Over the summer I read The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. It delves into the inner workings of some of Wall Street’s most powerful investment firms and rating agencies, and uncovers the conflicts of interest that were largely responsible for the sub-prime meltdown. The book reads like a novel with rich characters and plots, but unfortunately was all too true. Below is a quote from page 205 of the book, which refers to two different departments at Morgan Stanley’s midtown Manhattan office building: the one located on the second floor staffed with “financial advisors” who sold bonds to retail clients and the one located on the tenth floor that used the firm’s own capital to bet against those very same bonds. This, along with many other similar stories, really opened my eyes to some of what goes on at Wall Street’s largest financial services firms
What to Know About Serving as an Estate Executor: An Essential Checklist
September 14, 2023
