How Rich Is Your Knowledge Capital?

News & Current Events Public News & Current Events
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It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
~ Mark Twain

The Crash Course does a good job of explaining why we're heading into an uncertain future. One that will be defined by disruption and volatility.

How that change will unfold exactly is impossible to forecast. As Yogi Berra rightly quipped: It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future!

So, what to do? Well, we make the best decisions we can today and plan accordingly -- while building resilience so that we have flexibility to withstand the surprises that will inevitably come.

It's important to come to grips with the reality that no matter what precautions we take, no plan is fool-proof. We might place the wrong bets. Or the right ones, but at the wrong time. Or we might become victims of simple bad luck.

Who knows? Maybe cheap cold fusion is discovered next year and the net-energy concerns raised by peak oil disappear overnight. Maybe precious metals halve in price again before their protective role against currency devaluation becomes relevant again. Or maybe that farm you spent your retirement savings on is suddenly found to rest atop a chemical dumping site. Stuff can happen.

The best way to defend yourself against the risk of 'losing it all' is to have an important part of your wealth stored between your ears, where it can't be taken from you.

If bad fortune should intervene and you lose your financial wealth, or you need to move away from your current community and start all over again, you'll be able to build a future if you have valuable skills, knowledge and expertise to rely on.

This will be especially true if the future unfolds the way we expect, where declining energy yields and economic stagnation sentence us to doing less. In such a world, a much higher premium will be placed on those individuals who know how to create value. Who know how to get things done. 

In our new book Prosper!: How to Prepare for the Future and Create a World Worth Inheriting, we call this kind of wealth Knowledge Capital, and it's one of the most important of the 8 Forms of Capital that make up true resilience in life.

For those who have not yet read Prosper!, we're making our chapter on Knowledge Capital available here for free. Read it, and feel free to share it, too, as a means of engaging someone you care about in the discussion:

 

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/301742177/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true


 

Prosper! is available in print, e-book and audio book form today. 

And as the chapter above mentions, one great way to enhance your Knowledge Capital is to join us for the Peak Prosperity annual seminar in Rowe, MA next month from April 14-17. We hope to see you there!

cheers,

Adam & Chris

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://peakprosperity.com/how-rich-is-your-knowledge-capital/

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I'm reading it now and the quality and accessibility of the information is second to none.  You guys did a great job making this book functional without wasting too much time on finger-pointing about how we got to where we are today.  I've been inactive in the PP community for a while now because I've been busy starting a side business and getting ready to start a family next month when our first baby is due.  I wouldn't be taking either of those steps if it wasn't for the value I gained by being a member here.  I learned that resilience and liberty are about personal responsibility.  I learned that if you want to be insulated from bad financial situations and you're still in your earning years you'd better have a secondary or even tertiary source of income that you control to protect you from the whims of the job markets.  I also learned that it can get bad, but there are always bright spots and things to be optimistic about.  Life goes on.  My wife and I are getting ready to welcome a new generation to the world.  Thank you to everyone here doing work to make sure that the world actually is a place worth inheriting. 
I have kind of a silly request to end with, but it would mean a lot to me if anyone here feels compelled to do it.  I would love if people would commit to plant one productive tree or plant each time someone they know announces they're having a baby.  Wouldn't that be a cool tradition to start?

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Your positive outlook is warming, a nice change with all the harsh news these days.
TTMOE wrote:

I have kind of a silly request to end with, but it would mean a lot to me if anyone here feels compelled to do it.  I would love if people would commit to plant one productive tree or plant each time someone they know announces they're having a baby.  Wouldn't that be a cool tradition to start?
So does that mean that if I've already planted 16 trees for a mini-orchard, I have to bug friends to make up the difference?:)  Just pulling your leg; it is a sweet idea.  Congrats on your soon-to-come baby!!
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Thanks pinecarr!  Now get out there and plant another tree. ;-)  I want this country so damn resilient we wouldn't even notice if the wheels fell off.

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that really is the goal, isn't it? 
BTW, I do have a couple of mulberry trees on order…:slight_smile:

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Congratulations, Tallest!!  You'll be a great dad, I'm sure.
I have honeyberry bushes on order, and will plant them in honor of your new wee one.

cheers,

bhardey

 

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I plant one after every funeral I attend. Keep up the good work TTMOE.

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You'll have a tree in Connecticut with your name on it, amongst the many we hope to plant this year again.  Thanks for all your great contributions.