The Finanser’s Fortnight: 7th June – 20th June 2010

Just been on holiday for two weeks - did you miss me?

If you answered yes, you've obviously not noticed that I've
still been blogging for the last two weeks. 

Here are a few highlights from
the holiday blog:

How
interest bearing instruments were invented

I've talked many times about the Ancient Sumerians creating money for
sex, but they also created money for debt.  Here's how it worked.

5000
years of risk ... and we still can't get it right

The ancient Sumerians invented the concept of interest on borrowing
5,000 years ago.  It led to the practice of leverage and risk back
then too.  Nothing that complicated ... just something that caused wars.

The
credit crisis was NOT a Black Swan event

One of my holiday books is Traders, Guns and Money, Knowns and
Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives
, by Satyajit Das. It was written in February 2006 - two and a half
years before the September 2008 implosion of Lehman Brothers - and yet
clearly states why the markets will implode.  I wonder why no-one
listened?

30
great quotes about money

I love finding jokes and quotes, so here’s thirty of my favourite
funny quotes about money, finance and banking such as: "money
can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form
of misery", Spike Milligan.

Can
pyschology explain our fixation with money?

Just found a psychology blog and thought I would look up what articles
they have on the psychology of money, one of our favourite
subjects.  Interesting headlines include that fact that: people
will spend more money when they feel down, but are often unaware of it
and that we prefer to pay more for a product as it makes us think
it’s better quality.

Securities
in an insecure world

In an impressive speech back in 1963, a week before JFK was
assassinated, Benjamin Graham – the first proponent of value
investing – gave a speech in San Francisco.  In the first
half of the speech, he outlines the challenges of market fluctuations
and the fact that people are irrational, e.g. buying shares in good
times and then claiming the same shares are bad in poor times.  In
the second part, he delves deep into investment policies. His words are
worth reposting fifty years later, as it’s still as true today as
it was in 1963.