When is the last time you took a risk? Getting out of bed. (Every action or enacted decision generates some risk.)
How did it work out? I’m still alive, but the day is still young.
PROMPT: Risk
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Tag Archives: Risk
BOOK: “Mathematical Finance: A Very Short Introduction” by Mark H. A. Davis
Mathematical Finance: A Very Short Introduction by Mark H.A. DavisMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – OUP
This is Oxford University Press’s Very Short Introduction to the field of the “Quants,” individuals who apply mathematics to questions of how to value financial assets and assess risks. The book begins by laying out how banking and financial markets work, then discusses how interest rates are determined, and then explores the quantification of various risks faced by lenders. The book finishes by discussing how the 2008 financial crisis impacted the field and how it operates in the wake of that event. (The 2008 crisis was described in an intriguing fashion in the book and movie The Big Short. It basically resulted from deceptive grading of mortgage-backed securities such that investors who thought they had the ultimate default-proof asset in fact had assets that not only could collapse, but — in fact — were bound to.)
Even though this book is a concise introduction, it shouldn’t be confused for a simple guide. It is not only mathematically intense but also jargon dense. It’s not a complete waste for someone without any advanced mathematics and / or economics / finance background to read, but there will be large patches that will likely be lost on one. (And if you’re not at all used to reading scholarly writing, it may be excessively daunting.)
If you want a quick guide to the field of quantitative finance, and you have an understanding of the mathematical notation used in calculus and statistics, I’d recommend this book. If you are interested in the topic but aren’t at all mathematical, you might start elsewhere (the aforementioned, The Big Short, might be a good place.)
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PROMPT: Guaranteed
What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.
Cast a magic spell? Everything I know of in this world comes with no such guarantee — at least anything worth one’s time. It’d be better to spend one’s time learning to thrive under uncertainty.
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Crisis Arises [Free Verse]
Crisis arises
From the depths
Of intended perfection --
"Intended" because all
We can ever do is
Aim & release.
It is more an act of luck
To hit the bullseye
Than to miss.
Bullseyes don't occur because
Of a lack of adverse forces
At work.
They occur because of some
Fortuitous balancing
Of adverse forces.
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PROMPT: Risk
I had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall joint with a truly astounding population of flies yesterday.
The meal was delectable.
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PROMPT: Risk
I don’t know that I’ve ever regretted taking a risk. I’ve taken some bruises for them on occasion but not felt regret.
I did once try to block a staff strike with an ill-positioned / ill-timed wooden sword. I got a mild concussion that time, but still — I don’t think — regret (but I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, maybe it damaged the part of my brain that is capable of regret.)
I’m with Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote: “我事におゐて後悔を／せず” [“I will not regret my deeds.”] in his Dokkôdô [“Way of Walking Alone.”] Of course, he probably suffered his share of concussions as well.
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Banker’s Limerick
There once was a profiteering banker
Who inspired only feelings of rancor.
When making rates for loans,
He stressed all the unknowns.
"Your yoghurt shop might be hit by an oil tanker!"
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PROMPT: Risk
What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to?
Fully embrace the crazy, in the manner of Diogenes, Blake, or Drukpa Kunley.
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POEMS: Worlds, Real & Imagined
People die from skin cancer —
freaking out about nuclear power plants —
but not freaked out about the sun
enough to slather on some sunscreen.
A plane crashes,
and many decide it’s safer to drive —
clearly, they must be among the 93%
who are better than average drivers.
Mosquitos kill five orders of magnitude
more people than sharks,
and yet “PROBOSCIS” is not a movie
that will give “JAWS” a run for its money.
People pride themselves on living in the real world,
and yet…
Tiger Riding for Beginners 