Money is often seen as a source of stress, but what if it didn’t have to be? Mick Heyman, author of Mellow Your Money, believes that investing should be less about fear and more about understanding—both of the markets and of ourselves. Drawing from his personal experiences, misadventures, and lifelong love of literature and philosophy, Mick shares his insights on financial well-being in a way that’s engaging, relatable, and even a little fun. In this exclusive Q&A with WorldAuthors.Org, he opens up about his motivation for writing, the life lessons hidden in the markets, and why mastering money is about more than just numbers.
HELLO MICK HEYMAN , WELCOME TO WORLDAUTHORS.ORG! TELL US WHAT DRIVES YOU TO WRITE? YOUR MOTIVATION AND THE PURPOSE OF YOUR BOOK(S)?
I believe there is much that I have learned from my experiences and misadventures in the investment markets and in my life that have helped me reduce stress regarding investing and I wanted to pass these lessons on in hopefully a fun and interesting way. Often, as we look back in our life we can see how our experiences weave together to help us grow and if we keep that growth mindset then even the most difficult experiences can eventually lead us to a better place. My experience in the markets just happens to have been the fruitful ground for me to express the lessons I have learned and I hope to help others reduce stress regarding money and potentially in many other aspects of their lives. I have also been often helped by learning, more through storytelling than a textbook and so I decided to write this book using my personal stories to teach about money and the markets.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL GET OUT OF YOUR BOOKS? HOW WILL THEY FEEL OR BE DIFFERENT AFTER READING IT?
With this book I hope to share my knowledge of the markets through the stories that shaped me and my investment philosophy. I believe the best lessons are learned through human connection and in the trenches of experience and as readers will see from the anecdotes in the book, it’s my long-held interest in literature, psychology and philosophy that have helped me to understand the market in a uniquely human way. I would like readers to come away with an understanding that money is just another expression of us, what we value, what our goals are, how we handle triumph and defeat, how we stumble and get back up-and what mark we want to leave on the world. I have found that if we find greater balance in our finances we find better balance in our lives and vice versa. Though we all have different paths, the emotional highs and lows that they produce are common to us all. I hope that reading the book is a fun adventure but importantly, hope to pass on the thought that if we focus on learning lessons from our experiences, in and out of the market, our lives can become enriched and so can our finances.
WHAT BOOKS DID YOU READ AS A KID/YOUNG ADULT? WHAT ARE YOU READING TODAY? HOW HAVE OTHER AUTHORS INSPIRED YOUR WRITING?
I always loved mysteries and all stories that led characters to some kind of redemption. The first book I remember loving was “Ben and Me” where a mouse explained how he helped Ben Franklin with his inventions as well as to help win the war for America. It was both funny and inspiring to me as a child and in a way, that is a little of what I was trying to accomplish with my book. Certainly, on the surface, money doesn’t seem like a good topic to attempt this project of being funny and inspiring but I thought by focussing on my foibles and many of my misadventures that taught me lessons I could make money a topic to have fun with and hopefully show how I found redemption and some great lessons about investing and life from my own experiences. I currently am reading ‘The Book” by Alan Watts, a great philosopher and just finished two really fantastic books called “Anxious People” and “West with Giraffes.” And I should mention the greatest book on trading and investing that I ever read is “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator,” written by Edwin Lefevre, the pen name for Jesse Livermore, written about a 100 years ago, and yet still relevant today. It includes what I consider some of the greatest lessons one can learn about investing, written through his experiences, and certainly a model that I attempted to follow through my writings.
WHAT IS ONE THING IN YOUR BOOK THAT WILL SURPRISE READERS? (NO SPOILERS THOUGH!)
I believe most people believe that investing and money is all about numbers and yet in my book readers will see how numbers are far from what we need to know about to become good investors. In fact, I was so bad at numbers I was once shown by a statistics professor the terrible odds I was facing to pass his course and my best path was to the drop office. It was a surprise to me and maybe will be for readers that my curiosity and interest in literature, philosophy, psychology, eventually history, along with self analysis, that taught me the most valuable lessons about investing
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NEXT? MORE BOOKS?
I am enjoying doing these interviews and podcasts to both promote the book as well as pass on the message that drowning out the constant noise of social media and headlines is possible and so valuable in managing our money. And in addition, that learning about ourselves is a key element to being successful as a long term investor. Though I won’t know for some time how well the book does, I have found much interest in these messages from a vast number of people and so it feels gratifying that at least the message is getting out.