Unreal Blog

This concluding part of the philosophy of money (to appear as a column in the May issue of the Wilmott Magazine) shares my private disappointment that whatever I wrote up may not have been as original as I expected it to be. But the concept of money has been around for a long time now, so I should not dwell on it too much.

Read the rest of "Philosophy of Money – IV"

Having looked at the how of money in the last post, here is the why of money in this third post in the my mini-series. Why do we want it so bad?

Read the rest of "Philosophy of Money – III"

This second post of the mini series based on my upcoming column in the Wilmott Magazine looks at how people make money in a scalable fashion. It was posted earlier in this blog.

Read the rest of "Philosophy of Money – II"

Here is another mini series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine to appear in their May issue. I have posted similar ideas here before, but this series will put them together, hopefully as a cohesive whole. This first post of the series looks at the unphysical nature of money.

Read the rest of "Philosophy of Money – I"

Here’s wishing you a Happy 2010… May your resolutions hold up longer than those of the years past. And may you find peace, happiness, good health and prosperity.

Read the rest of "Happy New Year!"

On what is important in life. And what is not.

Read the rest of "Midlife Crisis"

Mathematical finance is built on a couple of assumptions. The most fundamental of them is the one on market efficiency. Is it wise to trust this assumption? Are there limits to it? Are we operating at the right scale to ignore the shakiness of the market efficiency assumption?

Read the rest of "Modeling the Models"

People tend to follow the money gradient. When a particular field is lucrative, more people tend to end up there. During the IT boom time of the previous decade, most of the talent flowed in there. Finance also has been a not-so-strange attractor for academics. Here is a look at the culture shock associated. Another excerpt from my upcoming column in the Wilmott Magazine.

Read the rest of "Group Dynamics"

This short piece is part of a column coming up in the Wilmott Magazine. Although summarily treated as a sort of curiosity, this idea may indeed blossom into a full-length book. For that reason, you will find more posts on related topics soon. For instance, why is it that hard work does not always equate to enhanced bank balance? Why do celebrities and entrepreneurs make so much more than normal employees? Want to know? Stay tuned…

Read the rest of "Philosophy of Money"

The last post in this series, this one exposes the extreme cases both in allowing and in denying bonuses, and their implications. Both the options imply our acceptance of certain economic idea. And, as with most things in life, it is not quite clear which is right, once you think long enough about it. A happy and stable middle ground is what we should seek and find.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – VI"

If hard work does not entitle us to fat bonuses, perhaps our “talent” does? This is the third in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – III"

The second in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine, here is the common argument about hard work and the perceived entitlements.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – II"

Time and money represent the basic conflict of work-life balance. Here is an unreal look at the old problem.

Read the rest of "How Much is Your Time Worth?"

Stressed out at work? Try these stress-reduction techniques. Well, musings, really…

Read the rest of "Unreal Stress Reduction Techniques"

It is a jungle out there. Do you have what it takes to survive? If not, don’t worry, I’m here to help.

Read the rest of "An Office Survival Guide"

It is that time of the year again — the time for the dreaded annual performance appraisals. One friend of mine told me about one of his direct reports who actually started having a heart attack in his office during the APA! Here is a look at the pluses and minuses, originally published as a column in a Singaporean newspaper.

Read the rest of "That Time of the Year"

Another old gem from my newspaper columns collection, this post talks about email duels that all of us have gone through at some point in our career. Enjoy!

Read the rest of "Stinker Emails — A Primer"

For corporate success, we may need to hide our technical knowledge at times. When it comes to techie-ness, we should know when to hold, and when to fold. Here is my take on how best to use (or hide) technical knowledge, originally published as a newspaper column.

Read the rest of "Techie’s Dilemma"