Category: All

Book Review: The Warren Buffett Stock Portfolio

The Warren Buffett Stock Portfolio was published in 2011. It aims to give readers an insight into the investment strategy pursued by arguably the world’s most savvy investor. About the authors: The book is written by Mary Buffett and David Clark. Mary Buffett is a best selling author and an expert on all things finance. … Continue reading Book Review: The Warren Buffett Stock Portfolio

COVID-19 Chronicles: How mental biases leave us unprepared for disasters

The current crisis may have you thinking that governments will learn important lessons and be better prepared to tackle future epidemics. As time goes on, bad memories lose their jolt - and when the next crisis strikes, we again prefer to stick our heads in the sand.

Book Review: The Third Pillar

The Third Pillar, written by Dr. Raghuram Rajan, was published in 2019. The book has received praise for highlighting the role of communities  from distinguished members of the economics community, such as Dr. Amartya Sen. About the author:  Dr. Raghuram Rajan is a renowned economist who has held numerous important positions in the past, including … Continue reading Book Review: The Third Pillar

COVID-19 Chronicles: How epidemics shape societies

There is too much noise surrounding how the COVID-19 crisis might impact the global economy. Let us take a cue from history to explore how this pandemic might shape our society.

Banking wars!

There is no denying that technology is taking the world by storm. Instead of just being a support function, technology has become the product itself - especially in finance. The evolution of FinTech is creating new challenges for banks to overcome and new business models are emerging. Neo banks and Challenger banks are cases in … Continue reading Banking wars!

Happy New Year!

New Year 2019 is extremely special for me because I get to write a New Year’s blog post. I want to diverge from history and talk about ‘Calendar Effects’ – an informal treatise on stock price behavior corresponding to calendar events. We start off the year with the ‘January Effect’, which is a surge in … Continue reading Happy New Year!

Stock Jobbing in the 17th century

Advances in technology and subsequent emergence of complex derivative products are often blamed for instabilities in the financial markets. But is it the case? Could the 2008 crash and many others be avoided had there been no derivative products? had A dive into the late seventeenth century shows us how the creation of the stock … Continue reading Stock Jobbing in the 17th century

Tulipmania

Tulips, originally cultivated in Turkey, were introduced in theNetherlands in the mid 16th century. The spring-blooming bulb derives its name from the Turkish word ‘tulipan’, which means turban. This seemingly harmless flower gave rise to the first financial crisis in history. Its rarity and the difficulty of cultivating certain variegations made it prestigious to own … Continue reading Tulipmania

Plain Vanilla Finance

Efficient frontierLong-Short strategyNo arbitrage pricesPlain Vanilla Bonds There are 2 things common between these four terms. First, they have something to do with financeSecond, they seem to be complicated concepts Jargon is ubiquitous in the world of finance. So much so, that it seems the banks and other financial institutions use them on purpose to … Continue reading Plain Vanilla Finance