It's been two days since the Christmas break. I'm trying to get work done with not much success. Everyone's trying to get back into gear for work, and it's taking a bit of time. However, inspired by Australia's favourite fat playboy, Shane Warne, we have managed to turn the boardroom into a temporary indoor cricket pitch. I count that an achievement.
Most of my clients are on holidays. Very thankful for that. As much as I love them, I'm probably not in the right frame of mind to get a phone call to save them from another mess they've put themselves in.
I've only gotten around to telling a few of them that I won't be around anymore in a couple of weeks. Given most of them are still away, I will probably have to resort to a mass email sometime tomorrow. I fully expect many tears. Not sure how many will be tears of joy. We bankers are such an underappreciated bunch.
Tomorrow's the last Friday of the year. I assume there will be long lunches and much drinking in the summer sun. Another day of no actual work being done. Another reason why it should just be declared a holiday. Not that I'm complaining - not long now before slow days are few and very far between.
I haven't figured out what resolutions I'm going to break for next year. However, my girlfriend wrote me a list of things to do while she is away on holidays overseas. That's probably a good starting point. "No. 5 - Have an alcohol-free week after New Year's"... that's a toughie. Might break that one first.
Thursday 28 December 2006
Wednesday 27 December 2006
Agent Double-O-Rational
Yesterday is Boxing Day here. For non-Commonwealth readers, it does not refer to the day devoted to violence arising from poor gift selection the day prior. Here, it means Massive Storewide Sales, and a day devoted to violence at the bargain bins and checkout stalls.
If ever there was a case for debunking the notion of "rational economic agents", MSS is a behavioral economist's wet dream. People have just spent days and weeks (or in my case, hours) shopping, shopping and shopping some more, looking for that "perfect present" (more perfect than last year's "perfect present"), paying top dollar for each purchase... and then a day after, those same presents are 30, 40, 50, even 70% cheaper. The obvious question is, why don't people wait until Boxing Day to buy presents?
Christmas is a huge emotional investment for most people (those with friends anyway), and gift-giving has little reliance on logic. This is a slap in the face of rational economic thought. Or as my old school principal noted in one memorable school assembly: it is a sabot in the cogs of the windmill, therefore the Dutch are terrorists and we should stop funding their operations through purchase of magic brownies. Or something.
Being of financial leanings, the profiteering and wastefulness in the days leading up to Christmas often worries me (because of the inevitable credit card bill). But when your beloved gives you a nice new power tie with which to intimidate negotiators in the private equity deal to take over that retailer you just bought your beloved's negligee from, all the worry evaporates. Nope, definitely not rational economic agents.
Rockett Fuel Genesis
Cool name for a manga series. Unfortunately, not quite that cool.
In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my new job as an analyst for the leveraged finance outfit of a major bank. For the slightly initiated, it probably sounds very prestigious. For the uninitiated, it means absolute zip. For those in the industry, my types are derisively referred to as "rocket fuel". Those that don't sputter out after a few years are rewarded with massive bonuses to help finance our many addictions and maybe our first (or if we're lucky, second) divorce settlements.
I started this blog with no expectation of being able to write in it regularly, but the thought of being able to if or when I can was quite nice. It will probably be a bit of a vent outlet, and a place to ruminate on ideas. It will not be a source of market-moving rumours, I guarantee that now. Nor will it be a reliable source of humour or satire - any that you find here are purely accidental.
Eventually I might get my beloved, Miss Rockett (temporary name), to start posting here too. She's a corporate lawyer-in-training, so it won't be long before she too will be slaving the long hours and for all intents being a "rocket fuel".
If ever there was a case for debunking the notion of "rational economic agents", MSS is a behavioral economist's wet dream. People have just spent days and weeks (or in my case, hours) shopping, shopping and shopping some more, looking for that "perfect present" (more perfect than last year's "perfect present"), paying top dollar for each purchase... and then a day after, those same presents are 30, 40, 50, even 70% cheaper. The obvious question is, why don't people wait until Boxing Day to buy presents?
Christmas is a huge emotional investment for most people (those with friends anyway), and gift-giving has little reliance on logic. This is a slap in the face of rational economic thought. Or as my old school principal noted in one memorable school assembly: it is a sabot in the cogs of the windmill, therefore the Dutch are terrorists and we should stop funding their operations through purchase of magic brownies. Or something.
Being of financial leanings, the profiteering and wastefulness in the days leading up to Christmas often worries me (because of the inevitable credit card bill). But when your beloved gives you a nice new power tie with which to intimidate negotiators in the private equity deal to take over that retailer you just bought your beloved's negligee from, all the worry evaporates. Nope, definitely not rational economic agents.
Rockett Fuel Genesis
Cool name for a manga series. Unfortunately, not quite that cool.
In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my new job as an analyst for the leveraged finance outfit of a major bank. For the slightly initiated, it probably sounds very prestigious. For the uninitiated, it means absolute zip. For those in the industry, my types are derisively referred to as "rocket fuel". Those that don't sputter out after a few years are rewarded with massive bonuses to help finance our many addictions and maybe our first (or if we're lucky, second) divorce settlements.
I started this blog with no expectation of being able to write in it regularly, but the thought of being able to if or when I can was quite nice. It will probably be a bit of a vent outlet, and a place to ruminate on ideas. It will not be a source of market-moving rumours, I guarantee that now. Nor will it be a reliable source of humour or satire - any that you find here are purely accidental.
Eventually I might get my beloved, Miss Rockett (temporary name), to start posting here too. She's a corporate lawyer-in-training, so it won't be long before she too will be slaving the long hours and for all intents being a "rocket fuel".
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