ASSUME

Years ago, one day in the class, one of our professors wrote the word ASSUME on the black board and asked us all what it meant. We were wise kids and knew for sure it was not the real question, though we did not know what he meant by that. He then turned to the board and wrote it again, this time splitting it as – ASS-U-ME. At first, we thought it was humour, but it wasn’t. “Assume”, he said, “is Ass-U-Me because that’s what we make of ourselves when we assume things without getting into the facts of a matter.”

Isn’t life just so simple when we stop assuming and start communicating clearly about everything? I, however, grew up to become an equity research analyst and that’s where everything changed. The 13 years that I spent doing research made me assume all the time, literally. While I would call those assumptions well calculated expectations, that also was a detrimental point because it became a habit to be calculative, assume and expect. This does n0t work well in real life. This is a kind of professional hazard and can cause long term damages just like a 10-hour desk job would do to your spine and eyes.

One good part of being born as a human is that we evolve, not just from one generation to another, but also during one lifetime into a different person year after year as we learn and grow. It is critical that we separate work and life, well. We conveniently talk about damage control but little do we realise that what can be avoided should not be allowed to reach a level where you need to course correct it. Stress and anxiety have become fashionable in today’s time. People somehow find pride in saying that they have stressful lives and that they feel anxious. If we look closely, though, the root cause may be the fact that we assume and expect on a constant basis, what we should not. This when it does not turn out the way it was visualised causes damage to our brain senses and we invite stress and anxiety for a stayover. Unfortunately, the quantum and magnitude may vary but we all do it in our personal lives too. Professor was right indeed, ASSUME really means ASS-U-ME. 

Life felt worthwhile...

This was a fateful day for many in the equity markets. Yesterday, the ruling government won the general elections for the third term but with a very thin margin unlike universal expectations of their thumping majority that had led to valuations in the equity markets reach euphoric levels. It all crashed like a pack of cards as many of their favourite leaders started to lose.

Today, a very large investor in the capital markets stood silent on the cremation ground with his umbrella drenched as the city experienced the first rain of the season, and him trying to avoid frantic calls from his dealer who needed to discuss his trading positions. The dealer on the other side was sitting in his office much earlier than his usual time surrounded by his bosses and on parallel calls from the risk team, as the client’s positions had exceeded his available margins and this needed urgent selling of all of his existing stock. Standing on the cremation ground, this conversation had to go through at last despite all odds of personal life.

People in the investment business had hardly had a day on ‘results day’. Most spent the day running between trading terminals, responding to a hundred emails, messages and calls from clients who needed clarity and views on the markets and their respective stocks; discussing how the next day could be like while sitting in office and see the night fall darker with each passing minute. The day was heavy as anxiety caused high blood pressure and other immediate health concerns. Yet, all popped pills and stayed up through each second of the activity. People ran across their offices at a pace they may otherwise not, sat without using the washroom for hours at length, skipped lunches and even forgot to stay hydrated…all for a day to end and wait for the next one to bring even higher levels of activity.

It was similar for so many others in the market as all gains of previous trades eroded on the election result day, many investors were only waiting for the markets to open on Day 2 and see their principle investment go off into thin air. Years of earnings or a dream investment or sheer thrill of trading, this market had ways to give shocks to all involved.

Yet, not a soul was sad. This was a life of their choosing and no matter what it did to them; they were drowned in love with each aspect of the capital markets. Here, sat a research analyst turned senior advisor who came with over 40,000 hours of experience in the capital markets, seeing it all as their own investments shrunk tick by tick, yet engrossed in a thousand other queries raised by clients and running from one meeting to another. With all the sun and rain, smiles and tears and several tissue boxes, life felt worthwhile in its full grandeur.