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Welcome. The theme for this month is how to invest in uncertain times. Apologies in advance to those who opened this letter thinking I am offering trading tips. This is not my area of expertise 😉

The purpose of this letter is to offer some reflections on where to invest our time, energy, and focus during these increasingly fractured and challenging times.

I write with the knowledge that most of my readership is amongst the 1% most economically privileged on earth, and if you are not in the 1% you are likely at least in the 5%.

There are three key investments I would offer: 

1. Invest in seeing through the security delusion
2. Invest in your heart and soul
3. Invest in building a community of caring

Invest in seeing through the security delusion 

In my work with business leaders and founders, I often find myself in the position of having conversations with individuals who have an objectively high level of financial and social privilege and security.

A percentage of the people I work with would be in the top .1%, not the top 1% of the most economically privileged people on earth. Yet many are still caught in a seemingly irrational level of fear, which drives a need to earn more, secure their investments and protect their social and economic position. This is often justified by providing for one’s family, being responsible, or creating a positive impact. All noble ideas, however, they are frequently driven more by subconscious fears than conscious thinking. 

Working in these spaces for many years has been a clear education that the security delusion is a psychological complex, deeply linked with other ego complexes such as those related to identity, social standing, self-actualisation, scarcity, goodness, and self-worth (which is often linked to impact and proximity to power).

As the complex does not only manifest itself through material possessions, but also through recognition, proximity to power, and social standing, it is incumbent on the individual to pay attention to its manifestations. For example, a spiritual leader/social activist I worked with, who had taken a vow of poverty, would turn on the television immediately when arriving at his home, desperate to see how he was being represented. Only those very close to him were aware of the dissonance between what he preached and how he lived.

By leveraging these complexes across the spectrum of economic privilege, humans are held in thrall to the god of money and worldly power, regardless of the level of objective financial security or social influence. The security complex and the delusions that spring from it have been fed and amplified by a culture of relentless consumerism. Symbols of capitalism have become tribal totems and status symbols, even amid increasing uncertainty in the psychological and structural fabric that holds the financial system in place. Influence has become an overt business model through social media, where multitudes compete for likes and follows.

It is clear that inner, felt security does not correlate too much with the level of wealth or influence beyond having our fundamental needs (food, shelter, sanitation, education etc.) met.

Security, as a psychological complex, is not appeased by the objects of its search. It is an ever-hungry monster requiring more, whether that be more money, status, proximity to power or impact.

Therefore, the opportunity for all of us, who have our basic needs met, is to understand and heal the complexes in us that give power to the security delusion. 

When our social networks consist primarily of the economically privileged or powerful, our complexes are reinforced, along with reinforcing our subscription to mass delusion. This delusion is amplified by the millions worshipping at the altar of capitalism, where the invisible hand of God is replaced by Adam Smith’s invisible hand, lending power to the myth of altruism emerging from successful self-interest.

I, like any human, am not immune to this and continue to cultivate an observant mind to see my own vulnerabilities to influence.

Carl Jung, in Civilisation in Transition, observed in the 1930s what we can see bearing its fruit today.

“Thanks to industrialisation, large portions of the population were uprooted   and were herded together in large centres. This new form of existence, with its mass psychology and social dependence on the fluctuation of markets and wages, produced an individual who was unstable, insecure and suggestible. He was aware that his life depended on boards of directors and captains of industry, and he supposed, rightly or wrongly, that they were chiefly motivated by financial interests. He knew that no matter how conscientiously he worked, he could still fall victim at any moment to economic changes which were utterly beyond his control.”

To heal ourselves of the complexes tied to the security delusion, we need to invest in deeper resources.

The quote at the front of my book, Leadership for the New Millennium, “Invest in the timeless and the timeless will invest in you”, speaks to the opportunity we each have to invest in our inner resources, our soul, eternal values and spiritual life. 

This does not demand impoverishment of the body or that we have less money. It does require that we place greater value on our inner rather than our outer treasures. The irony is that this orientation reveals an abundance that the market cannot threaten.

