Meet The Disruptors: Stanley J Kon of Ripsaw On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

Financial Literacy: It should be obvious that financial literacy is a life skill. It is more than just knowing what financial products are available. It is how to make the best financial decisions.

Stanley J. Kon is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Fixed Income (2001-Present) and Chairman of Ripsaw LLC.

Professor Kon has had a 25-year academic career at the University of Michigan, New York University, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Duke University and a 15-year career in institutional investment management as Principal, EVP, Director of Research and Co-Director of the Investment Management Group at Smith Breeden Associates, Inc.

He has published articles in the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, Journal of Business, Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of Fixed Income, and Financial Analysts Journal.

Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

In the last year of my undergraduate chemical engineering degree, I was exposed to courses in economics and felt that my analytic and problem-solving skills could be readily applied to financial economics. My passion for research and teaching escalated during my doctoral studies.

After a long and fulfilling academic career, I wanted the challenge of practicing what I preached to a sophisticated institutional investor audience and found that career very productive and pleasurable as well.

As I entered retirement, my 30-something married children with dual incomes and children of their own asked me for investment advice. That began an evaluation of the current state of personal wealth management which has evolved into my book, Do-It-Yourself Wealth Management, and with my sophisticated technology partners, the web application Ripsaw Wealth Tools.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?