cooking at home instead of eating out and shopping for bargains when buying groceries or clothing. 

By being mindful of your spending habits, you can free up more money to save or invest for the future.

10. Educate Yourself on how to Better Manage Money. 

The more you know about personal finance, the better. 

Seriously, there’s no such thing as too much knowledge when it comes to your financial future! 

You can use any new information learned to make adjustments and improvements on what is currently happening regarding money management within yourself or others around you. 

After all, we’re all unique individuals who deserve personalized experiences based on our individual needs, not just “one size fits all” solutions like some mass-produced products.

One of the best ways to learn more is to improve your financial literacy through reading books . Here are 5 of my favorite personal finance books that will help you get your finances in order:

• The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness ” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow”>The Total Money Makeover
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• I will teach you to be rich
• The Millionaire Next Door

11. Build an emergency fund

An emergency fund is an important part of any financial plan. It’s a fund that you set aside to cover unexpected expenses. These could include car repairs, medical bills, or home repairs. 

If you don’t have an emergency fund, you could end up using your credit cards to pay for these unexpected expenses, which could lead to more debt.

Having an emergency fund can help you avoid debt and financial stress in times of need, and it can also help you stay afloat during tough times. 

So if you don’t have one already, start setting aside money today so that you’ll have a buffer in case of emergencies.

Conclusion on the importance of having good money management: Benefits and Tips

Money management is complex, but it doesn’t have to be. If you follow the tips in this blog post and take a little time every day to reflect on your financial situation, you will see some improvement! 

You can make real changes with small steps like automating savings or getting rid of high-interest debt.  

What money management tips do you think would help improve your finances? Have any of these points made an impact on how you manage your finances today?

Please share what has worked for You so we can all learn from each other’s experiences.

Freqeuntly Asked Questions

budgeting, saving money, and investing money.

Good money management skills are essential for a healthy financial future. They can help you stay out of debt, save money for retirement, and achieve other financial goals.

There are many different ways to get started with money management. One popular approach is to create a budget. You can also start by tracking your expenses and learning how to save money.

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About Ngozi

Hi there! I'm Ngozi, and I'm passionate about helping women pay off their debt, save for their future, and start a side hustle that has the potential of turning into a full-time income. In other words, I know my stuff when it comes to money.

I know what it takes to make your finances work for you and help others do the same. So if you want to learn how to do the same (or even better), then you've come to the right place.

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Philosophy of Money and Finance

Finance and philosophy may seem to be worlds apart. But they share at least one common ancestor: Thales of Miletus. Thales is typically regarded as the first philosopher, but he was also a financial innovator. He appears to have been what we would now call an option trader. He predicted that next year’s olive harvest would be good, and therefore paid a small amount of money to the owners of olive presses for the right to the next year’s use. When the harvest turned out to be as good as predicted, Thales earned a sizable amount of money by renting out the presses (Aristotle, Politics , 1259a).

Obviously, a lot has changed since Thales’ times, both in finance and in our ethical and political attitudes towards finance. Coins have largely been replaced by either paper or electronic money, and we have built a large infrastructure to facilitate transactions of money and other financial assets—with elements including commercial banks, central banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges, and investment funds. This institutional multiplicity is due to concerted efforts of both private and public agents, as well as innovations in financial economics and in the financial industry (Shiller 2012).

Our ethical and political sensitivities have also changed in several respects. It seems fair to say that most traditional ethicists held a very negative attitude towards financial activities. Think, for example, of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple from moneylenders, and the widespread condemnation of money as “the root of all evil”. Attitudes in this regard seem to have softened over time. However, the moral debate continues to recur, especially in connection with large scandals and crises within finance, the largest such crisis in recent memory of course being the global financial crisis of 2008.

This article describes what philosophical analysis can say about money and finance. It is divided into five parts that respectively concern (1) what money and finance really are (metaphysics), (2) how knowledge about financial matters is or should be formed (epistemology), (3) the merits and challenges of financial economics (philosophy of science), (4) the many ethical issues related to money and finance (ethics), and (5) the relationship between finance and politics (political philosophy).

1.1 What is Money?

1.2 what is finance, 2. epistemology, 3. philosophy of science, 4.1.1 the love of money, 4.1.2 usury and interest, 4.1.3 speculation and gambling, 4.2.1 deception and fraud, 4.2.2 avoiding conflicts of interest, 4.2.3 insider trading, 4.3.1 systemic risk and financial crises, 4.3.2 microfinance, 4.3.3 socially responsible investment, 5.1 financialization and democracy, 5.2 finance, money, and domestic justice, 5.3 finance and global justice, other internet resources, related entries, 1. metaphysics.

Money is so ever-present in modern life that we tend to take its existence and nature for granted. But do we know what money actually is? Two competing theories present fundamentally different ontologies of money.

The commodity theory of money: A classic theory, which goes back all the way to Aristotle ( Politics , 1255b–1256b), holds that money is a kind of commodity that fulfills three functions: it serves as (i) a medium of exchange, (ii) a unit of account, and (iii) a store of value. Imagine a society that lacks money, and in which people have to barter goods with each other. Barter only works when there is a double coincidence of wants ; that is, when A wants what B has and B wants what A has. But since such coincidences are likely to be uncommon, a barter economy seems both cumbersome and inefficient (Smith 1776, Menger 1892). At some point, people will realize that they can trade more easily if they use some intermediate good—money. This intermediate good should ideally be easy to handle, store and transport (function i). It should be easy to measure and divide to facilitate calculations (function ii). And it should be difficult to destroy so that it lasts over time (function iii).

Monetary history may be viewed as a process of improvement with regard to these functions of money (Ferguson 2008, Weatherford 1997). For example, some early societies used certain basic necessities as money, such as cattle or grain. Other societies settled on commodities that were easier to handle and to tally but with more indirect value, such as clamshells and precious metals. The archetypical form of money throughout history are gold or silver coins—therefore the commodity theory is sometimes called metallism (Knapp 1924, Schumpeter 1954). Coinage is an improvement on bullion in that both quantity and purity are guaranteed by some third party, typically the government. Finally, paper money can be viewed as a simplification of the trade in coins. For example, a bank note issued by the Bank of England in the 1700s was a promise to pay the bearer a certain pound weight of sterling silver (hence the origin of the name of the British currency as “pounds sterling”).

The commodity theory of money was defended by many classical economists and can still be found in most economics textbooks (Mankiw 2009, Parkin 2011). This latter fact is curious since it has provoked serious and sustained critique. An obvious flaw is that it has difficulties in explaining inflation, the decreasing value of money over time (Innes 1913, Keynes 1936). It has also been challenged on the grounds that it is historically inaccurate. For example, recent anthropological studies question the idea that early societies went from a barter economy to money; instead money seems to have arisen to keep track of pre-existing credit relationships (Graeber 2011, Martin 2013, Douglas 2016).

The credit theory of money: According to the main rival theory, coins and notes are merely tokens of something more abstract: money is a social construction rather than a physical commodity. The abstract entity in question is a credit relationship; that is, a promise from someone to grant (or repay) a favor (product or service) to the holder of the token (Macleod 1889, Innes 1914, Ingham 2004). In order to function as money, two further features are crucial: that (i) the promise is sufficiently credible, that is, the issuer is “creditworthy”; and (ii) the credit is transferable, that is, also others will accept it as payment for trade.

It is commonly thought that the most creditworthy issuer of money is the state. This thought provides an alternative explanation of the predominance of coins and notes whose value is guaranteed by states. But note that this theory also can explain so-called fiat money, which is money that is underwritten by the state but not redeemable in any commodity like gold or silver. Fiat money has been the dominant kind of money globally since 1971, when the United States terminated the convertibility of dollars to gold. The view that only states can issue money is called chartalism , or the state theory of money (Knapp 1924). However, in order to properly understand the current monetary system, it is important to distinguish between states’ issuing versus underwriting money. Most credit money in modern economies is actually issued by commercial banks through their lending operations, and the role of the state is only to guarantee the convertibility of bank deposits into cash (Pettifor 2014).

Criticisms of the credit theory tend to be normative and focus on the risk of overexpansion of money, that is, that states (and banks) can overuse their “printing presses” which may lead to unsustainable debt levels, excessive inflation, financial instability and economic crises. These are sometimes seen as arguments for a return to the gold standard (Rothbard 1983, Schlichter 2014). However, others argue that the realization that money is socially constructed is the best starting point for developing a more sustainable and equitable monetary regime (Graeber 2010, Pettifor 2014). We will return to this political debate below ( section 5.2 ).

The social ontology of money: But exactly how does the “social construction” of money work? This question invokes the more general philosophical issue of social ontology, with regard to which money is often used as a prime example. In an early philosophical-sociological account, Georg Simmel (1900) describes money as an institution that is a crucial precondition for modernity because it allows putting a value on things and simplifies transactions; he also criticizes the way in which money thereby replaces other forms of valuation (see also section 4.1 ).

In the more recent debate, one can distinguish between two main philosophical camps. An influential account of social ontology holds that money is the sort of social institution whose existence depends on “collective intentionality”: beliefs and attitudes that are shared in a community (Searle 1995, 2010). The process starts with someone’s simple and unilateral declaration that something is money, which is a performative speech act. When other people recognize or accept the declaration it becomes a standing social rule. Thus, money is said to depend on our subjective attitudes but is not located (solely) in our minds (see also Lawson 2016, Brynjarsdóttir 2018, Passinsky 2020, Vooys & Dick 2021).

An alternative account holds that the creation of money need not be intentional or declarative in the above sense. Instead money comes about as a solution to a social problem (the double coincidence of wants) – and it is maintained simply because it is functional or beneficial to us (Guala 2016, Hindriks & Guala 2021). Thus what makes something money is not the official declarations of some authority, but rather that it works (functions) as money in a given society (see also Smit et al. 2011; 2016). (For more discussion see the special issue by Hindriks & Sandberg 2020, as well as the entries on social ontology and social institutions ).

One may view “finance” more generally (that is, the financial sector or system) as an extension of the monetary system. It is typically said that the financial sector has two main functions: (1) to maintain an effective payments system; and (2) to facilitate an efficient use of money. The latter function can be broken down further into two parts. First, to bring together those with excess money (savers, investors) and those without it (borrowers, enterprises), which is typically done through financial intermediation (the inner workings of banks) or financial markets (such as stock or bond markets). Second, to create opportunities for market participants to buy and sell money, which is typically done through the invention of financial products, or “assets”, with features distinguished by different levels of risk, return, and maturation.

The modern financial system can thus be seen as an infrastructure built to facilitate transactions of money and other financial assets, as noted at the outset. It is important to note that it contains both private elements (such as commercial banks, insurance companies, and investment funds) and public elements (such as central banks and regulatory authorities). “Finance” can also refer to the systematic study of this system; most often to the field of financial economics (see section 3 ).

Financial assets: Of interest from an ontological viewpoint is that modern finance consists of several other “asset types” besides money; central examples include credit arrangements (bank accounts, bonds), equity (shares or stocks), derivatives (futures, options, swaps, etc.) and funds (trusts). What are the defining characteristics of financial assets?

The typical distinction here is between financial and “real” assets, such as buildings and machines (Fabozzi 2002), because financial assets are less tangible or concrete. Just like money, they can be viewed as a social construction. Financial assets are often derived from or at least involve underlying “real” assets—as, for example, in the relation between owning a house and investing in a housing company. However, financial transactions are different from ordinary market trades in that the underlying assets seldom change hands, instead one exchanges abstract contracts or promises of future transactions. In this sense, one may view the financial market as the “meta-level” of the economy, since it involves indirect trade or speculation on the success of other parts of the economy.

More distinctly, financial assets are defined as promises of future money payments (Mishkin 2016, Pilbeam 2010). If the credit theory of money is correct, they can be regarded as meta-promises: promises on promises. The level of abstraction can sometimes become enormous: For example, a “synthetic collateralized debt obligation” (or “synthetic CDO”), a form of derivative common before the financial crisis, is a promise from person A (the seller) to person B (the buyer) that some persons C to I (speculators) will pay an amount of money depending on the losses incurred by person J (the holder of an underlying derivative), which typically depend on certain portions (so-called tranches) of the cash flow from persons K to Q (mortgage borrowers) originally promised to persons R to X (mortgage lenders) but then sold to person Y (the originator of the underlying derivative). The function of a synthetic CDO is mainly to spread financial risks more thinly between different speculators.

Intrinsic value: Perhaps the most important characteristic of financial assets is that their price can vary enormously with the attitudes of investors. Put simply, there are two main factors that determine the price of a financial asset: (i) the credibility or strength of the underlying promise (which will depend on the future cash flows generated by the asset); and (ii) its transferability or popularity within the market, that is, how many other investors are interested in buying the asset. In the process known as “price discovery”, investors assess these factors based on the information available to them, and then make bids to buy or sell the asset, which in turn sets its price on the market (Mishkin 2016, Pilbeam 2010).

A philosophically interesting question is whether there is such a thing as an “intrinsic” value of financial assets, as is often assumed in discussions about financial crises. For example, a common definition of an “asset bubble” is that this is a situation that occurs when certain assets trade at a price that strongly exceed their intrinsic value—which is dangerous since the bubble can burst and cause an economic shock (Kindleberger 1978, Minsky 1986, Reinhart & Rogoff 2009). But what is the intrinsic value of an asset? The rational answer seems to be that this depends only on the discounted value of the underlying future cash flow—in other words, on (i) and not (ii) above. However, someone still has to assess these factors to compute a price, and this assessment inevitably includes subjective elements. As just noted, it is assumed that different investors have different valuations of financial assets, which is why they can engage in trades on the market in the first place.

A further complication here is that (i) may actually be influenced by (ii). The fundamentals may be influenced by investors’ perceptions of them, which is a phenomenon known as “reflexivity” (Soros 1987, 2008). For example, a company whose shares are popular among investors will often find it easier to borrow more money and thereby to expand its cash flow, in turn making it even more popular among investors. Conversely, when the company’s profits start to fall it may lose popularity among investors, thereby making its loans more expensive and its profits even lower. This phenomenon amplifies the risks posed by financial bubbles (Keynes 1936).

Given the abstractness and complexity of financial assets and relations, as outlined above, it is easy to see the epistemic challenges they raise. For example, what is a proper basis for forming justified beliefs about matters of money and finance?

