The global financial system is a lot like a natural ecosystem. In the natural world, individual organisms are interconnected in food chains with distortions to one link in the chain causing knock-on effects to all the others. The world of finance is very similar. Each asset class has its own idiosyncratic characteristics that drive price movements, but they also have a deep reliance on the fluctuations and proper functioning of the other asset classes. Together, the four main asset classes of equity, fixed income, commodities, and currencies make up the building blocks of finance, and even if you only invest in one, you need to pay attention to what is happening in all the others. In this episode of “Investor Tutorials”, Jamie McDonald kicks off our exploration of the four main asset classes, highlighting what makes each of them unique while also touching on clear examples of their inherent interconnectedness. McDonald also explains why real estate and crypto are missing from the list of asset classes making up the building blocks of finance.