Sunday 8 February 2009

Finance a la Mrbs: 101

If I know anything at all about finance, it must mean EVERYONE knows all about it. Because I lag when it comes to numbers (and apparently fashion). I remember something about derivatives in calculus, which I took twice: the first time I dropped out halfway through because I was sure that if I took it again, I'd get score 80% on the credit, when I was sitting at a grade of 72%. The second time I took it, I gave up halfway through, because I'd already gotten into the university of my choice, and couldn't be bothered to dedicate my brain to a subject I would never touch again. That is until, now... 15 years later.
I should've worked harder, and I should've suffered through first-year calculus at University along with many suffering friends, even though it would've brought my already weak GPA down further. (If I ever have kids, I'll tell them about having avoided that suffering, and how I shouldn't have.) Derivatives are important. They are the intersection between philosophy and math, and they've been used to make stupid amounts of money, enough money to save the world a few times, more money than there is. A derivative is a contract to buy something at a certain price in the future, no money down. I don't know if it has anything to do with grad 13 calculus. And I might be wrong on that. All I know is that it is a very tiny piece of a very large puzzle, and the only way I learn anything is by writing it down.
Apologies, if you learned nothing here.