Story

Follow The 6 founder, Alexander (Alex) Smith, has a PhD in Economics with a specialization in Behavioral Economics, the sub-discipline that uses Psychology to explain and predict the decisions that people make with money. Traditional Economics assumes that people are perfectly rational, meaning that they correctly interpret all the information available to them and make the best choices.

We all know that’s not how it works, right? Sometimes people take risks that are impossible to justify. Sometimes they’re unreasonably impatient. Sometimes they make bad decisions because they’re influenced by a loved one, or in a hurry, or too tired or hungry to make the best choice. Behavioral Economics recognizes this and uses the insight to provide a deeper and more accurate understanding of how people make money decisions, including how they manage their personal finances.

Early in Alex’s career as a professor at WPI, a mainly engineering university in Worcester, MA, alumni told him that though they were establishing successful (and lucrative) careers, they didn’t know how to manage their money. It scared them. They’d invested a lot creating their earning power, and now they were afraid of making mistakes and missing opportunities to create long-term financial security and success for themselves and their families.

At the time, Alex didn’t know how to help. But over the past 15 years, he’s taught a variety of Economics courses and gained extensive life experience. Now he has something to offer. Alex has created a 6-rule system for building wealth that he’s excited to share. He’s writing a book “How to Follow the 6 Rules of Building Wealth” and speaks regularly on the topic. He’s also teaching a course that incorporates Behavioral Economics into Personal Finance.

His goal is using a unique combination of academic expertise and life experience to contribute to the education and success of the younger generation, and anyone else who values lifelong learning and/or wants to improve their understanding of personal finance so they can do better with money.