Today I talk about investing in companies that actually innovate with Dan Toma, an innovation expert who helps companies transform into innovative machines.

But first, I talk about some staggering stats about how underprepared baby boomers are for retirement, and how legislative changes are coming to make saving for retirement easier and more flexible.

Outline of this Episode
[1:45] Baby Boomer's underprepared for retirement headline
[5:25] Interview with Dan Toma

Baby Boomer's are Underprepared For Retirement
Prior to the 401k, savers relied more heavily on pensions and defined benefit plans. The 401k shifted the onus of saving from the employer to the employee. 40 years after this change, we see the results have been quite mixed. A study from the National Institute on Retirement Security, the median amount of financial assets owned by baby boomers is less than $50,000 which translates to only about $160 per month! I think education is the most important thing. We need to be teaching people about personal finance starting at an early age. A report called the Nations Report Card on Financial Literacy gives 66% of states a grade of C or worse for financial literacy instruction, so there's clearly room for improvement.

Investing in Innovative Companies
Dan Toma is an innovation thought leader and the co-author of the award-winning book The Corporate Startup and Innovation Accounting. His work focuses on enterprise transformation -- specifically on the changes, blue-chip organizations need to make to allow for new ventures to be built in a corporate setting. He was featured on the Thinkers50 2020 Radar list of management thinkers to watch and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s working group on accelerating digital transformation.

In the interview we discuss:

What is innovation?
What is “innovation theater”?
The value of financial statements
Smithsonian Institute as an Innovation example
Microsoft as an innovation example
Roche as an innovation example
Things to look for in a company that is fostering innovation
ESG is a neighbor of innovation?
Identifying red flags
Looking at where a company is investing
The New Product Vitality Index (NPVI)
Why you shouldn’t boil innovation down to one indicator

Learn More About Dan on his website where you can check out his blog and his books:
Dan's Website

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