A central concept here is that of risk. Since financial assets are essentially promises of future money payments, a main challenge for financial agents is to develop rational expectations or hypotheses about relevant future outcomes. The two main factors in this regard are (1) expected return on the asset, which is typically calculated as the value of all possible outcomes weighted by their probability of occurrence, and (2) financial risk, which is typically calculated as the level of variation in these returns. The concept of financial risk is especially interesting from a philosophical viewpoint since it represents the financial industry’s response to epistemic uncertainty. It is often argued that the financial system is designed exactly to address or minimize financial risks—for example, financial intermediation and markets allow investors to spread their money over several assets with differing risk profiles (Pilbeam 2010, Shiller 2012). However, many authors have been critical of mainstream operationalizations of risk which tend to focus exclusively on historical price volatility and thereby downplay the risk of large-scale financial crises (Lanchester 2010, Thamotheram & Ward 2014).

This point leads us further to questions about the normativity of belief and knowledge. Research on such topics as the ethics of belief and virtue epistemology considers questions about the responsibilities that subjects have in epistemic matters. These include epistemic duties concerning the acquisition, storage, and transmission of information; the evaluation of evidence; and the revision or rejection of belief (see also ethics of belief ). In line with a reappraisal of virtue theory in business ethics, it is in particular virtue epistemology that has attracted attention from scholars working on finance. For example, while most commentators have focused on the moral failings that led to the financial crisis of 2008, a growing literature examines epistemic failures.

Epistemic failings in finance can be detected both at the level of individuals and collectives (de Bruin 2015). Organizations may develop corporate epistemic virtue along three dimensions: through matching epistemic virtues to particular functions (e.g., diversity at the board level); through providing adequate organizational support for the exercise of epistemic virtue (e.g., knowledge management techniques); and by adopting organizational remedies against epistemic vice (e.g., rotation policies). Using this three-pronged approach helps to interpret such epistemic failings as the failure of financial due diligence to spot Bernard Madoff’s notorious Ponzi scheme (uncovered in the midst of the financial crisis) (de Bruin 2014a, 2015).

Epistemic virtue is not only relevant for financial agents themselves, but also for other institutions in the financial system. An important example concerns accounting (auditing) firms. Accounting firms investigate businesses in order to make sure that their accounts (annual reports) offer an accurate reflection of the financial situation. While the primary intended beneficiaries of these auditing services are shareholders (and the public at large), accountants are paid by the firms they audit. This remuneration system is often said to lead to conflicts of interest. While accounting ethics is primarily concerned with codes of ethics and other management tools to minimize these conflicts of interests, an epistemological perspective may help to show that the business-auditor relationship should be seen as involving a joint epistemic agent in which the business provides evidence, and the auditor epistemic justification (de Bruin 2013). We will return to issues concerning conflicts of interest below (in section 4.2 ).

Epistemic virtue is also important for an effective governance or regulation of financial activities. For example, a salient epistemic failing that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis seems to be the way that Credit Rating Agencies rated mortgage-backed securities and other structured finance instruments, and with related failures of financial due diligence, and faulty risk management (Warenski 2008). Credit Rating Agencies provide estimates of credit risk of bonds that institutional investors are legally bound to use in their investment decisions. This may, however, effectively amount to an institutional setup in which investors are forced by law partly to outsource their risk management, which fails to foster epistemic virtue (Booth & de Bruin 2021, de Bruin 2017). Beyond this, epistemic failures can also occur among regulators themselves, as well as among relevant policy makers (see further in section 5.1 ).

A related line of work attests to the relevance of epistemic injustice to finance. Taking Fricker’s (2009) work as a point of departure, de Bruin (2021) examines testimonial injustice in financial services, whereas Mussell (2021) focuses on the harms and wrongs of testimonial injustice as they occur in the relationship between trustees and fiduciaries.

Compared to financial practitioners, one could think that financial economists should be at an epistemic advantage in matters of money and finance. Financial economics is a fairly young but well established discipline in the social sciences that seeks to understand, explain, and predict activities within financial markets. However, a few months after the crash in 2008, Queen Elizabeth II famously asked a room full of financial economists in London why they had not predicted the crisis (Egidi 2014). The Queen’s question should be an excellent starting point for an inquiry into the philosophy of science of financial economics. Yet only a few philosophers of science have considered finance specifically (Vergara Fernández & de Bruin 2021). [ 1 ]

Some important topics in financial economics have received partial attention, including the Modigliani-Miller capital structure irrelevance theorem (Hindriks 2008), the efficient market hypothesis (Collier 2011), the Black-Scholes option pricing model (Weatherall 2017), portfolio theory (Walsh 2015), financial equilibrium models (Farmer & Geanakoplos 2009), the concept of money (Mäki 1997), and behavioral finance (Brav, Heaton, & Rosenberg 2004), even though most of the debate still occurs among economists interested in methodology rather than among philosophers. A host of topics remain to be investigated, however: the concept of Value at Risk (VaR) (and more broadly the concept of financial risk), the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), the Gaussian copula, random walks, financial derivatives, event studies, forecasting (and big data), volatility, animal spirits, cost of capital, the various financial ratios, the concept of insolvency, and neurofinance, all stand in need of more sustained attention from philosophers.

Most existing work on finance in philosophy of science is concerned with models and modelling (see also models in science and philosophy of economics ). It seems intuitive to view financial markets as extremely complex systems: with so many different factors at play, predicting the price of securities (shares, bonds, etc.) seems almost impossible. Yet mainstream financial economics is firmly committed to the idea that market behavior should be understood as ultimately resulting from interactions of agents maximizing their expected utility. This is a direct application of the so-called neoclassical school of economics that was developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While this school continues to dominate textbooks in the field, there is a growing scholarly trend that seeks to criticize, complement or even replace some of its main assumptions. We can see how the problems play out in both corporate finance and asset pricing theory.

Corporate finance concerns the financing of firms. One question concerns a firm’s capital structure: should a firm obtain funding through equity (that is, from shareholders expecting dividends) or through debt (that is, from bondholders who lend money to the firm and have a contractual right to receive interest on the loans), or through a combination of the two. A key result in corporate finance is the Modigliani-Miller theorem, which says that a firm’s capital structure is irrelevant to its market value (Modigliani & Miller 1958). This theorem makes a number of highly unrealistic assumptions, among them the assumption that markets are efficient, and that there are no taxes. Alongside many other results in economics, it may therefore be considered as useless for predictive purposes; or even as dangerous, once used for such purposes nonetheless (Egidi 2014). In a detailed study of the Modigliani-Miller theorem, Hindriks (2008) has argued, however, that the value of highly idealized models in economics may lie in their providing counterfactual insights, just as in physics. Galileo’s law of free fall tells us what happens in a vacuum. Despite the fact that vacuum is rare in reality, the law is not uninformative, because it allows us to associate observed phenomena to the extent to which an unrealistic assumption must be relaxed. Similarly, if one of the assumptions that the Modigliani-Miller theorem makes is the absence of taxes, the observed relevance of capital structure may well have to be explained as resulting from particular tax regimes. The explanation obtained by relaxing unrealistic assumptions is called “explanation by concretization” (Hindriks 2008).

Explanation by concretization works if models and reality share at least a few concrete features. This is arguably the case for many extant models in finance, including models of bubbles and crises that are immediately relevant to explaining the 2008 crisis (Abreu & Brunnermeier 2003). A fairly recent development called “econophysics” may, however, be an exception. Econophysics uses physics methods to model financial markets (see Rickles 2007 for an overview). Where traditional models of crises include individual investors with beliefs and desires modelled by probability distributions and utility functions, econophysics models capture crises the way physicists model transitions of matter from fluid to solid state (Kuhlmann 2014).

Next, consider asset pricing theory. Ever since Bachelier’s groundbreaking mathematical treatment of asset pricing, financial economists have struggled to find the best way to determine the price developments of securities such as shares, bonds, and derivative instruments such as options. The mathematics of financial returns has received some attention in the literature (de Bruin & Walter 2017; Ippoliti & Chen 2017). Most models assume that returns follow Gaussian random walks, that is, stochastic processes in discrete time with independent and identically distributed increments. Empirical studies show, however, that returns are more peaked than Gaussian distributions, and that they have “fat tails”. This means that extreme events such as financial crises are far less improbable than the models assume. An exception with regards to these assumptions is Benoît Mandelbrot’s (1963) well-known contribution to financial mathematics, and work in this direction is gaining traction in mathematical finance.

A third aspect of financial models concerns the way they incorporate uncertainty (Bertolotti & Magnani 2017). Some of the problems of contemporary financial (and macroeconomic) models are due to the way they model uncertainty as risk, as outlined above (Frydman & Goldberg 2013). Both neo-classical models and behavioral economics capture uncertainty as probabilistic uncertainty, consequently ignoring Knightian uncertainty (Knight 1921 see also decision theory ). The philosophy of science literature that pertains to financial economics is, however, still fairly small (Vergara Fernández & de Bruin 2021).

Having considered the epistemic and scientific challenges of finance, we now turn to the broad range of compelling ethical challenges related to money and finance. The present part is divided into three sections, discussing 1) the claim that financial activities are always morally suspect, 2) various issues of fairness that can arise in financial markets, and 3) discussions about the social responsibilities of financial agents.

4.1 Money as the Root of All Evil?

Throughout cultural history, activities that involve money or finance have been subject to intense moral scrutiny and ethical debate. It seems fair to say that most traditional ethicists held a very negative attitude towards such activities. We will here discuss three very sweeping criticisms, respectively directed at the love of money (the profit motive), usury (lending at interest), and speculation (gambling in finance).

At the heart of many sweeping criticisms of money and finance lies the question of motive. For instance, the full Biblical quotation says that “the love of money is the root of all [kinds of] evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). To have a “love of money”, or (in less moralistic words) a profit motive, means to seek money for its own sake. It has been the subject of much moral criticism throughout history and continues to be controversial in popular morality.

There are three main variations of the criticism. A first variation says that there is something unnatural about the profit motive itself. For example, Aristotle argued that we should treat objects in ways that are befitting to their fundamental nature, and since money is not meant to be a good in itself but only a medium of exchange (see section 1.1 ), he concluded that it is unnatural to desire money as an end in itself ( Politics , 1252a–1260b). A similar thought is picked up by Marx, who argues that capitalism replaces the natural economic cycle of C–M–C (commodity exchanged for money exchanged for commodity) with M–C–M (money exchanged for commodity exchanged for money). Thus the endless accumulation of money becomes the sole goal of the capitalist, which Marx describes as a form of “fetishism” (Marx 1867, volume I).

A second variation of the criticism concerns the character, or more precisely the vice, that the profit motive is thought to exemplify (see also virtue ethics ). To have a love for money is typically associated with selfishness and greed, i.e., a desire to have as much as possible for oneself and/or more than one really needs (McCarty 1988, Walsh & Lynch 2008). Another association is the loss of moral scruples so that one is ready to do anything for money. The financial industry is often held out as the worst in this regard, especially because of its high levels of compensation. Allegations of greed soared after the 2008 crisis, when financial executives continued to receive million-dollar bonuses while many ordinary workers lost their jobs (Piketty 2014, McCall 2010, Andersson & Sandberg 2019).

A third variation of the criticism says that the profit motive signals the absence of more appropriate motives. Kant argued that actions only have moral worth if they are performed for moral reasons, or, more specifically, for the sake of duty. Thus it is not enough that we do what is right, we must also do it because it is right (Kant 1785). Another relevant Kantian principle is that we never should treat others merely as means for our own ends, but always also as ends in themselves (see also Kant’s moral philosophy ). Both of these principles seem to contrast with the profit motive which therefore is rendered morally problematic (Bowie 1999, Maitland 2002). It should come as no surprise that Kant was a strong critic of several examples of “commodification” and other market excesses (see also markets ).

There are two main lines of defensive argumentation. The most influential is Adam Smith’s well-known argument about the positive side-effects of a self-interested pursuit of profits: although the baker and brewer only aim at their own respective good, Smith suggested, they are “led by an invisible hand” to at the same time promote the public good (Smith 1776, see also Mandeville 1732). This argument is typically viewed as a consequentialist vindication of the profit motive (see also consequentialism ): positive societal effects can morally outweigh the possible shortcomings in individual virtue (Flew 1976).

A second argument is more direct and holds that the profit motive can exemplify a positive virtue. For example, there is the well-known Protestant work ethic that emphasizes the positive nature of hard work, discipline and frugality (Long 1972, Wesley 1771). The profit motive can, on this view, be associated with virtues such as ambition, industry, and discipline (see also Brennan 2021). According to Max Weber (1905), the Protestant work ethic played an important role in the development of capitalism. But it is not clear whether any of these arguments can justify an exclusive focus on profits, of course, or rather give permission to also focus on profits under certain circumstances.

If having a love of money seems morally suspect, then the practice of making money on money—for instance, lending money at interest—could seem even worse. This is another sweeping criticism directed at finance that can be found among the traditional ethicists. Societies in both Ancient and Medieval times typically condemned or banned the practice of “usury”, which originally meant all charging of interest on loans. As the practice started to become socially acceptable, usury came to mean the charging of excessive rates of interest. However, modern Islam still contains a general prohibition against interest, and many countries still have at least partial usury laws, most often setting an upper limit on interest rates.

What could be wrong with lending at interest? Some of the more obscure arguments concern the nature of money (again): Aristotle argued that there is something unnatural with “money begetting money”. While he allowed that money is a useful means for facilitating commercial exchange, Aristotle thought that it has no productive use in itself and so receiving interest over and above the borrowed amount is unnatural and wrong ( Politics , 1258b). A related argument can be found in Aquinas, who argued that money is a good that is consumed on use. Although a lender can legitimately demand repayment of an amount equivalent to the loan, it is illegitimate to demand payment for the use of the borrowed amount and so adding interest is unnatural and wrong ( Summa Theologica , II–II, Q78).

Some more promising arguments concern justice and inequality. For example, as early as Plato we see the expression of the worry that allowing interest may lead to societal instability ( The Republic , II). It may be noted that the biblical condemnations of usury most straightforwardly prohibit interest-taking from the poor. One idea here is that we have a duty of charity to the poor and charging interest is incompatible with this duty. Another idea is that the problem lies in the outcome of interest payments: Loans are typically extended by someone who is richer (someone with capital) to someone who is poorer (someone without it) and so asking for additional interest may increase the inequitable distribution of wealth (Sandberg 2012, Visser & MacIntosh 1998). A third idea, which is prominent in the protestant tradition, is that lending often involves opportunism or exploitation in the sense of offering bad deals to poor people who have no other options (Graafland 2010).

The Islamic condemnation of interest, or riba , adds an additional, third line of argument which holds that interest is essentially unearned or undeserved income: Since the lender neither partakes in the actual productive use of the money lent, nor exposes him- or herself to commercial risk, the lender cannot legitimately share in the gains produced by the loan (Ayub 2007, Birnie 1952, Thomas 2006). Based on this argument, contemporary Islamic banks insist that lenders and borrowers must form a business partnership in order for fees on loans to be morally legitimate (Ayub 2007, Warde 2010). Economists have over the years given several retorts to this argument. Some economists stress that lending also involves risk (e.g., that the borrower defaults and is unable to repay); others stress the so-called opportunity costs of lending (i.e., that the money could have been used more profitably elsewhere); and yet again others stress the simple time-preference of individuals (i.e., that we value present more than future consumption, and therefore the lender deserves compensation for postponing consumption).

