11 Dec

Posted at 13:27h in Credit Spectrum
Our title is but a thinly veiled allusion to the hero of the namesake novel [Герой нашего времени] by the illustrious Russian novelist and poet Mikhail Lermontov who, on the death of the legendary Alexander Pushkin, assumed the role of Russia’s leading poet. The hero in question (Pechorin) is not the kind of heart-throbbing, virile, impeccable stud personified by a fictitious character, like James Bond. On the contrary, Pechorin is a deeply flawed, some would even say amoral, man. It may surprise you that the quintessential hero of 19th Century Russian literature is not someone we would want as Santa Claus.

23 Oct

Posted at 16:39h in Credit Spectrum
In my presentation to NYSSA last Friday, I posed the question:
  • Are you playing Wall Street's game
  • Or is it playing yours?
The bittersweet truth is, Wall Street is itself a kind of infinite game but many games played on the Street are high stakes, finite games that turn people into unemployment statistics. To have success on Wall Street or anywhere else, it is important to stay in the game, no matter what. This is one of the first lessons I learned as a card-counter on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade....