Weaving Wholeness: Fat Tail Finance meets Yoga Philosophy

I stumbled upon my two big passions du jour at around the same time. And they couldn’t seem any more distant from eachother. Finance/Extreme Tail Events/Risk Management/Securitization and Yoga…. can you blame me for assuming the intersection of these two was Null Set? 

I struggled internally and pursued each interest whole heartedly but separately. It wasn’t until my mentor’s philosophy lectures that I realized the many deeply rooted ideas these two Fields shared. I am passionate about both, so clearly it makes sense that there be at least one common thread weaving through. Discovering oodles and oodles of threads made my brain, heart and soul tingle with awesomeness! 

Following is my reflection on a handfull of points brought up during lecture and related quotes by NNTaleb, the dude who brought you Black Swan theory. 

On Math and Technique: Math, formulas, models, techniques – these are not our reality. Nor are they ideals to be placed on pedestals and striven towards. Hints and indicators is what they can be best described as. Making them applicable to the real world takes great leaps of creativity, lead by fierce intuition.

“Mathematics is principally a tool to meditate, rather than to compute.”

When dealing with complex and dynamic systems of which our knowledge is limited (our bodies, the economy, Mother Nature, etc.) we should be wary in applying strictness and brute force. The system has its own set of guiding principles we have yet to grasp, possibly because it is beyond our level of comprehension. The emphasis here should be on working with the system, not against. When knowledge and understanding is limited, intuition is our best guide.  Rules/models/techniques may be applied but with adequate slack and an understanding of their limitations/pitfalls.

“Looking for an exact solution is very commendable, but looking for exactitude in the wrong place makes you […] very, very fragile.”

On Money: Stagnant money stinks. If you have it, enjoy spending it. If you don’t have it, enjoy not having it. How you spend your money, however, is indicative of your values and disvalues.  Do not invest negligibly.  This is a misalignment between your actions and your beliefs; it is precisely the root of the mess that we’re in right now. The perfect alignment of values and investment: an artisanal world. Invest by dirtying your hands and cash-in when you reap the fruits of your labor.

“The first problem is the absence of clawbacks (people make profits hiding risk then get an annual bonus off values at year end when risks explode every 8-15 years; the mismatch between bonuses and frequency of blowups). The second one is the free option granted to managers—upside not downside and transfer of fragility.  My answer: alas, the only robust form is owner operated or matters that escape the agency problem. It becomes obvious… An artisanal world. Privately owned companies, etc.”

On Gifts and Attachment: I have a tendency to hold onto gifts that no longer serve me. Habits. Thought patterns. Body mapping. Regrets. Anxiety. Each time water makes its way through the valley, the groove is reinforced. Lack of mindfulness leads to path dependence and attachment. I string bits and pieces into full blown epics, weaving and reinforcing an image which may only be a mirage. Blinding me from the truth. Observation and meditation can lead to a more fluid, forgiving, open and flexible way.

“One of the best traders I have ever encountered in my life, Nigel Babbage, has the remarkable attribute of being completely free of any path dependence in his beliefs. He exhibits absolutely no embarrassment buying a given currency on a pure impulse, when only hours ago he might have voiced a strong opinion as to its future weakness. What changed his mind? He does not feel obligated to explain it.”