Presentation Summary- Cheers for the Grasshopper

Our business training leads us to maximize the value of the companies we lead by planning carefully, producing efficiently, and marketing effectively. But what if all this doesn't work? What if costs rise and sales plummet beyond our control? What then?

Our training in personal finance includes budgeting, saving, maintaining adequate liquid balances, investing prudently, controlling debt, and managing risk. But what if this doesn't work? What our income falls. cash is sucked up and debt levels become burdensome, all outside of our control? What then?

We are trained in the skills of the ant, but sometimes they need to be supplemented by the skills of the grasshopper. How may we gain those skills?

Virtually nothing in our business resources helps. All this discussion assumes that the person with the most stuff wins. And this is not always true. Happily, this problem has been addressed in western literature for centuries. When we turn to these new resources, what sort of things might we learn?

Biography

Jim earned a BS and an MS in Economics from Brigham Young University and an MS and PhD in Finance from Purdue University. He has taught at Purdue University, the University of Utah, and Brigham Young University, and has published books and articles on various financial topics.

In 1982, he founded Sterling Wentworth Corporation and served as its Executive Vice President in charge of research and development. Sterling Wentworth distinguished itself by its successful application of rule-based sales technologies in the financial services industry. SunGard Data Systems, a NYSE COMPANY, purchased this company in 1999.

That same year, Jim established Cherokee & Walker, an investment company with real estate, lending and venture portfolios. TopNoggin, a technology company providing web-based actuarial services for defined benefit pensions, that Jim helped start in 2000, was sold in 2007 to Hartford Insurance. Since then, he has been involved as an investor in several additional technology startups.

Jim is currently writing a book entitled, Cheers for the Grasshopper, an examination of the intersection of sociality and personal finance.

Jim has been married to Connie for 46 years. They have seven children and twenty-six grandchildren.