Old Dog Old Tricks

It can be strange at times how competency can almost sneak up on you. I spent a good chunk of my day yesterday walking back through loan-loss provisions at mid-Atlantic community banks. I was genuinely surprised at how quickly all of that came back to me. If you don't see this as notable, pull up an income statement for a bank, or try to comprehend a balance sheet for a bulge-bracket broker. Good luck. Ruining my life for three winters/springs in the name of the CFA turned out to be worth it I suppose. I don't think I actually believe that but I certainly have to pretend.

While the last eighteen months have been a mixed bag (read: less than stellar) for my career, no one can take away what I've already managed to cram into my head. It's like that moment in a meeting with a consultant when you realize that they have absolutely no clue how to obtain a set of quotes for a SWAP (or why GS happens to be point away from C). Or the moment where I realized that the Stanford Ph.D. portfolio manager across from me had no idea how a holding company was structured and why it mattered. I've traded domestic and foreign equities, listed and OTC futures and forwards, listed and OTC options; I know how these things quote, expire, and settle. I have put on trades for both fundamental and technical reasons. I understand how market-makers never go broke. I've modeled private equity transactions that involved warrants and trust preferred securities with step-up triggers. I can delta-hedge an options portfolio without fucking up the dividends part within the basket of equities. I have had one short get bought. I have had more than one long get bought. I know what the skew of volatility is and why it's the only thing that matters; I have my own personal theories on why the volatility of volatility matters and the reasons I love asset-classes that have no arbitrage-able underlying. I can talk to a floor trader, analyst, portfolio manager or homeless man easier than I can talk to an investment banker because I actually understand how they get paid. I know what it means to have a trade DK'd and I also know what four-letter words you use on the phone with the executing broker when it happens (answer: all of them... and some you've made up on the fly). I didn't read about these things I learned them in doing. I am happy about this.

Thank you for being subjected to my pep-talk, my largest cheerleader who usually fills this role ahead of important events can't this time around. I'll have to be self-sufficient with my ego-stroking.

With that out of the way, I'll get two of these out before I hit the road:


CBOT
Bloody Bull at five.
Delta zero over night.
In between is life.


Russell Indexes (CRS)
Finance geek at heart.
She always sells herself short.
Knows more than she knows.


Wow, I just worked a finance pun into my Haiku. I don't even know what to say.


Word,


-I Heart Palindromes