The gradual abandonment of the medieval usury laws in the West is typically attributed to a growing acknowledgment of the great potential for economic growth unleashed by easy access to capital. One could perhaps say that history itself disproved Aristotle: money indeed proved to have a productive use. In a short text from 1787, Bentham famously poked fun at many of the classical anti-usury arguments and defended the practice of charging interest from a utilitarian standpoint (Bentham 1787). However, this does not mean that worries about the ethics of charging interest, and allegations of usury, have disappeared entirely in society. As noted above, usury today means charging interest rates that seem excessive or exorbitant. For instance, many people are outraged by the rates charged on modern payday loans, or the way in which rich countries exact interest on their loans from poor countries (Baradaran 2015, Graeber 2011, Herzog 2017a). These intuitions have clear affinities with the justice-based arguments outlined above.

A sweeping criticism of a more contemporary nature concerns the supposed moral defects of speculation. This criticism tends to be directed towards financial activities that go beyond mere lending. Critics of the capitalist system often liken the stock market to a casino and investors to gamblers or punters (Sinn 2010, Strange 1986). More moderate critics insist on a strict distinction between investors or shareholders, on the one hand, and speculators or gamblers, on the other (Bogle 2012, Sorell & Hendry 1994). In any case, the underlying assumption is that the similarities between modern financial activities and gambling are morally troublesome.

On some interpretations, these concerns are similar to those raised above. For example, some argue that speculators are driven by the profit motive whereas investors have a genuine concern for the underlying business enterprise (Hendry 2013). Others see speculation as “parasitic”, that is, to be without productive use, and solely dependent on luck (Borna & Lowry 1987, Ryan 1902). This latter argument is similar to the complaint about undeserved income raised in particular by Islamic scholars (Ayub 2007, Warde 2010).

A more distinct interpretation holds that speculation typically includes very high levels of risk-taking (Borna & Lowry 1987). This is morally problematic when the risks not only affect the gambler him or herself but also society as a whole. A root cause of the financial crisis of 2008 was widespread speculation on very risky derivatives such as “synthetic collateralized debt obligations” (see section 1.2 ). When the value of such derivatives fell dramatically, the financial system as a whole came to the brink of collapse. We will return to this issue below (in section 4.3.1 ). In this regard, the question of risk imposition becomes important too (Moggia 2021).

A related interpretation concerns the supposed short-sightedness of speculation. It is often argued that financial agents and markets are “myopic” in the sense that they care only about profits in the very near term, e.g., the next quarter (Dallas 2012). Modern disclosure requirements force companies to publish quarterly earnings reports. The myopia of finance is typically blamed for negative effects such as market volatility, the continuous occurrence of manias and crashes, inadequate investment in social welfare, and the general shortsightedness of the economy (e.g., Lacke 1996).

Defenders of speculation argue that it can serve a number of positive ends. To the extent that all financial activities are speculative in some sense, of course, the ends coincide with the function of finance more generally: to channel funds to the individuals or companies who can use them in the most productive ways. But even speculation in the narrower sense—of high-risk, short-term bets—can have a positive role to play: It can be used to “hedge” or off-set the risks of more long-term investments, and it contributes to sustaining “market liquidity” (that is, as a means for providing counterparties to trade with at any given point of time) which is important for an efficient pricing mechanism (Angel & McCabe 2009, Koslowski 2009).

4.2 Fairness in Financial Markets

Let us now assume that the existence of financial markets is at least in general terms ethically acceptable, so that we can turn to discuss some of the issues involved in making them fair and just for all parties involve. We will focus on three such issues: deception and fraud (honesty), conflicts of interest (care for customers), and insider trading (fair play).

Some of the best-known ethical scandals in finance are cases of deception or fraud. Enron, a huge US corporation, went bankrupt after it was discovered that its top managers had “cooked the books”, i.e., engaged in fraudulent accounting practices, keeping huge debts off the company’s balance sheet in an effort to make it look more profitable (McLean & Elkind 2003). Other scandals in the industry have involved deceptive marketing practices, hidden fees or costs, undisclosed or misrepresented financial risks, and outright Ponzi schemes (see section 2 ).

While these examples seem obvious, on further examination it is not easy to give an exact definition of financial deception or fraud. The most straightforward case seems to be deliberately misrepresenting or lying about financial facts. However, this assumes that there is such a thing as a financial fact, i.e., a correct way of representing a financial value or transaction. In light of the socially constructed nature of money and finance (see section 1 ), this may not always be clear. Less straightforward cases include simply concealing or omitting financial information, or refraining from obtaining the information in the first place.

A philosophical conception of fraud, inspired by Kant, defines it as denying to the weaker party in a financial transaction (such as a consumer or investor) information that is necessary to make a rational (or autonomous) decision (Boatright 2014, Duska & Clarke 2002). Many countries require that the seller of a financial product (such a company issuing shares) must disclose all information that is “material” to the product. It is an interesting question whether this suggestion, especially the conception of rationality involved, should include or rule out a consideration of the ethical nature of the product (such as the ethical nature of the company’s operations) (Lydenberg 2014). Furthermore, there may be information that is legitimately excluded by other considerations, such as the privacy of individuals or companies commonly protected by “bank secrecy” laws.

But is access to adequate information enough? A complication here is that the weaker party, especially ordinary consumers, may have trouble processing the information sufficiently well to identify cases of fraud. This is a structural problem in finance that has no easy fix, because financial products are often abstract, complex, and difficult to price. Therefore, full autonomy of agents may not only require access to adequate information, but also access to sufficient know how, processing ability and resources to analyze the information (Boatright 2014). One solution is to require that the financial services industry promotes transparent communication in which they track the understanding of ordinary consumers (de Bruin 2014b, Endörfer & De Bruin 2019, Shiller 2012).

Due to the problems just noted, the majority of ordinary consumers refrain from engaging in financial markets on their own and instead rely on the services of financial intermediaries, such as banks, investment funds, and insurance companies. But this opens up new ethical problems that are due to the conflicts of interest inherent in financial intermediation. Simply put, the managers or employees of intermediaries have ample opportunity, and often also incentives, to misuse their customers’ money and trust.

Although it is once again difficult to give an exact definition, the literature is full of examples of such misuse—including so-called churning (trading excessively to generate high fees), stuffing (selling the bank’s undesired assets to a client), front-running (buying an asset for the bank first and then reselling it to the client at a higher price) and tailgating (mimicking a client’s trade to piggyback on his/her information) (Dilworth 1994; Heacock, Hill, & Anderson 1987). Interestingly, some argue that the whole industry of actively managed investment funds may be seen as a form of fraud. According to economic theory, namely, it is impossible to beat the average returns of the market for any given level of financial risk, at least in the long term. Therefore, funds who claim that they can do this for a fee are basically cheating their clients (cf. Hendry 2013, Kay 2015).

A legal doctrine that aims to protect clients is so-called fiduciary duty, which imposes obligations on fiduciaries (those entrusted with others’ money) to act in the sole interest of beneficiaries (those who own the money). The interests referred to are typically taken to be financial interests, so the obligation of the fiduciary is basically to maximize investment returns. But some argue that there are cases in which beneficiaries’ broader interests should take precedence, such as when investing in fossil fuels may give high financial returns but pose serious risks to people’s future (Lydenberg 2014; Sandberg 2013, 2016). In any case, it is often thought that fiduciary duties go beyond the ideal of a free market to instead give stronger protection to the weaker party of a fragile relationship.

As an alternative or compliment to fiduciary duty, some argue for the adoption of a code of ethics or professional conduct by financial professionals. A code of ethics would be less arduous in legal terms and is therefore more attractive to free market proponents (Koslowski 2009). It can also cover other fragile relationships (including those of bank-depositor, advisor-client, etc.). Just as doctors and lawyers have a professional code, then, so finance professionals could have one that stresses values such as honesty, due care and accuracy (de Bruin 2016, Graafland & Ven 2011). But according to critics, the financial industry is simply too subdivided into different roles and competencies to have a uniform code of ethics (Ragatz & Duska 2010). It is also unclear whether finance can be regarded as a profession in the traditional sense, which typically requires a body of specialized knowledge, high degrees of organization and self-regulation, and a commitment to public service (Boatright 2014, Herzog 2019).

Probably the most well-known ethical problem concerning fairness in finance, and also perhaps the one on which philosophers most disagree, is so-called insider trading. Put simply, this occurs when an agent uses his or her position within, or privileged information about, a company to buy or sell its shares (or other related financial assets) at favorable times and prices. For example, a CEO may buy shares in his or her company just before it announces a major increase in earnings that will boost the share price. While there is no fraud or breach of fiduciary duty, the agent seems to be exploiting an asymmetry of information.

Just as in the cases above, it is difficult to give an exact definition of insider trading, and the scope of its operative definition tends to vary across jurisdictions. Most commentators agree that it is the information and its attendant informational asymmetry that counts and, thus, the “insider” need not be inside the company at all—those abusing access to information could be family, friends or other tippees (Irvine 1987a, Moore 1990). Indeed, some argue that even stock analysts or journalists can be regarded as insiders if they trade on information that they have gathered themselves but not yet made publicly available. It is also debatable whether an actual trade has to take place or whether insider trading can consist in an omission to trade based on inside information, or also in enabling others to trade or not trade (Koslowski 2009).

Several philosophical perspectives have been used to explain what (if anything) is wrong with insider trading. A first perspective invokes the concept of fair play. Even in a situation with fully autonomous traders, the argument goes, market transactions are not fair if one party has access to information that the other has not. Fair play requires a “level playing field”, i.e., that no participant starts from an unfairly advantaged position (Werhane 1989, 1991). However, critics argue that this perspective imposes excessive demands of informational equality. There are many asymmetries of information in the market that are seemingly unproblematic, e.g., that an antiquary knows more about antiques than his or her customers (Lawson 1988, Machan 1996). So might it be the inaccessibility of inside information that is problematic? But against this, one could argue that, in principle, outsiders have the possibility to become insiders and thus to obtain the exact same information (Lawson 1988, Moore 1990).

A second perspective views insider trading as a breach of duty, not towards the counterparty in the trade but towards the source of the information. US legislation treats inside information as the property of the underlying company and, thus, insider trading is essentially a form of theft of corporate property (often called the misappropriation theory) (Lawson 1988). A related suggestion is that it can be seen as a violation of the fiduciary duty that insiders have towards the company for which they work (Moore 1990). However, critics argue that the misappropriation theory misrepresents the relationship between companies and insiders. On the one hand, there are many normal business situations in which insiders are permitted or even expected to spread inside information to outside sources (Boatright 2014). On the other hand, if the information is the property of the company, why do we not allow it to be “sold” to insiders as a form of remuneration? (Engelen & van Liedekerke 2010, Manne 1966)

A third perspective deals with the effects, both direct and indirect, of allowing insider trading. Interestingly, many argue that the direct effects of such a policy might be positive. As noted above, one of the main purposes of financial markets is to form (or “discover”) prices that reflect all available information about a company. Since insider trading contributes important information, it is likely to improve the process of price discovery (Manne 1966). Indeed, the same reasoning suggests that insider trading actually helps the counterparty in the trade to get a better price (since the insider’s activity is likely to move the price in the “right” direction) so it is a victimless crime (Engelen & Liedekerke 2010). However, others express concern over the indirect effects, which are likely to be more negative. Allowing insider trading may erode the moral standards of market participants by favoring opportunism over fair play (Werhane 1989). Moreover, many people may be dissuaded from even participating in the market since they feel that it is “rigged” to their disadvantage (Strudler 2009).

4.3 The Social Responsibility of Finance

We will now move on to take a societal view on finance, and discuss ideas relating to the broader social responsibilities of financial agents, that go beyond their basic role as market participants. We will discuss three such ideas here, respectively focusing on systemic risk (a responsibility to avoid societal harm), microfinance (a responsibility towards the poor or unbanked), and socially responsible investment (a responsibility to help address societal challenges).

One root cause of the financial crisis of 2008 was the very high levels of risk-taking of many banks and other financial agents. When these risks materialized, the financial system came to the brink of collapse. Many banks lost so much money that their normal lending operations were hampered, which in turn had negative effects on the real economy, with the result that millions of “ordinary” people around the world lost their jobs. Many governments stepped in to bail out the banks and in consequence sacrificed other parts of public spending. This is a prime example of how certain financial activities, when run amok, can have devastating effects on third parties and society in general.

Much subsequent debate has focused on so-called systemic risk, that is, the risk of failures across several agents which impairs the functioning of the financial system as such (Brunnermeier & Oehmke 2013, Smaga 2014). The concept of systemic risk gives rise to several prominent ethical issues. To what extent do financial agents have a moral duty to limit their contributions to systemic risk? It could be argued that financial transactions always carry risk and that this is “part of the game”. But the important point about systemic risk is that financial crises have negative effects on third parties (so-called externalities). This constitutes a prima facie case for a duty of precaution on the part of financial agents, based on the social responsibility to avoid causing unnecessary harm (James 2017, Linarelli 2017). In cases where precaution is impossible, one could add a related duty of rectification or compensation to the victims of the harm (Endörfer 2022). It is, however, a matter of philosophical dispute whether finance professionals can be held morally responsible for these harms (de Bruin 2018, Moggia 2021).

Two factors determine how much an agent’s activity contributes to systemic risk (Brunnermeier & Oehmke 2013, Smaga 2014). The first is financial risk of the agent’s activity in the traditional sense, i.e., the probability and size of the potential losses for that particular agent. A duty of precaution may here be taken to imply, e.g., stricter requirements on capital and liquidity reserves (roughly, the money that the agents must keep in their coffers for emergency situations) (Admati & Hellwig 2013). The second factor is the agent’s place in the financial system, which typically is measured by its interconnectedness with—and thereby potential for cascading effects upon—other agents. This factor indicates that the duty of precaution is stronger for financial agents that are “systemically important” or, as the saying goes, “too-big-to-fail” institutions (Stiglitz 2009).

As an alternative to the reasoning above, one may argue that the duty of precaution is more properly located on the collective, i.e., political level (James 2012, 2017). We return to this suggestion below (in section 5.1 ).

Even in normal times, people with very low income or wealth have hardly any access to basic financial services. Commercial banks have little to gain from offering such services to them; there is an elevated risk of loan losses (since the poor lack collateral) and it is costly to administer a large amount of very small loans (Armendáriz & Morduch 2010). Moreover, there will likely be cases where some bank officers discriminate against underprivileged groups, even where extensive legal protection is in place. An initiative that seeks to remedy these problems is “microfinance”, that is, the extension of financial services, such as lending and saving, to poor people who are otherwise “unbanked”. The initiative started in some of the poorest countries of the world, such as Bangladesh and India.

The justifications offered for microfinance are similar to the justifications offered for development aid. A popular justification holds that affluent people have a duty of assistance towards the poor, and microfinance is thought to be a particularly efficient way to alleviate poverty (Yunus 1998, 2007). But is this correct? Judging from the growing number of empirical “impact studies”, it seems more correct to say that microfinance is sometimes helpful, but at other times can be either ineffective or have negative side-effects (Hudon & Sandberg 2013, Roodman 2012). Another justification holds that there is a basic human right to subsistence, and that this includes a right to savings and credit (Hudon 2009, Meyer 2018). But critics argue that the framework of human rights is not a good fit for financial services that come with both benefits and challenges (Gershman & Morduch 2015, Sorell 2015).

Microfinance is of course different from development aid in that it involves commercial banking relations. This invites the familiar political debate of state- versus market-based support. Proponents of microfinance argue that traditional state-led development projects have been too rigid and corrupt, whereas market-based initiatives are more flexible and help people to help themselves (Armendáriz & Morduch 2010, Yunus 2007). According to critics, however, it is the other way around: Markets will tend to breed greed and inequality, whereas real development is created by large-scale investments in education and infrastructure (Bateman 2010, H. Weber 2004).

In recent years, the microfinance industry has witnessed several “ethical scandals” that seemingly testify to the risk of market excesses. Reports have indicated that interest rates on microloans average at 20–30% per annum, and can sometimes be in excess of 100%, which is much higher than the rates for non-poor borrowers. This raises questions about usury (Hudon & Ashta 2013; Rosenberg, Gonzalez, & Narain 2009). However, some suggest a defense of “second best”, or last resort, when other sources of aid or cheaper credit are unavailable (Sandberg 2012). Microfinance institutions have also been accused of using coercive lending techniques and forceful loan recovery practices (Dichter & Harper (eds) 2007; Priyadarshee & Ghalib 2012). This raises questions about the ethical justifiability of commercial activity directed at the desperately poor, because very poor customers may have no viable alternative to accepting deals that are both unfair and exploitative (Arnold & Valentin 2013, Hudon & Sandberg 2013).

Socially responsible investment refers to the emerging practice whereby financial agents give weight to putatively ethical, social or environmental considerations in investment decisions—e.g., decisions about what bonds or stocks to buy or sell, or how to engage with the companies in one’s portfolio. This is sometimes part of a strictly profit-driven investment philosophy, based on the assumption that companies with superior social performance also have superior financial performance (Richardson & Cragg 2010). But more commonly, it is perceived as an alternative to mainstream investment. The background argument here is that market pricing mechanisms, and financial markets in particular, seem to be unable to promote sufficient levels of social and environmental responsibility in firms. Even though there is widespread social agreement on the evils of sweatshop labor and environmental degradation, for instance, mainstream investors are still financing enterprises that sustain such unjustifiable practices. Therefore, there is a need for a new kind of investor with a stronger sense of social responsibility (Sandberg 2008, Cowton & Sandberg 2012).

The simplest and most common approach among these alternative investors is to avoid investments in companies that are perceived to be ethically problematic. This is typically justified from a deontological idea to the effect that it is wrong to invest in someone else’s wrongdoing (Irvine 1987b, Langtry 2002, Larmer 1997). There are at least three interpretations of such moral “taint”: (1) the view that it is wrong in itself to profit from others’ wrongdoings, or to benefit from other people’s suffering; (2) the view that it is wrong to harm others, or also to facilitate harm to other; or (3) the view that there is a form of expressive or symbolic wrongdoing involved in “morally supporting” or “accepting” wrongful activities.

The deontological perspective above has been criticized for being too black-and-white. On the one hand, it seems difficult to find any investment opportunity that is completely “pure” or devoid of possible moral taint (Kolers 2001). On the other hand, the relationship between the investor and the investee is not as direct as one may think. To the extent that investors buy and sell shares on the stock market, they are not engaging with the underlying companies but rather with other investors. The only way in which such transactions could benefit the companies would be through movements in the share price (which determines the companies’ so-called cost of capital), but it is extremely unlikely that a group of ethical investors can significantly affect that price. After all, the raison d’être of stock exchanges is exactly to create markets that are sufficiently liquid to maintain stable prices (Haigh & Hazelton 2004, Hudson 2005). In response to this, the deontologist could appeal to some notion of universalizability or collective responsibility: perhaps the right question to ask is not “what happens if I do this?” but instead “what happens if we all do this?”. However, such more complicated philosophical positions have problems of their own (see also rule consequentialism and collective responsibility )

A rival perspective on socially responsible investment is the (more straightforward) consequentialist idea that investors’ duty towards society consists in using their financial powers to promote positive societal goods, such as social justice and environmental sustainability. This perspective is typically taken to prefer more progressive investment practices, such as pushing management to adopt more ambitious social policies and/or seeking out environmentally friendly technology firms (Mackenzie 1997, Sandberg 2008). Of course, the flip side of such practices, which may explain why they are less common in the market, is that they invite greater financial risks (Sandberg 2011). It remains an open question whether socially responsible investment will grow enough in size to make financial markets a force for societal change.

Recent work has started exploring whether concrete sustainable finance policies (such as those suggested by the European Commission’s Sustainable Finance Action Plan) will generate sufficient funds to pay for climate change mitigation and adaptation, based as they are on policies of information provision only (De Bruin 2023).

5. Political Philosophy

Discussions about the social responsibility of finance are obviously premised on the observation that the financial system forms a central infrastructure of modern economies and societies. As we noted at the outset, it is important to see that the system contains both private elements (such as commercial banks, insurance companies, and investment funds) and public elements (such as central banks and regulatory bodies). However, issues concerning the proper balance between these elements, especially the proper role and reach of the state, are perennially recurrent in both popular and philosophical debates.

The financial system and the provision of money indeed raise a number of questions that connect it to the “big questions” of political philosophy: including questions of democracy, justice, and legitimacy, at both the national and global levels (on the history of political thinking about money see Eich 2019, 2020, 2022; Ingham 2004, 2019; Martin 2013). The discussions around finance in political philosophy can be grouped under three broad areas: financialization and democracy; finance, money and domestic justice; and finance and global justice. We consider these now in turn.

Many of the questions political philosophy raises about finance have to do with “financialization”. The phenomenon of “financialization”, whereby the economic system has become characterized by the increasing dominance of finance capital and by systems of financial intermediation (Ertürk et al. 2008; Davis 2011; Engelen et al. 2011; Palley 2013), is of potentially substantial normative significance in a number of regards. A related normative concern is the potential growth in political power of the financial sector, which may be seen as a threat to democratic politics.

These worries are, in effect, an amplification of familiar concerns about the “structural power” or “structural constraints” of capital, whereby capitalist investors are able to reduce the freedom of action of democratic governments by threatening “investment strikes” when their preferred political options are not pursued (see Lindblom 1977, 1982; Przeworski & Wallerstein 1988; Cohen 1989; B. Barry 2002; Christiano 2010, 2012; Furendal & O’Neill 2022). To take one recent version of these worries, Stuart White argues that a republican commitment to popular sovereignty is in significant tension with the acceptance of an economic system where important choices about investment, and hence the direction of development of the economy, are under the control of financial interests (White 2011).

In many such debates, the fault-line seems to be the traditional one between those who favor social coordination by free markets, and hence strict limitations on state activities, and those who favor democratic politics, and hence strict limitations on markets (without denying that there can be intermediate positions). But the current financial system is not a pure creature of the free market. In the financial system that we currently see, the principle that individuals are to be held financially accountable for their actions, and that they will therefore be “disciplined” by markets, is patchy at best. One major issue, discussed above, is the problem of banks that are so large and interconnected that their failure would risk taking down the whole financial system—hence, they can anticipate that they will be bailed out by tax-payers’ money, which creates a huge “moral hazard” problem (e.g., Pistor 2013, 2017). In addition, current legal systems find it difficult to impose accountability for complex processes of divided labor, which is why there were very few legal remedies after the financial crisis of 2008 (e.g., Reiff 2017).

The lack of accountability intensifies worries about the power relations between democratic politicians and individuals or corporations in the financial realm. One question is whether we can even apply our standard concept of democracy to societies that have the kinds of financial systems we see today. We may ask whether societies that are highly financialized can ever be true democracies, or whether they are more likely to be “post-democracies” (Crouch 2004). For example, states with high levels of sovereign debt will need to consider the reaction of financial markets in every significant policy decision (see, e.g., Streeck 2013 [2014], see also Klein 2020) Moreover “revolving doors” between private financial institutions and supervising authorities impact on the ability of public officials to hold financial agents accountable. This is similar to the problems of conflicts of interest raised above (see sections 2 and 4.2.2 ). If financial contracts become a central, or maybe even the most central, form of social relations (Lazzarato 2012), this may create an incompatibility with the equal standing of citizens, irrespective of financial position, that should be the basis of a democratic society and its public sphere of deliberation (see also Bennett 2020 from an epistemic perspective).

While finance has, over long stretches of history, been rather strictly regulated, there has been a reversed trend towards deregulation since roughly the 1970s. After the financial crisis of 2008, there have been many calls for reregulation. Proposals include higher capital ratios in banks (Admati & Hellwig 2013), a return to the separation of commercial banking from speculative finance, as had been the case, in the US, during the period when the Glass-Steagall Act was in place (Kay 2015), or a financial transaction tax (Wollner 2014). However, given that the financial system is a global system, one controversial question is whether regulatory steps by single countries would have any effect other than capital flight.

When it comes to domestic social justice, the central question relating to the finance system concerns the ways in which the realization of justice can be helped or hindered by how the financial system is organized.

A first question here, already touched upon in the discussion about microfinance above ( section 4.3.2 ), concerns the status of citizens as participants in financial markets. Should they all have a right to certain financial services such as a bank account or certain forms of loans, because credit should be seen as a primary good in capitalist economies (see, e.g., Hudon 2009, Sorell 2015, Meyer 2018)? More broadly, how does the pattern of access to credit affect the distribution of freedom and unfreedom within society? (see Dietsch 2021; Preiss 2021). These are not only issues for very poor countries, but also for richer countries with high economic inequality, where it becomes a question of domestic justice. In some countries all residents have the right to open a basic bank account (see bank accounts in the EU in Other Internet Resources ). For others this is not the case. It has been argued that not having access to basic financial services creates an unfairness, because it drives poorer individuals into a cash economy in which they are more vulnerable to exploitative lenders, and in which it is more difficult to build up savings (e.g., Baradaran 2015). Hence, it has been suggested either to regulate banking services for individuals more strictly (e.g., Herzog 2017a), to consider various forms of household debt relief (Persad 2018), or to offer a public banking service, e.g., run by the postal office, which offers basic services at affordable costs (Baradaran 2015).

Secondly, financialization may also have more direct effects on socio-economic inequality. Those with managerial positions within the financial sector are disproportionately represented among the very top end of the income distribution, and so the growth of inequality can in part be explained by the growth in the financial sector itself (Piketty 2014). There may also be an effect on social norms, whereby the “hypermeritocratic” norms of the financial sector have played a part in increasing social tolerance for inequality in society more broadly (Piketty 2014: 265, 2020; see also O’Neill 2017, 2021). As Dietsch et al. point out, the process of increasing financialization within the economies of the advanced industrial societies has been encouraged by the actions of central banks over recent decades, and so the issue of financialization also connects closely to questions regarding the justice and legitimacy of central banks and monetary policy (Dietsch, Claveau, & Fontan 2016, 2018; see also Jacobs & King 2016).

Thirdly, many debates about the relation between distributive justice and the financial system revolve around the market for mortgages, because for many individuals, a house is the single largest item for which they need to take out a loan, and their mortgage their main point of interaction with the financial system. This means that the question of who has access to mortgage loans and at what price can have a major impact on the overall distribution of income and wealth. In addition, it has an impact on how financial risks are distributed in society. Highly indebted individuals are more vulnerable when it comes to ups and downs either in their personal lives (e.g., illness, loss of job, divorce) or in the economy as a whole (e.g., economic slumps) (Mian & Sufi 2014). The danger here is that existing inequalities—which many theories of justice would describe as unjust—are reinforced even further (Herzog 2017a).

Here, however, a question about the institutional division of labor arises: which goals of distributive justice should be achieved within markets—and specifically, within financial markets—and which ones by other means, for example through taxation and redistribution? The latter has been the standard approach used by many welfare systems: the idea being to let markets run their course, and then to achieve the desired patterns of distribution by taxation and redistribution. If one remains within that paradigm, questions arise about whether the financial sector should be taxed more highly. In contrast, the approach of “pre-distribution” (Hacker 2011; O’Neill & Williamson 2012; O’Neill 202), or what Dietsch calls “process redistribution” (2010), is to design the rules of the economic game such that they contribute to bringing about the distributive pattern that is seen as just. This could, for example, mean regulating banking services and credit markets in ways that reduce inequality, for example by imposing regulations on payday lenders and banks, so that poor individuals are protected from falling into a spiral of ever higher debt. A more radical view could be to see the financial problems faced by such individuals as being caused by more general structural injustices the solution of which does not necessarily require interventions with the financial industry, but rather more general redistributive (or predistributive) policies.

Money creation: Another alternative theoretical approach is to integrate distributive concerns into monetary policy, i.e., when it comes to the creation of money. So far, central banks have focused on the stability of currencies and, in some cases, levels of employment. This technical focus, together with the risk that politicians might abuse monetary policy to try to boost the economy before elections, have been used in arguments for putting the control of the money supply into the hands of technical experts, removing monetary policy from democratic politics. But after the financial crisis of 2008, many central banks have used unconventional measures, such as “quantitative easing”, which had strongly regressive effects, favoring the owners of stocks or of landed property (Fontan et al. 2016, Dietsch 2017); they did not take into account other societal goals, e.g., the financing of green energy, either. This raises new questions of justice: are such measures justified if their declared aim is to move the economy out of a slump, which presumably also helps disadvantaged individuals (Haldane 2014)? Would other measures, for instance “helicopter money” that is distributed to all citizens, have been a better alternative? And if such measures are used, is it still appropriate to think of central banks as institutions in which nothing but technical expertise is required, or should there be some form of accountability to society? (Fontan, Claveau, & Dietsch 2016; Dietsch 2017; Riles 2018; see also Tucker 2018; van ’t Klooster 2020; James & Hockett 2020, Downey 2021). [ 2 ]

We have already discussed the general issue of the ontological status of money ( section 1.1 above). But there are also significant questions in political philosophy regarding the question of where, and by what sorts of institutions, should the money supply be controlled. One complicating factor here is the extensive disagreement about the institutional basis of money creation, as described above. One strand of the credit theory of money emphasizes that in today’s world, money creation is a process in which commercial banks play a significant role. These banks in effect create new money when they make new loans to individual or business customers (see McLeay, Radia, & Thomas 2014; see also Palley 1996; Ryan-Collins et al. 2012; Werner 2014a,b). James Tobin refers to commercial bank-created money, in an evocative if now dated image as “fountain pen money”, that is, money created with the swish of the bank manager’s fountain pen (Tobin 1963).

