Every concept, explained from zero
The Foundation.
One core idea a week, unlocked with an analogy before a single chart shows up. If the Financial Syllabus is the textbook, this is the conversation that makes the textbook make sense. Newest first.
From Issue No. 17 · Extra Credit Series
Why One Price Rising Makes Everything Else Rise Too
The second of two Fixed Income issues: the difference between a price shock that fades on its own and one that feeds itself through wages and expectations, plus the real math behind telling which is which.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 16 · Extra Credit Series
Extra Credit Series: Fixed Income
This isn’t the usual issue. This is the Extra Credit Series. The first of two Fixed Income issues: why a bond’s price and its yield are mathematically forced to move in opposite directions, and how that seesaw builds into the entire yield curve.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 15
The Empty House: Why Non-Yielding Assets Have a Hidden Cost
An asset that pays you nothing has to justify itself entirely through price, and the bar it has to clear keeps moving even when nothing about the asset changes.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 14
Foreign Exchange Reserves: The Budget Behind a Currency Defence
A country can push its own currency down forever, because it can simply create more of it. Pushing it back up costs real reserves, and reserves have a bottom.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 13
Who Actually Pays a Tariff
Not the foreign country at the door. The importer pays it first, then decides whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to you.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 12
Futures Pricing
Why "Brent crude futures rose" and "Brent crude rose" aren't quite the same sentence and understanding the difference explains this week's price jump.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 11
Appraisal Rights: The Right to Disagree With the Price
When a company is sold, shareholders can refuse the deal price and ask a judge to independently decide what it was really worth.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 10
Quality of Earnings: Not Every Beat Is What It Looks Like
Not every earnings beat is real. The real number is often hiding underneath a one-time boost.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 9
Exorbitant Privilege: What It Costs to Be the World's Currency
Being the currency everyone needs lets a country borrow more cheaply, but only for as long as the world keeps choosing it.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 8
Leveraged Buyouts: Borrowing to Buy, and to Multiply the Bet
Put in a fraction of the price, borrow the rest, and even a small rise in value can hand you a much bigger return.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 7
Second-Round Effects: Why Inflation Outlives Its Own Cause
Higher costs lead to higher wages, which lead to higher prices again. The cycle doesn't need the original cause anymore.
Read the full breakdownFrom Issue No. 6
The Carry Trade: Why Money Always Chases the Higher Rate
When one country pays more interest than another, money flows toward it, no loyalty required.
Read the full breakdown