Invest in your heart and soul 

The structure, stability and strength of your soul is a no-regret investment. It will be with you in objective abundance and scarcity, filling you with the resources to learn, grow and thrive even in the most challenging situations.

Mandela shared of his time in prison, “In a single cell in prison, I had time to think. I had a clear view of my past and present, and I found that my past left much to be desired, both in regard to my relations with other humans and in developing personal worth.”

He cultivated his soul in what would be regarded by many as a dire circumstance.

Investing in the soul gives you immutable strength. 

You develop a strong centre, or inner core. You become able to transmute life stress into power and interpersonal stress into equanimity, love and forgiveness. As you value the cultivation of your inner resources, you are paradoxically able to attract resources, including financial ones, that are commensurate with your needs.

You live from a mindset of abundance, trusting that your inner world and the outer actions that spring from it bring you what is needed. Gratitude for nature, for small things, for love, for friendship, for universal values of truthfulness and justice brings joy and contentment.

Investing in the soul has benefits that expand beyond your own well-being. As a result of cultivating inner strength and grace, you hold communities together with love and hope. You become a beacon of light, guiding others to the treasures within.

Invest in building a community of caring 

Do not underestimate the power of small, resilient communities of caring.

Small movements based on universal values are at the core of any genuine transformation. They are more powerful than movements fueled by mass hysteria that are eventually subject to the very worldviews that created the systems they rise against.

We are all part of the community of earth, which consists of all our relations (a phrase deeply rooted in many Indigenous worldviews), including animals, trees, mountains, rivers and oceans. Hindu philosophy also epitomises this worldview with the concept known as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means that the world is one family. We have the opportunity to open our hearts to the whole world, rather than fragments.

Investing in your relationships with trees, rivers, mountains, and animals helps you to break through the security delusion and is a deep investment in your own soul.

Moments with our broader earth family snap us out of our delusion. Maintaining the consciousness you experience in these moments, which can be as simple as snuggling with your dogs, playing with your children or the transcendent moment of observing a spectacular sunset, helps you to withdraw your subscription from mass delusion.

Consider how you could share more of your subjective and objective resources with friends, colleagues and family. Service to others tunes us in with a transcendent reality in a similar way to meditation or prayer. Connect with friends, co-workers and neighbours in relationships that are authentic and supportive. Hold each other on the journey. Help each other observe and release from the security delusion and live the security offered by our soul and community relationships.

Generative Questions to expand and explore  

• As you read this newsletter, what did you respond to the most? What challenged you? What do you notice about this?

• If you were to apply any of your insights to your life in a meaningful way, what would that look like?

• How might you prepare for the new year and festive season with the three suggested investments in mind?

• Where are you invested in the security delusion, and what is the impact on your psyche, family and life?

• What might you do to cultivate abundance consciousness and invest in your soul and inner life? 

Quotes on our theme: How to invest in uncertain times

“Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.”  – Mary McLeod Bethune

“The man whose interests are all outside is never satisfied with what is necessary, but is perpetually hankering after something more and better which, true to his bias, he always seeks outside himself” – Carl Jung 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21

“The more insecure people feel, the more they focus on material things. As materialism promises satisfaction but instead yields hollow dissatisfaction, it creates more craving.”  – Gabor Mate

“Almost nothing material is needed for a happy life, for he who has understood existence.”  – Marcus Aurelius

“It was when I realised I needed to stop trying to be somebody else and be myself, I actually started to own, accept and love what I had.” – Tracee Ellis Ross

Book Recommendations

Prosperity without growth by Tim Jackson – challenges conventional economics and explores the potential for a post-growth economy.

Kind Business by Dr David Cooke – exposes the flaws of profit-driven business practices that are focused on short-term returns and paints a blueprint for a future where it is understood that values create value.

Join a community of humans living and leading with integrity and soul

Register your interest here to join the New Millennium Leader Academy. We are currently upgrading our experience of Self-Authoring for a 2026 intake.

To be further supported and enlivened in this mission read Leadership for the New Millenium available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook.

How are you navigating these times? What are your responses to this letter?

Send your thoughts or reflections to alison@alisoncameron.com.

With love,
Alison.