However, the relationship between private commercial banks and the central bank is a complicated one, such that we might best think of money creation as a matter involving a kind of hybrid public-private partnership. Hockett and Omarova refer to this relationship as constituting a “finance franchise”, with private banks being granted on a “franchise” basis the money-creating powers of the sovereign monetary authority, while van ’t Klooster describes this relation between the public and private as constituting a “hybrid monetary constitution” (Hockett & Omarova 2017; van ’t Klooster 2017; see also Bell 2001). In this hybrid public-private monetary system, it is true that private commercial banks create money, but they nevertheless do so in a way that involves being regulated and subject to the authority of the central bank within each monetary jurisdiction, with that central bank also acting as “lender of last resort” (Bagehot 1873) when inter-bank lending dries up. [ 3 ]

When the curious public-private nature of money creation is brought into focus, it is not surprising that there should exist views advocating a shift away from this hybrid monetary constitution, either in the direction of a fully public option, or a fully private system of money creation.

Advocates of fully public banking envisage a system in which private banks are stripped of their authority to create new money, and where instead the money supply is directly controlled either by the government or by some other state agency; for example by the central bank lending directly to firms and households. Such a position can be defended on a number of normative grounds: that a public option would allow for greater financial stability, that a fully public system of money creation would allow a smoother transmission of democratic decisions regarding economic governance; or simply because of the consequences of such a system with regards to socioeconomic inequality and environmental sustainability (see Jackson & Dyson 2012; Wolf 2014a,b; Lainà 2015; Dyson, Hodgson, & van Lerven 2016a,b; Ingham, Coutts, & Konzelmann 2016; Dow 2016; Wodruff 2019; van’t Klooster 2019, Mellor 2019, Dietsch 2021; for commentary and criticism see Goodhart & Jensen 2015; Fontana & Sawyer 2016, Larue et al. 2020).

In stark contrast, a number of libertarian authors have defended the view that the central bank should have no role in money creation, with the money supply being entirely a matter for private suppliers (and with the consumers of money able to choose between different rival suppliers), under a system of “free banking” (e.g., Simons 1936; Friedman 1962; von Hayek 1978; Selgin 1988). Advocacy of private money creation has received a more recent stimulus with the rise of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies, with some of Bitcoin’s advocates drawing on similar libertarian arguments to those offered by Hayek and Selgin (see Golumbia 2016, Robison 2022). One can also mention the “alternative currencies” movement here which defends private money creation on entirely different grounds, most often by appeal to the value of community (see Larue 2022, Larue et al. 2022).

Finally, a number of issues relate questions about finance to questions about global justice. The debate about global justice (see also global justice ) has weighed the pros and cons of “statist” and “cosmopolitan” approaches, that is, approaches to justice that would focus on the nation state (maybe with some additional duties of beneficence to the globally poor) or on the global scale. The financial system is one of the most globalized systems of social interaction that currently exist, and global entanglements are hard to deny (e.g., Valentini 2011: 195–8). The question thus is whether this creates duties of justice on the financial system, and if so, whether it fulfills these duties, i.e., whether it contributes to making the world more globally just, or whether it tends in the opposite direction (or whether it is neutral).

There are a number of institutions, especially the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), that constitute a rudimentary global order of finance. Arguably, many countries, especially poorer ones, cannot reasonably opt out of the rules established by these institutions (e.g., Hassoun 2012, Krishnamurthy 2014). It might therefore appear to be required by justice that these institutions be governed in a way that represents the interests of all countries. But because of historical path-dependencies, and because a large part of their budget comes from Western countries, the governance structures are strongly biased in their favor (for example, the US can veto all important decisions in the IMF). Miller (2010: 134–41) has described this situation as “indirect financial rule” by the US (see also Herzog 2021).

An issue worth noting in this context is the fact that the US dollar, and to a lesser degree the Euro, function as de facto global currencies, with a large part of global trade being conducted in these currencies (e.g., Mehrling 2011, Eichengreen 2011). This allows the issuing countries to run a current account deficit, which amounts to a redistribution from poorer to richer countries for which compensation might be owed (Reddy 2005: 224–5). This fact also raises questions about the distribution of power in the global sphere, which has often been criticized as favoring Western countries (e.g., Gulati 1980, United Nations 2009). However, global financial markets serve not only to finance trade in goods and services; there are also questions about fluctuations in these markets that result exclusively from speculations (see also sect.1.4.3 above). Such fluctuations can disproportionately harm poorer countries, which are more vulnerable to movements of capital or rapid changes in commodity prices. Hence, an old proposal that has recently been revived and defended from a perspective of global justice is that of a “Tobin tax” (Tobin 1978), which would tax financial transactions and thereby reduce volatility in international financial markets (Reddy 2005, Wollner 2014).

A second feature of the current global order that has been criticized from a perspective of justice is the “borrowing privilege”. As Pogge describes (e.g., 2008: chap. 4), the governments of countries can borrow on international financial markets, no matter whether they have democratic legitimacy or not. This means that rogue governments can finance themselves by incurring debts that future generations of citizens will have to repay.

Sovereign debt raises a number of questions that are related to global justice. Usually, the contracts on which they are based are considered as absolutely binding (e.g., Suttle 2016), which can threaten national sovereignty (Dietsch 2011), and raises questions of the moral and political responsibilities both of citizens of debtor nations, and of creditor countries themselves (Wiedenbrüg, 2018a, 2018b). These problems obtain in particular with regard to what has been called “odious” debt (Sack 1927, Howse 2007, Dimitriu 2015, King 2016): cases in which government officials sign debt contracts in order to enrich themselves, with lenders being aware of this fact. Such cases have been at the center of calls for a jubilee for indebted nations. At the moment, there are no binding international rules for how to deal with sovereign bankruptcy, and countries in financial distress have no systematic possibility of making their claims heard, which is problematic from a perspective of justice (e.g., Palley 2003; Reddy 2005: 26–33; Herman 2007; C. Barry & Tomitova 2007; Wollner 2018). The IMF, which often supports countries in restructuring sovereign debt, has often made this support conditional upon certain requirements about rearranging the economic structures of a country (for a discussion of the permissibility of such practices see C. Barry 2011).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the issue of financial regulation has a global dimension in the sense that capital is mobile across national boundaries, creating the threats to democracy described above. This fact makes it difficult for individual countries, especially smaller ones, to install the more rigid financial regulations that would be required from a perspective of justice. Just as with many other questions of global justice (see, e.g., Dietsch 2015 on taxation), we seem to see a failure of coordination between countries, which leads to a “race to the bottom”. Making global financial institutions more just is therefore likely to require significant levels of international cooperation.

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Why is Money Management Important: Benefit and Tips

Posted on July 15, 2021 in Money

It can be difficult to learn to manage money. However, if you ever want to transition from simply “having money” to “wealthy,” you need to understand the importance of money management and begin implementing it in regards to your finances.

Table of contents

Create goals to better manage money, get control of your money, develop an investment strategy, portfolio risk management, money management & tax efficiency, risk management, why is money management an important skill for all of us, why is money management important for students today, why is managing money important in your personal life.

Those who make a decent amount of money but aren’t practicing money management tend to simply spend money without any rhyme, reason, or purpose. Money comes in and it goes out, while the person remains stagnant and doesn’t ever move forward.

On the other hand, those who have wealth, tend to have peace of mind. They aren’t looking to money or things for fulfillment, yet they know that they have all that they need and will continue to throughout their life.

To embrace money management is to learn financial practices that help you accumulate wealth and security, while understanding the key to preserving that wealth. Implementing the management of your money takes your unique needs, goals, and risks into consideration while focusing on your financial decision making and your previous habits that could stand in the way of your success. It also includes a humble awareness of certain factors outside of your control, such as inflation, taxes, debt, and market volatility.

Learning the basic tenets of money management will help you to understand why it’s important and how to start implementing the practice for yourself.

The Basics of Money Management

Not understanding the foundation of money creates a multitude of issues. For example, if you aren’t aware of the way credit and interest works, you might charge something small on a credit card that ends up costing you 20 percent or more in interest over the course of a year. In fact, you could end up paying for that one thing over and over again, essentially throwing your money away, and making it difficult to achieve a higher credit score .

Without a firm, educated grasp of financial matters, you’ll likely end up like the majority of Americans; locked into years of debt, paying high fees, and unsure where all of your money is going.

When you understand money management and utilize principles to secure your financial wealth, you can eliminate debt-inducing mistakes that leave you bound to creditors and even to material goods. Along those lines, a good skill to learn regarding money management is how to fix your credit yourself , which will help you gain financial independence as you build your credit score.

Additionally, here are some of the most important money management tips that you will want to follow as you embrace financial literacy:

The bottom line in everything is that you need to know where you’re headed. Without a clear destination, you’re more than likely going to keep going around in circles. Your GPS isn’t programmed, your map’s not out, you’re not driving in one set direction. Instead, you’re just driving. That’s exactly what it’s like to be dealing with money without goals. You’re wracking in an income every month and you’re just throwing that money around with reckless abandon because you have no set purpose.

However, if you establish your financial goals, you’re going to have something programmed into your GPS. You’ll know exactly where you’re headed and what you want to do with that money. You’ll be prepared to intentionally use or save every dollar that comes your way.

By setting your big goals, you’ll also be able to set some smaller goals that act as steps along the way. These small goals are basically milestones that help you to progress further down the path to your financial destination.

If you go back to the illustration of the GPS, these small goals are the little pit stops along the way. While the rest area, the gas station, and the park may not be the place you want to stay, they are helpful for rejuvenating you and giving you a boost of energy to set back out again.

Your goals are also useful for showing you things to avoid. If something is way out of the way or you’ll even have to backtrack to go there, it’s not a step you’re going to want to take. Your goals will give you clarity and vision, helping you make the best decisions for reaching them.

Money management and wealth is all about accumulation. Many people don’t understand this. They view wealth as making a lot of money and don’t realize that if they’re spending that money, no matter how much it is, and not accumulating it, they’re never going to be wealthy.

This is why you need a way to determine where your money is going. The best way to do this is to track your money to see where you’re spending it. A free budgeting app can be a great tool to help with this. When you are able to see where your money is going, you will then be able to develop a strategic spending plan for using, saving and investing your money more effectively.

Businesses understand the importance of money management in business and focus on increasing their monthly profits. However, increasing profit isn’t the end goal. Using the increased profit wisely to further financial growth is essential. Thus, creating a money management plan that includes investment of the additional profit will increase the wealth of the business exponentially. For example, taking advantage of a retirement calculator , and understanding how much you should be putting into a 401K is a great step to take to get better control of your money.

Whether you are managing money for yourself or a business, the stronger your money management plan, and the more control you have over the flow of your cash, the closer you are to reaching your goals.

Having a long-term investment strategy is often the key to strong and effective money management and wealth accumulation. When you create a long-term strategy, you’re more likely to keep your eyes on the prize and not be swayed by the many things that come your way. There are numerous fads and wealth-building ideas out there that don’t really have a foundation or a proven reputation. However, they sound great, causing many financially undisciplined people to jump on the bandwagon, wasting time and a whole lot of money.

Utilizing a money management app like SmartCredit , or leveraging an investment strategy helps people stay focused, moving towards their small milestones instead of veering off in every which way. They are better able to ignore the stepping stones that others are putting in their path in order to keep on heading in the right direction towards their own goals.

Poor management of risk is one of the main causes of investment underperformance. You need to be proactive when it comes to risk management, understanding the risk-return relationship and acting on it. In fact, being deliberate with risk actually serves to drive return performance and achieve both short term and long term results.

When you have a seamless money management plan, you will understand the market risks and the likelihood of negative returns. You will be cognizant of the fact that holding your portfolio longer means more negative returns, yet also means a greater probability of a positive annual return.

Understanding your taxes is a huge part of money management. While everyone knows that they pay taxes, they’re not really aware of how much they pay. They certainly don’t know about unnecessary taxes and how they can actually hinder the accumulation of wealth.

When you are managing your money, you aren’t thinking of your income as everything you make. Instead, you know that your income is really whatever you make after taxes, enabling you to better allocate your finances.

In regards to investments, you will want to consider your account location, essentially allocating your money based on their tax status. You will then do the same for your various investments, allocating them in the same manner. This will give you a better understanding of your overall wealth, your options for wealth distribution, and will help you accumulate wealth faster.

When you begin to accumulate wealth, you’re opening yourself up to a variety of areas of risk. In fact, one vulnerability can actually destroy your wealth and everything you have worked for. The greater wealth you have, the greater risks you’ll have. When your purchases are larger and more expensive, you experience the potential for risk along with each purchase.

You are putting yourself out there with everything you buy, every trip you take, everything new you try. Every time you use your wealth, you are exposing your finances and dancing around risk. Unfortunately, each and every risk has the ability to bring it all down.

Awareness of the great risks involved with having wealth can help you create a money management plan that seeks to avoid them. A risk management assessment can help you uncover your potential risks in order to mitigate them.

As you create your plan, consider circumstances such as:

• An accident or illness that causes long-term income loss.
• An unexpected, early death of the income provider.
• Property damage or medical expenses due to a catastrophic event.
• Liability claims which expose assets.
• Financial exposure from domestic staff.
• Identity theft or fraud.
• Loss of business.

With awareness of the potential of these and other circumstances, you will be better able to create a money management plan that is prepared for these issues. Preparation can help you avoid great, and even total, loss.

FAQ’s About Why Managing Money is Important

Money management can help people accumulate wealth instead of pointlessly spending all of their money. When you accumulate wealth, you will be able to increase your capital, create security for your family, make positive investments, better your standard of living, and develop a cushion in the form of assets and savings. Overall, money management increases your lifestyle, providing security and greater opportunity for you and your family.

Learning the importance of managing money wisely is necessary for students. Most students are merely taught to go to school in order to get a good job so that they can pay for their lifestyle. They don’t learn about debt , savings, or how to use money wisely. In fact, they typically rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt while they’re in school. When they complete it, they have to start paying their debt right away, with interest rates usually impacting their ability to pay down the principal balance quickly. By understanding the importance of money management, students have the capability to get ahead financially before they make poor decisions. Instead of going through the trouble of taking out numerous student loans and going into debt from the very beginning, they are able to make wise decisions and prepare themselves to be wealthy as they move forward.

Knowing how to manage money gives you the opportunity to find financial freedom. When you have personal financial skills, you will be able to manage your money well, providing you with the lifestyle you want. With positive personal finances, you will be able to meet the needs of you and your family, manage your cash flow, save the money you need for the future, and provide your family with security. Managing money helps you live the life you want to live without financial stress .

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260 Money Topics to Write About & Essay Examples

Looking for a topic about money? Money won’t leave anyone indifferent! There are lots of money essay topics for students to explore.

🏆 Best Money Essay Examples & Ideas

👍 good money essay topics, 💡 easy money topics to write about, 📃 interesting topics about money, 📑 good research topics about money, 📌 most interesting money topics to write about, ❓ research questions about money.

You might want to focus on the issue of money management or elaborate on why money is so important nowadays. Other exciting topics for a money essay are the relation between money and love, the role of money in education, etc. Below you’ll find a list of money topics to write about! These ideas can also be used for discussions and presentations. Money essay examples are a nice bonus to inspire you even more!

• Can Money Buy You Happiness? First of all, given that happiness is related to the satisfaction of personal needs, there is also a need to consider the essential need of human life such as housing, medicine, and food.
• I Don’t Believe Money Can Buy Happiness This shows that as much as money is essential in acquisition and satisfaction of our needs, it does not guarantee our happiness by its own and other aspects of life have to be incorporated to […]
• Connection Between Money and Happiness Critical analysis of money-happiness relationship shows that socioeconomic factors determine the happiness of an individual; therefore, it is quite unsatisfactory to attribute money as the only factor and determinant of happiness.
• Money as a Form of Motivation in the Work Place This then shows that money can and is used as a motivational factor in the work place so that employees can strive to give their best and their all at the end of the day.
• Money: Good or Evil? Comparing & Contrasting While there are those amongst us who subscribe to the school of though that “money is the source of all evil”, others are of the opinion that money can buy you anything, literary.
• Money, Happiness and Relationship Between Them The research conducted in the different countries during which people were asked how satisfied they were with their lives clearly indicated the existence of a non-linear relationship between the amount of money and the size […]
• Should America Keep Paper Money It is possible to begin the discussion of the need for keeping paper currency from referring to the rights of any people.
• Does Money Buy Happiness? Billions of people in all parts of the world sacrifice their ambitions and subconscious tensions on the altar of profitability and higher incomes. Yet, the opportunity costs of pursuing more money can be extremely high.
• Strategies to Save and Protect Money Thus, the main points of expenditure will be clearly marked, which will help to exclude the purchase of unnecessary goods and services.
• Money and Modern Life The rich and the powerful are at the top while the poor and helpless are at the bottom, the rest lie in-between.
• The Global Media Is All About Money and Profit Making It is noteworthy that the advertisement are presented through the media, which confirms the assertion that global media is all about money and profit making. The media firms control the information passed to the public […]
• Discussion: Can Money Buy Happiness? Reason Two: Second, people are psychologically predisposed to wanting more than they have, so the richer people are, the less feasible it is to satisfy their demands.
• Change in the Value of Money According to Keynes To explain the effect of inflation on investors, Keynes delves into the history of inflation through the nineteenth century and tries to explain the complacency of investors at the beginning of the First World War […]
• Money and Happiness in Poor and Wealthy Societies Comprehending the motivations for pursuing money and happiness is the key to understanding this correlation. The Easterlin paradox summed this view by showing that income had a direct correlation with happiness.
• Anti-Money Laundering and Hawala System in Dubai To prevent money launders and agents, most countries enacted the anti-money laundering acts with the goal of tracking and prosecuting offenders.
• Opinion on the Importance of Money In the absence of money, individuals and organizations would be forced to conduct transactions through barter trade which is a relatively challenging system due to existence of double coincidence of wants.
• Success and Money Correlation The development of the information technologies and the ongoing progress led to the reconsideration of the values and beliefs. It is significant to understand that there is no right or wrong answer for the question […]
• Money, Success, and Relation Between Them In particular, the modern generation attaches so much importance to money in the sense that success and money are presumed to be one and the same thing.
• Prices Rise When the Government Prints too Much Money Makinen notes that an increase in the supply of money in an economy relative to the output in the economy could lead to inflationary pressure on prices of goods and services in the economy.
• Money or Family Values First? Which Way to Go As such, family values becomes the epicenter of shaping individual behavior and actions towards the attainment of a certain good, while money assumes the position of facilitating the attainment of a certain good such as […]
• Time Value of Money: Importance of Calculating Due to fluctuations in economies, all organizations need to take into consideration concepts of the time value of money in any investment venture.
• Money and Its Value Throughout the World History What is important is the value that people place on whatever unit they refer to as amoney.’ Money acts as a medium of exchange and an element of measurement of the value of goods and […]
• Electronic Money: Challenges and Solutions First of all, it should be pointed out that money is any type of phenomenon which is conventionally accepted as a universal carrier of value, or “any generally accepted means of payment which is allowed […]
• Money Laundering Through Cryptocurrencies This study will try to critique the approaches used by countries to address the aspect of money laundering activities and the risks posed by digital currencies.
• Two Attitudes Towards Money The over-dependence on money to satisfy one’s emotional needs is a negative perspective of money. The positive attitude of money is rarely practiced by people.
• Giving Money to the Homeless: Is It Important? The question of whether a person should give money to a homeless person or not is a complicated one and cannot have the right answer.
• Anti Money Laundering and Financial Crime There are a number of requirements by the government on the AML procedures to be developed and adopted by the firms in the financial service in industry in an attempt to fight the illegal practice.
• Relation Between Money and Football In the English league, clubs have been spending millions to sign up a player in the hope that the player will turn the fortunes of the company for the good.
• Efforts to Raise Money for Charity However, the point is that charity is supposed to be for a simple act of giving and not expecting any returns from it.
• Paper Money and Its Role Throughout History The adoption of the paper money was considered to be beneficial for both the wealth of the country and the individual businessmen.
• Artworks Comparison: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Tribute Money Though the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a fresco created by Picasso, was created in an entirely different epoch than Masaccio’s Tribute Money was, the two artworks still share a range of stylistic, compositional and conceptual similarities, […]
• Money Laundering: Most Effective Combat Strategies The practice of money laundering affects the economy and security of a country. Countries have directed their efforts to curb money laundering to control the downwards projections of their countries’ economies.
• Money: Evolution, Functions, and Characteristics It acts as medium of exchange where it is accepted by both buyers and sellers; the buyer gives money to the seller in exchange of commodities.
• Are Workers Motivated Mainly by Money? Related to the concept of work and why people work is the original concept developed by Karl Marx in the so-called conflict theory.
• The Lebanese-Canadian Bank’s Money Laundering The bank was later banned from using the dollar by the American treasury; this resulted in the collapse and eventual sale of the bank.L.C.B.had to pay a settlement fine of one hundred and two million […]
• Where Does the Money Go? by Bittle & Johnson Therefore, the authors explain key issues of the national debt in a relatively simple language and provide their opinion on how the country got into that situation and what could be done about it. In […]
• Anti-Money Laundering in Al Ansari Exchange Case Study Details Company name: Al Ansari Exchange Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Sector: Financial Services Number of employees: 2500 Annual gross revenue: UAED 440.
• “From Empire to Chimerica” in “The Ascent of Money” In the chapter “From Empire to Chimerica,” Niall Ferguson traces back the history of the Western financial rise and suggests that nowadays it is being challenged by the developing Eastern world. The hegemonic position of […]
• Money Saving Methods for College Students A budget is one of the methods that a college student can use to save money. In the budget, one should indicate how much to save and the means of saving the money.
• The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World The succinctness of this book lies in the critical analysis and emphasis of the financial history of money in spite of the fact it has impeded some important functions of the global economy.
• The Relationship Between Money Supply and Inflation It is evidenced that changing the money supply through the central banks leads to a control of the inflationary situations in the same economy.
• Why People Should Donate Time, Money, Energy to a Particular Organization, Charity, or Cause Its vision is to have a world that is free from Alzheimer’s disease.”The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading, global voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care and support, and the largest private, nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s […]
• Money and Banking: General Information The essay gives the definition of money and gives a brief description of the functions of money. As a store of value, money can be saved reliably and then retrieved in the future.
• Time Value of Money Compounding was done on the amount that I had lent out using the market rate over the duration of time the person held my money.
• Money, Happiness and Satisfaction With Life Nonetheless, the previously mentioned examples should be used to remind us that money alone is not a guarantee of happiness, satisfaction with life, and good health.
• Two Attitudes Toward Money Two attitudes toward money involve negative perception of money as universal evil and positive perception of money as source of good life and prosperity.
• Dreams of Avarice in Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money” The chapter “Dreams of Avarice” of the book “The Ascent of Money” explores different stages of development of money functioning in the world by relating them to corresponding historical events.
• “College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Bird Bird’s use of logical fallacies, like if students do not want to go to college, they should not do it until the reasons of their unwillingness are identified, proves that it is wrong to believe […]
• Exploring the Relationship Between Education and Money A person cannot be able to change his/her ascribed status in the society, but only through education a person is able to change his/her Socio-economic status and to some extent that of his/her family once […]
• Drugs: The Love of Money Is the Root of All Evils The political issues concerning the use of drugs consist of, but not limited to, the substances that are defined as drugs, the means of supplying and controlling their use, and how the society relates with […]
• Time Value of Money in Investment Planning The author of the post makes a good point that an amount of money is worth more the sooner it is received.
• Money Laundering Scene in Police Drama “Ozark” In one of the first season’s episodes, Marty, the main character, illustrates the process of money laundering crime. In the scene, one can see that Marty is fully sane and is committing a crime voluntarily.
• Money From the Christian Perspective Work in Christian missions is a business and since it affects the relationship between the missionary and the people he is trying to reach, missionary funding is essential.
• Business Case Scenario: Missing Money in a Company A possible scenario explaining how money is missing is through the payroll department my first argument seeks to prove the payroll department as the loophole of the company’s misfortunes.
• Sports Stadiums’ Funding by Public Money The issue is controversial from an ethical point of view since not all citizens whose taxes can be spent on the construction of the stadium are interested in or fond of sports.
• Money Laundering: The Kazakhgate Case He was accused of breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1974 and money laundering by the U.S.attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
• The Ways Terrorists Raise and Move Money Moreover, the government has put into action the freezing orders and blocking of united states individuals who are presumed to have a hand in terrorist activities.
• “Money as a Weapon” System and Fiscal Triad Furthermore, the fiscal triad encompasses the procurement of products and services and the disbursement and accounting of public funding. Fiscal legislation and contracts are two key components of the “money as a weapon” system.
• The Fiscal Triad and Money as a Weapon System The reliance on the unit commanders sparked the development of the complementary strategy, “Money as a Weapon System,” which became a focal point of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.
• Saving Money Using Electric or Gas Vehicles The central hypothesis of the study is that the electric car will save more money than gas ones. The main expected outcome that the study is counting on is a confirmation of the presented hypothesis […]
• Traditional vs. Modern Forms of Money The most significant argument for the continuing existence of traditional forms of money is the impossibility of converting all financial resources into a digital form.
• Time Value of Money: What You Should Know The time value of money is a paramount financial concept, according to which a certain amount is now worth more than the same amount in the future.
• The Concept of the Time Value of Money The concept of the time value of money refers to the financial principle noting that a fixed amount of money currently is worth more than the same amount of money in the future.
• Play Money Paper: A Report Betas of the Companies in the Portfolio It is noteworthy that in the given portfolio, the beta indices of the companies involved vary considerably.
• Integration of Business Ethics in Preventing Money Laundering Schemes The shipping information within the document seems inaccurate with the intention to launder money from the buyer. The contribution of ocean carrier in the transaction process is doubtful to a given extent.
• Trade-Based Money Laundering The purpose of this paper is to research the subject of trade-based money laundering, its impact on global scene and export controls, identify types of trade finance techniques used to launder illegal money, and provide […]
• Impact of Natural Disasters on Money Markets and Investment Infusion of funds from the central bank during natural disasters results in higher process of exports as a direct result of an increase in the value of the local currency.
• The Perception of Money, Wealth, and Power: Early Renaissance vs. Nowadays In the Renaissance period, power was a questionable pursuit and could be viewed as less stable due to more frequent upheavals.
• Financial Institutions and Money Money is a store of value because it can be saved now and used to purchase se goods and services in the future.
• Researching of the Time Value of Money After receiving the loan, one of the monetary policies that would help PIIGS to stabilize is the deflation of their currency, in this case, the Euro.
• Anti-Money Laundering: Financial Action Task Force Meanwhile, given the limited access for physical assessment of state jurisdictions, it is likely that current provisions of FATF are yet to be revised in spite of pandemic travel and assessment restrictions.
• Anti-Money Laundering in the UK Jurisdiction The regime adopted in the UK is based on the provisions of “the Terrorism Act of 2000, the Proceeds of Crime Act of 2002, as well as the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Transfer of […]
• Trade-Based Money Laundering and Its Attractiveness The proliferation of the trade-based money laundering is directly related to the growing complexity of international trade systems, where new risks and vulnerabilities emerge and are seen as favorable among terrorist organizations seeking for the […]
• Money Laundering and Sanctions Regulatory Frameworks Under the provisions of OFAC, the company has violated the cybersecurity rules that might indirectly bring a significant threat to the national security or the stability of the United States economy by engaging in online […]
• Type Borrowing Money: Margin Lending In the defense of the storm financial planning firm, BOQ submitted to the authorities that in view of banking regulatory policies, storm had not contravened any of the policies and this is the reason why […]
• Lessons on Financial Planning Using Money Tree Software Financial planning remains a fundamental function among the investors in coming up with a method of using the finances presently and in the future.
• The Supply of Money in the Capitalist Economy In the capitalist economy that the world is currently based on, the supply of money plays a significant role in not only affecting salaries and prices but also the growth of the economy.
• Time Value of Money Defined and Calculations Simply put, the same value of money today is worth the same value in future. The time value of money can therefore be defined as the calculated value of the money taking into consideration various […]
• Money Tree Software: Financial Planning This return is important because: It represents the reward the business stakeholders and owner of the business get in staking their money on the business currently and in the future It rewards the business creditors […]
• Money Management: Investment on Exchange-Traded Funds The essay will discuss the possibility of investing in a number of selected ETFs in connection to an investment objective of an individual.
• What Is Money Laundering and Is It Possible to Fight It Certainly and more often money involved in laundering is obtained from illegal activities and the main objective of laundering is to ‘clean’ the dirty money and give it a legitimate appearance in terms of source.
• Time Value of Money: Choosing Bank for Deposit The value of the money is determined by the rate of return that the bank will offer. The future value of the two banks is $20,000 and $22,000 for bank A and bank B respectively.
• How Money Market Mutual Funds Contributed to the 2008 Financial Crisis While how the prices of shares fell below the set $1 per share was a complex process, it became one of the greatest systemic risks posed by the MMMF to the investors and the economy […]
• Time Value of Money From an Islamic Perspective Islamic scholars say that the time value of money and the interest rates imposed on money lent are the reasons why the poor keep on getting poor and the rich richer.
• Rational Decision Making: Money on Your Mind The mind is responsible for making financial decision and it is triggered by the messages we receive on the day to day activities. Lennick and Jordan explain that, we have two systems in the brain; […]
• A Usability Test Conducted on GE Money.com.au It is common knowledge that the easier it is to access services and products on a given website the more likely users will be encouraged to come back.
• “Most Important Thing Is Money Ltd”: Vaccination Development Thus, necessary powers have been vested with the Secretary of State for Health in England, through the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation to enforce such preventive steps, through necessary programs that […]
• Money Investments in the Companies and Bonds The stock volume is on the low level now, about 30, but it is connected with the crisis in the world and the additional investment may support the company and increase it. In general the […]
• Money Management in the Organization There is a much debate on the issue and several people an financial experts do analyze the historical perspectives of the Active vs Passive money management.
• How the Virus Transformed Money Spending in the US In the article featured in the New York Times, Leatherby and Geller state that the rate at which people spend their money has rapidly decreased due to the emergence of the virus in the United […]
• The Role of Money and Class Division in Society The image of modern American society tries in vain to convey the prevalence of personality over social division. Americans’ perception of financial status has been shaped for years by creating the notion of the “American […]
• Money and American Classes in 1870-1920 Wherein, the time of the stock market emergence was the time of the ongoing “carnival,” where the mystical power of money transferred to miraculous products and medicines and compelling advertisements.
• The Ascent of Money – Safe as Houses Looking from a broad historical perspective, Niall Ferguson devotes the chapter “Save as Houses” to the observation of the real estate concept transformation, describes the place of the real estate market in the economic systems […]
• The Ascent of Money – Blowing Bubbles The price for a share tells how much people rely on the cost of the company in the future. The life of a stock market represents the reflection of human moods on the price of […]
• Canada’s Role in the History of Money: The Relationship Between Ownership and Control Individuals with the predominant shares gain the directorship of the wealth production channels and as such gain control of the diversified owners.
• Why Non-Monetary Incentives Are More Significant Than Money It is important to recognize that both monetary and non-monetary incentives, otherwise known as total rewards, are offered to employees in diverse ways for purposes of attracting and motivating them to the ideals of the […]
• To Make Money or Serve the Society? However, when the issue of the corporation to serve the society arises, then it kind of compromises the main focus of the corporation, which is to make money. These have been the major causes of […]
• Money Role in Macro Economy The dollar is till now the most accepted currency in the world and this dollar fluctuation that has been caused by the worst recession in American history since the time of the Great Depression is […]
• Organizational Communication & the “Money” Aspect While the use of this information is critical for both ensuring survival of the organization and being a frontrunner in its strategies for the future, there are large boulders in use of this information effectively, […]
• Tax Money Usage on Military Spending Issue The fact that America won the Cold War and defeated the Soviets is taken as a vindication by the American leaders of the need to continue military spending.
• Money Makes You Happy: Philosophical Reasoning It is possible to give the right to the ones who think that money can buy happiness. This conclusion is not accepted by psychologists who think that wealth brings the happiness only in the moment […]
• “Who Says Money Cannot Buy Happiness” by Lee Investment is a production process for will it bring about goods and services that can be sold to the market and in the process, the owner of the business makes some profit.
• Technical Analysis as Active Money Management Method Technical analysis is the financial markets methodology that asserts the capability to foretell the probable course of security charges by the means of past market data study, principally price and volume.
• Spare Change: Giving Money to the “Undeserving Poor” To address the central theme of the article, one need to delve deeper into the psyche of giving alms and money to the poor people we meet on the street.
• The Use of Money in Business Practices Money is seen as the cause of problems and especially in the minds of emerging market respondents. Through this they can pick up groceries for the old in their neighborhood and make money from this.
• Money Laundering and Terrorist Finance However, the balance money after the sham gambling is transferred to another ordinary bank account, thereby creating a legal status for the laundered money as if it has come from gambling and will be employed […]
• City Planning. Too Much Money: Why Savings Are Bad The scenario is that the expected growth in economies where the rate of savings is high has not shown a corresponding increase in growth rate also.
• Debates in Endogenous Money: Basil Moore The value of the currency was determined by the value of the precious metal used to mint the currency. From the time Federal Reserve took control of money and credit, economic consistency is attained by […]
• Money and Banking. Financial Markets The essay will examine the essence and the importance of the above-mentioned financial phenomena and see how their interrelation, especially in the negative context, can influence the state of things in society.
• Money and Justice: High-Profile Cases It is estimated that thousands of persons bracketed in the ‘poor’ sector of society go to jail annually in the United States without having spoken to a lawyer.
• Accounting for Public Money After Railway Privatization There were very many problems prior to the railway privatization in 1990.one of the problems that led to the privatization of the railway line in the UK was the misappropriation of taxpayers’ money.
• Time Value of Money and Its Financial Applications The time value of money refers to the idea that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future, due to its potential earning capacity.
• Time Value of Money in Examples Therefore, re-purchase of the shares appeals to the managers of the company because it will allow the company uses the money to regenerate more money for the purpose of repurchase the shares in the future.
• Wall Street Managers: The Art of Making Money In the end, the goal of Wall Street managers is to ensure optimal returns in all of their investments. The evolution of Wall Street managers is etched in the history of financial markets.
• Money Laundering in the USA and Australia The International Money Fund has established that the aggregate size of money laundering in the World is approximately four percent of the world’s gross domestic product.
• Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Voltaire’s Candide’s Value on Money Both written at a time when philosophers had started questioning the relevance of capitalism and the concept of wealth creation, it is evident that the two authors were keen on explaining the power of money […]
• The Concept of Money Laundering The first issue I have learned is that the main problem lies in the presence of Big Data that includes trillions of transactions of various financial organizations and systems.
• Fraud, Money Laundering, and Terrorism Financing After the audacious attack by Al-Qaeda and the destruction of the Twin Towers on 11th of September 2001, terrorism was declared the number one enemy to the peace and stability of the modern world.
• Time Value of Money – Preparing for Home Ownership The purchase price of the house is determined by using the following formula in Excel. 66 The down payment is 20% of the future value of the house, i.e, $40,278.13.
• Martin Van Buren: Money and Indian Relocation One of the reasons for such collaboration and understanding is the focus on the values we have. I believe this path will bring us to the land we all would like to live in.
• The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money Money is a determinant of the propensity to consume; hence, the more money one makes, the more that he or she consumes and the converse is the case.
• The Practice of Saving Money Knowledge of the language is also a very crucial component of EAP as it aids the learner in understanding questions and responding to them in their examinations.another differentiating factor between the two varieties of English […]
• Money Market and Value-Based Pricing Consequently, the GDP can be defined by the equation: Y=C+I+G+NX where: Y= Total GDP, C=Consumption by household, I=Investment, G=Government expenditure, NX=Net Exports Net Domestic product entails the reduction of the GDP by the depreciation of […]
• How Money Markets Operate? Furthermore, only free markets have shown the resilience that is necessary to accompany the fluctuations in demand and supply of the money markets.
• Access Right to Money: Sculpture Theft Among the suspects, there are those in dire need of the money due to financial problems, while others need the values worth of the item and not the actual monetary price attached to the item.
• History of Money in Spain The production of coins melted from gold also ceased in the year 1904, with the production of that melted from silver ceasing in the year 1910.
• Money Flows and Financial Repression in the US and China From the article, the authors depict how the interest rates in developed countries like the United States compare with those of the emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil.
• Management: “Marketplace Money” and “Undercover Boss” In this case, the accents are made on the support of the healthy workforce in order to guarantee the better employees’ performance and on the idea of rewards as the important aspects to stimulate the […]
• Money Compensation for Student-Athletes Besides, sports are highly lucrative for colleges, and students whose labor brings the revenues should share the part of them not to lose the interest in such activities.
• Chapters 1-3 of “Money Mechanics” by David Ashby The retained amount of money in the commercial bank is the primary reserve. The banks can decide to reduce their working reserve, and the money obtained is transferred to the excess reserve fund in accounts […]
• Banking in David Ashby’s “Money Mechanics” Changes in prices may not have a direct effect on the gross domestic product and the planned expenditures because this is determined by the money that is in supply. This causes the GDP and prices […]
• Karl Marx on Commodities, Labor, and Money Division of labour is very important in the production of commodities. The use-value of each commodity contains useful labour.
• The UAE Against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing This valuation of the anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism government of the United Arab Emirates is founded on the forty endorsements and the nine special commendations on extremist supporting of the monetary […]
• UAE Anti-Money Laundering Laws and Their Benefits The legal maintenance of counteraction to the legalization of criminal incomes is carried out by means of a system of laws and regulations, controlling financial, bank, and customs relations and establishing the order of licensing […]
• Money, Their Features, Functions and Importance The first hindrance is the inability of the household to monitor the activities of firms. In this case, it is used to state the value of debt.
• Happiness Without Money in Sociology and Psychology The tendency’s mechanics are simple – being in the possession of any substantial sum of money increases a person’s chance to secure a dominant status within the society, which in turn will result in strengthening […]
• Money Market Development Factors The money market is one of the fundamental elements in the functioning of any state. Under these conditions, the gradual rise of technologies and their implementation in the sphere of financial operations alter the money […]
• “God’ Money is Now My Money” by Stanley Seat It could be said that different priorities and the lack of time for supervision of the employees are the critical reasons for the violation of rules and high frequency of fraud in the religious institutions […]
• International Money Laundering Thus, money laundering has a profound impact on the state of the global economy, as well as on the economy of the U.S.
• Cybercrime and Digital Money Laundering The result of the investigation was the indictment of Western Express and a number of the company’s clients for several charges including stolen credit card data trafficking and money laundering.
• Hawala Remittance System: Anti-Money Laundering Compliance The existence and operation of money remittance systems is one of the primary features of developing economic relation at all scales from local to the global ones.
• Time Value of Money in Economies of Scale Also, the investigation of the VoF becomes easier by means of scrutinizing the tradeoff between the TVM and the EoS. The TVM is also employed to reach the integration of infrastructure investment valuation and risk […]
• David Leonhardt: May Be Money Does Buy Happiness After All The case study of Japanese citizens that support Easterlin paradox do not factor in the confounding psychological effects of the Second World War on the entire population and the country.
• Illegal Drug Use, Prostitution and Money Laundering Upon discussing the impact of money laundering, illegal drugs, and prostitution, the paper proposes the issuing of a court order restraining the use of wealth acquired from victimless crimes as one of the approaches to […]
• Getting Beyond: Show Me the Money Nevertheless, underpayment and overpayment are common, leading to dissatisfaction. Notably, compensation is part culture, but analytics will gain traction in the big data era, as start-ups leverage such advantages from experts to manage a sales […]
• Space Programs: Progress or Waste of Money? According to Ehrenfreund, the ingenuity to develop technologies and work in space is part of the progress that comes from space programs. Space programs have led to the development of technologies that improve air transport.
• “The Money Machine: How the City Works” by Coggan The media plays a chief role in educating the public concerning the various financial matters that affect the undertakings of the City.
• Money Evolution in Ancient Times and Nowadays In the means to defining what money is, most of the scholars from the psychological and physiological field have come up with the theoretical aspects of money and the ways it influences the economic growth […]
• Fraud and Crime Theory in the “Black Money” Movie The movie shows the irregularities involved in the acquisition of arms for the Saudi government. The movie is a perfect display of the international crimes and financial fraud that has been on the rise in […]
• Mercantilism, Stamped Money, and Under-Consumption It is paramount to note that he criticizes ideas of Ricardo quite frequently, and he believed that he did not consider the ideas that were suggested by other prominent economists.
• Money Evolution in the 21st Century and Before The history of the world cannot be described effectively without identifying the function of money. Money has been used to measure the value of resources and financial markets.
• Financial Crisis in Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money” By Ferguson, the main purpose of the historian is to relieve humanity from the financial illusions on the examples of the past.
• Monetary Policy in “The Ascent of Money” by Ferguson
• The Airtel Money Service: Indian and African Paths
• Money History, Ethical and Social Standarts
• World Money History in the 20th Century and New Objects of Value
• Locke’s Work on Interest and Value of Money
• Money in the “Sheriff of Cape Breton” Case Study
• Medieval England in “Treatise on the New Money”
• Blowing Bubbles in Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money”
• Treatise on the New Money: Document Analysis
• Human Bondage in Ferguson’s “The Ascent of Money”
• Money History, Bonds, Market Bubbles, and Risks
• Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream
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Aspects of Money Management

Introduction, article review, budgeting worksheet, budgeting analysis, conclusions.

Managing money, personal, family, or invested in a business is significant work in every person’s life. In some cases, managing personal finances causes difficulties and subsequent stress, negatively affecting psychological and financial well-being. For this reason, money management skills are of critical importance. This paper includes a review of the article on beliefs about money, which affects life, and an analysis of the author’s finances.

The authors of the article consider the attitude of people to money and attempt to create Klontz ‐ Money Script Inventory (MSI) to evaluate money beliefs. Klontz et al. (2011) note that beliefs significantly determine the behavior of a person with money. At the same time, these beliefs are often unconscious, transmitted in families, develop in childhood, and can cause money disorders (Klontz et al., 2011). Personal well-being depends more not on the amount of money but on the attitude to them and the ability to use them; therefore, the acquisition of money management skills is critical.

The proposed MSI should help identify destructive attitudes that hinder the achievement of financial goals. The authors identified four main behavior patterns based on different beliefs: money avoidance, money worship, money status, and money vigilance (Klontz et al., 2011). There are destructive aspects leading to anxiety or stress in each of these scripts. For example, with avoidance, people believe that they do not merit their money or that money is destructive. With status, self-esteem depends on the amount of money, which causes excessive spending and subsequent problems. Timely detection of a tendency to a particular harmful pattern can help change the attitude to financial issues and improve well-being.

Based on the income and expenses presented, I can analyze my financial situation. My non-negotiables include rent costs and taxes deductible from my wages. My net earnings after paying taxes are $2.932.93, and after paying rent, I have $1.532.93 left at my disposal. Significant waste goes to “bad” debt – the credit card fee is $500, and I do not have “good” debt yet. Since it is crucial for me to pay “bad” debt, I cannot reduce its cost, and after paying credit cards, I have $1.032.93 left. My flexible expenses include categories of food and others, the latter covers clothing, entertainment, irregular coffee-to-go, and similar costs. I indicated my maximum possible costs in these areas, and their total amount is $800, but in some months may decrease. As a result of all incomes and expenses, about $230 should remain at my disposal every month.

Highlighting the main points in my expenses, I want to note that payment of rent, food, and credit card bills is a priority. Housing and food provide my basic needs, and paying for loans is necessary since they can cost more in the long run. Planning my budget, I can use the available $200 to create emergency reserves and savings to achieve my goals. I can also review the costs of “Others” – part of them to reduce or redistribute to something that will support my values. My budget plan should therefore extend the table to include planning.

Money management is a critical skill, which will help improve financial well-being and reduce the stress associated with money. Family habits significantly influence behavior with money, and some of them can be harmful. For this reason, people need to determine their attitude toward money and learn how to manage it. Establishing a budget through analysis and prioritization, creating reserves, and paying debts are essential steps.

Klontz, B., Britt, S. L., & Mentzer, J. (2011). Money beliefs and financial behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory. Journal of Financial Therapy , 2 (1), 1-22. Web.

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Money Management Essay Examples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Time Management , Management , Finance , Investment , Psychology , Money , Community , Planning

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Money Management

Definition Money management is the process of budgeting, saving, investing, spending or otherwise in overseeing the cash usage of an individual or group. The predominant use of the phrase in financial markets is that of an investment professional making investment decisions for large pools of funds, such as mutual funds or pension plans. It is also referred to as "investment management" and/or "portfolio management". While the term is usually used in reference to professional money managers, everyone practices some form of investment management with their personal finances. There are a wide range of money management services, from the operation of passively-managed mutual funds with low fees to in-depth estate planning and consulting. (Investopedia.com, 2012).

Importance of money management

It is as important as earning money itself, and would help you make the best use of money. Identify your money and track its pathways. Increase your savings and your money would be managed. Saved money doesn't only help you in bad situations. You can also use your savings when the right opportunity comes and then double, triple or multiply the money. So saving is managing for future. Money management lessons say that you should increase both your profits and savings for a better future. Money management doesn't end every month, and begin anew the next month. So to keep a better picture of your money, you can also take the help of Online Money Management Software that allow smooth entry of all your money transactions (thefreelibrary.com, 2012).

How personality traits are linked to money?

Successful saving and investing often comes down to having the right approach. But the right moves to make, on paper, often don’t translate into the actual steps we take. Emotions and personality traits can help or hinder investing and financial planning.

The following are five personality traits that can hurt your investments and financial planning.

1. The overwhelmed In the Allianz study, the “overwhelmed” personality made up the largest segment of its respondents (32%) and, demographically, tended to have the lowest income and education level. “This group tends to have high credit card debt and meager assets,” the study says. “As a group, they tend to be somewhat pessimistic feel unprepared for retirement” and are “unsure of when, or if, they will be able to retire.” Allianz also describes this population as, financially speaking, “in survival mode” (Forbes.com, 2012) 2. The distracted They tended to have the highest income level of those who took part in the survey, the second-largest level of investible assets and live in more expensive homes in metropolitan areas. Although many saw their net worth drop significantly as a result of the economic downturn and cut back on spending, most have not changed their financial plans or reevaluated their overall financial strategy. Allianz found that respondents displaying this personality trait expect to retire in their early 60s but would prefer to do so in their early 50s. Most are counting on getting full Social Security benefits and they rely on 401(k) plans more than any other group. They really don’t have an overarching strategy, because they are too distracted with day-to-day things to get around to getting their financial house in order. (Forbes.com, 2012) 3. Risk-takers The 2004 Merrill Lynch study delved into what it called “competitive investors,” those who “enjoy investing and try to beat the stock market.” Even when knowledgeable and experienced, their sporting approach to risk set them up for failure. They can have a hard time letting go of losing investments and often put too much of their portfolio into one stock or investment. (Forbes.com, 2012) “Not surprisingly, competitive investors also tend to chase hot stocks,” the study says, adding that they “are most likely to be overconfident and greedy.” “All that enthusiasm for investing can be a detriment if left unchecked,” it says. In a worst-case scenario, investing becomes akin to gambling, filled with risky day trades, penny stocks and other adrenaline-pumping pursuits of maximum profits (Forbes.com, 2012). 4. Wood-knockers “They choose optimism and sound something like this: ‘Today we don’t have any such plans, knock on wood,’” the study says. “They allow themselves to think about possible unexpected scenarios, but they are good at turning these around, creating hope-filled scenarios that don’t require planning: ‘I’d like to think things will stay peaceful, calm and sane for a few years that we will have no crisis health-wise, that the economy will get better so things will seem more secure for everyone.’” It refers to this as living in a “fantasy land” that can preclude necessary planning for an unknown future (Forbes.com, 2012). 5. The overconfident Hubris has brought many high-flying dreams crashing to the ground. When it comes to financial planning, overconfidence can be disastrous. “They are realistic about the possibility of an unexpected scenario, but they are prone to inflated ideas about their capacity to handle them,” it says. “When their resources are not enough, Plan B-ers expect to cope, to adapt, to ‘pull back,’ to be ‘OK.’ In these cases, ‘plans’ are not necessarily carefully calculated strategies; instead they are often vaguely characterized adaptive scenarios. ‘We’re flexible. We’ll go with the flow. We’re willing to downsize if we need to.’” These fall-back plans could ultimately be characterized as life-changing desperation scenarios: “I’d have to liquidate my house; I would have to go back into the workforce, if they’d have me.” These personalities are not written in stone, however. People can always change and learn from their mistakes (Forbes.com, 2012).

Money management is the basic act of managing an individual’s or institutions money to make it grow or save it for later use. Everyone manages money in one way or the other. Some simple knowledge of money management can go a long way is, making our future secure and help us rely on money when we need it. The importance of money management cannot be emphasized enough. Technology has made it easier for institutions and individuals to manager their money in an easier and more efficient way. Assessing one’s financial situation and choosing the best ways to manage money are the fundamental steps for efficient finance management. Money management is affected by many things such as the financial state of a person or an entity and willingness to invest among other influential factors. According to several studies undertaken by financial institutions such as Meryl Lynch and Allianz, the personality traits of individuals greatly influence their money management habits. The study has divided individuals in five categories based on its findings; the overwhelmed, the distracted, risk takers, wood knockers and the confidents. The study identifies the lower income group as the overwhelmed and the well to do group as the distracted. The prior group is identified to be less educated and pessimistic and the latter group is specified as the highest income group who do not plan their finances because they keep procrastinating. The risk takers manage their finances like gamble and invest in stocks very often. Wood knockers rely on luck and they are skeptical about financial investments. The over confidents believe strongly in their plans and are always sure that they can handle it if something goes wrong in their life financially (Forbes.com, 2012). In conclusion I would like to say that money management is definitely very important for us to help us prepare for our future and help us put our money to better use. Financial planning is the key to leading towards a secure future and we must plan carefully for it.

5 personality traits that lose you money. (2012, January 12). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2012/01/26/5-personality-traits-that-lose-you-money/

Definition of money management. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/moneymanagement.asp

Money management basics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.smartaboutmoney.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=kG--bHJsqtc=&tabid=442&mid=832 Anderson, N. (2011, October 27). 3 common financial blind spots. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2011/10/27/3-common-financial-blind-spots/

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• Band 9 IELTS Essays

IELTS essay sample | Money management should be taught at school

by Manjusha Nambiar · February 10, 2017

Essay topic

Some people say that all secondary and higher secondary school students should be taught how to manage money as it is an important life skill. DO you agree or disagree with this argument?

Band 9 sample essay

Everyone has to learn to manage their finances. Children are no different. Therefore I agree with the argument that money management skills should be taught in secondary and higher secondary schools. This practice will prepare young people for their future.

Since we need money to buy essential items and to lead a comfortable life, money management skills are crucial for our overall well-being and happiness. There are several benefits to teaching money management at school. A lot of children, especially those coming from rich families, receive generous amounts of pocket money. Many of them waste this money on unnecessary things because they don’t understand or appreciate the value of money. If money management is part of the curriculum, they will learn to use it judiciously. This learning will stand them in good stead throughout their life.

Also, after school, many children leave their home and move to far away cities to pursue higher education. Unless they know how to spend their money, they will soon run out of funds and put them and their families in trouble. If they learned money management at school this wouldn’t happen.

There is no right or wrong time to learn a skill; even so, the sooner we start the better. Today’s children are tomorrow’s adults. If they learn essential life skills today, it will benefit them and their country now and in the future. Last but not least, money management lessons may also improve the arithmetical skills of the children.

In summary, developing the foundation is crucial for any learning and having money management as a subject in schools will definitely prepare young people for their future.

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UPM Raflatac cuts scope 1 and 2 emissions by 36% in 2024

L abel materials supplier UPM Raflatac has reported a 36% decrease in scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emission intensities from its 2015 baseline, marking a substantial stride towards its 2030 reduction goal.  

In its 2023 Climate Review, released on 18 April 2024, the company bet on the reduction of industrial fossil emissions, claiming it to be the most important way to address climate change issues. 

During the year, the company focused on decreasing scope 3 emissions from raw materials and transportation relative to production by 30% by 2030, using its 2018 baseline.  

By the end of 2023, UPM Raflatac already met its target of 100% third-party certification for all its paper raw materials, including face papers and release liners, achieving this milestone six years ahead of schedule. 

With all purchased papers now certified, UPM Raflatac continues to bolster its sustainable forest management credentials.  

The company is also making headway towards ensuring 100% traceability of other biobased materials by 2030, in response to the growing demand for renewable solutions.  

Throughout 2023, UPM Raflatac launched several products and services aimed at fostering a circular economy and supporting climate action.  

The company introduced PureCycle wash-off paper label materials to facilitate the efficient recycling of high-density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate plastic packages.  

In addition, the company’s Label Life service received a new certificate of validity from DEKRA, enhancing the credibility of large-scale life cycle assessments.

The RafCycle recycling service has expanded, with Soprema announced as the main partner for label waste recycling in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region by year’s end.  

UPM Raflatac sustainability director Robert Taylor said: “Today, only 15% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on track to meet their target levels by 2030.  

“It was natural that UPM joined the UN Global Compact Forward Faster Initiative calling for business leaders all over the world to accelerate action, including towards an ambitious net-zero target."

Last month, UPM Raflatac announced that its RAFNXT+ product range reportedly has a carbon footprint that is, on average, 11% lower than standard label materials. 

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Home — Essay Samples — Economics — Money — The Importance of Proper Money Management Behavior for Students

The Importance of Proper Money Management Behavior for Students

• Categories: Money Personal Finance Student

About this sample

Words: 2551 |

13 min read

Published: Aug 14, 2023

Words: 2551 | Pages: 6 | 13 min read

Table of contents

Dependent variable: student money management behavior, independent variables: financial literacy, parents and friends role in student money management.

• Psychological Influence< the Role of Self-Concept and Emotions

Final Conclusions

Psychological influence.

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A trial is underway for the Panama Papers, a case that changed the country's financial rules

Eight years after 11 million leaked secret financial documents revealed how some of the world’s richest people hide their wealth, more than two dozen defendants are on trial in Panama for their alleged roles

PANAMA CITY -- Eight years after 11 million leaked secret financial documents revealed how some of the world’s richest people hide their wealth, more than two dozen defendants are on trial in Panama for their alleged roles.

The repercussions of the leaks were far-ranging, prompting the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland and bringing scrutiny to the then-leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.

But those on trial now for alleged money laundering are principally the leaders and associates of the now defunct Panamanian boutique law firm that helped set up the shell companies used to obscure those really behind them.

The leaders of that firm, Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, are among those on trial.

Panamanian prosecutors allege that Mossack, Fonseca and their associates created a web of offshore companies that used complex transactions to hide money linked to illicit activities in the “car wash” corruption scandal of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

In December 2016, Odebrecht pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to a charge related to its use of shell companies to disguise hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes paid in countries around the world to win public contracts.

According to Panamanian prosecutors, the Mossack Fonseca firm created 44 shell companies, 31 of which opened accounts in Panama to hide money linked to the Brazilian scandal. The judge on the case, Baloisa Marquínez, last year decided to also merge the Odebrecht-related charges to prosecutors’ allegations about the firm’s work for German giant Siemens. Prosecutors allege a former executive with the company used entities created by Mossack Fonseca to transfer funds for bribes.

A Siemens spokesperson declined to comment, noting that it is not a party to the Panama case and that it involves former Siemens employees in their private capacity.

The 71-year-old Fonseca has not been present for the trial, because his lawyer said he is hospitalized. But he had previously said his firm did not control how their clients used the shell companies the firm created for them. Its role was simply the creation and sale of the companies.

Mossack, a 76-year-old lawyer originally from Germany, said in a statement to The Associated Press that “we categorically reject that we have committed any crime, not Mossack Fonseca nor the subsidiaries … and we hope that can be proved in the trial. If there is in fact justice in our case, they have to absolve us.”

Both men were arrested in 2017, but had awaited trial out on bond.

Mossack Fonseca helped create and sell around 240,000 shell companies across four decades in business. It announced its closure in March 2018, two years after the scandal erupted.

“The reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial siege and the irregular actions of some Panamanian authorities have caused irreparable damage, whose consequence is the complete cease of operations to the public,” the firm said in a statement at the time.

Panama’s international reputation for financial services was tarnished by the scandal.

The European Union included Panama on a list of tax haven countries — low taxes or fiscal opacity — which led international financial institutions to demand the implementation of measures that would allow scrutiny of the banking and financial systems.

Consequently, the country’s business creating shell companies plummeted some 40% within a year of the scandal.

Panama’s government implemented changes to make it possible to identify the ultimate beneficiary behind limited liability companies and their assets.

Changes also sought to give greater responsibility to the registered agents — typically lawyers from Panamanian firms — listed for the shell companies.

The objective was to make it possible for Panamanian authorities to respond to requests to assist in investigations.

Julio Aguirre, an expert and financial specialist in Panama, said the government wants the registered agents to actually keep an eye on the companies. Before, “the law didn’t ask them to follow up, there wasn’t that legal obligation,” he said.

Banks had also previously been restricted in their ability to know who was really behind accounts. “They gave the bank the vehicle to obtain that information,” Aguirre said.

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