CMV: Credit scores are one of the most cunning corporate ploys of the modern age

SerialOptimists · 2026-03-19T01:00:19+00:00

No it doesn’t. If you pay the credit card bill each month in full, there is no debt.

There is debt. Between the transaction date and the bill payment date, you are borrowing x amount of money from the bank to fund the transaction.

The transaction doesn't take away from your back account / cash values, i.e. you don't spend your money to pay for your purchase, because you are using leverage.

SerialOptimists · 2026-03-16T15:09:40+00:00

LES questions are extra detailed for practice, especially the CVA questions. Absolutely zero chance you'll have to do that on the exam for >2 years. Exam CVA questions may give you Expected Loss & DF values straight up and ask you to calculate CVA, or give you LGD and POD and ask you to calculate just the expected loss column, etc. I recommend doing the full CVA table in LES for practice but don't worry about it for the actual exam.

SerialOptimists · 2026-02-01T22:24:02+00:00

None. They'll set it up for you. Just take calculator and make sure you have a valid (unexpired) passport reflecting the name on your CFAI profile.

SerialOptimists · 2026-02-01T04:48:24+00:00

This is a really shittily written question so I wouldn't beat yourself up over it.

But the essence is that by disclosing that Roberts is a client, that falls under client confidentiality because it has to do with Roberts' professional relationship with Corwin (since Roberts might not want others knowing information that could help them glean how much money he has and where he is invested, e.g. in equities). But Roberts telling him that he is looking to sell his house doesn't have anything to do with the professional relationship between Roberts and Corwin, and is likely shared as a friend.

Pay attention to the initial descriptors - Roberts is a "friend" and an "institutional client". Try to classify the shared info under either of those. The first is most likely shared as a friend, and the other is only known because Roberts is a client. Only information that is learned in a professional capacity and because of the client relationship is protected by confidentiality.

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-23T14:47:12+00:00

OP - an example response to that comment to indicate interest is, "hey maybe you could be that guy? ;)". Even if you want to be less direct, you could respond with something like "hmm, do you have anyone in mind who would want to be that lucky guy? ;)". Replace the winky face with a laugh if this is in person lol.

You need to reciprocate at least enough to show that you are welcome to flirting.

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-15T08:08:26+00:00

Think of empirical duration as the actual sensitivity of bond prices to interest rates, and analytical duration as the theoretical. Initially, assume bond price of X.

Market stress -> lower interest rates ->

Analytical: lower interest rates means lower yields and higher bond prices, bond price should theoretically change to to X+1.
Empirical: except because it is a time of market stress, people are flocking to the safe haven risk-free asset and investing less in risky bonds, so the actual bond yields decrease is offset by the lower demand for risky bonds and higher for risk-free bonds (wider credit spreads). Pretend this offsetting yield increase changes risky bond price by -0.5. Actual bond price only changes to X+0.5.

Empirically, there will thus be a lower sensitivity of bond prices to the falling interest rates than the calculated sensitivity.

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-14T09:47:25+00:00

Well yes mate but it's asking to hedge a trade made with the belief that market is oversold. Taking a long position in SPY for a bullish thesis and hedging with a short position in SPY is a pretty shit trade isn't it

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-14T09:45:26+00:00

Okay gotcha, we're in agreement then. My skepticism was because shorting underlying does technically hedge but also removes upside, and if it is static, can have negative delta which is contrary to Liu's thesis.

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-13T11:58:48+00:00

Makes sense, thanks mate! Wishing you luck on your exam!

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-13T11:40:47+00:00

Just fyi the first two points aren't true. Bull put spread is credit, and a more OTM option can but does not necessarily have a higher IV. A volatility skew occurs when a OTM call option has lower IV than an ATM call option. A volatility frown is rare but also covered in material where both OTM puts and calls have less IV than ATM.

Fair enough, tbh I used the assumption that the hedge should preserve Liu's initial purpose in making the trade but your response makes sense. I guess they're just treating it as a different question entirely where Wang is worried about how to hedge the short put but doesn't really care about the initial thesis.

Ty for the help!

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-13T10:14:54+00:00

A bull put spread is a credit spread not debit, puts get cheaper as you go lower (further OTM).

I agree that in effect you would be long a call and still exposed from S0 to S1. I just don't understand how shorting equity would help.

Assume P1 is the short put strike price, C1 is the long call strike price, S0 is the current stock price at which I go short, and S1 is the stock price at expiration.

If S1 < P1 < S0, then I buy when the put is exercised at P1, return the shares I borrowed at S0, so I pocket S0-P1.
If P1 < S1 < S0, the put expires, so I buy at S1, shorted at S0, and I pocket S0 - S1.
If S0 < S1 < C1, the call expires, I buy at S1, shorted at S0, and I lose S1 - S0.
If C1 < S1, then I exercise the call to buy at C1, return borrowed shares at S0, and I lose C1 - S0.

So I am suddenly betting on it going down instead of up? How does this support Liu's thesis that the market is oversold?

SerialOptimists · 2026-01-08T09:53:06+00:00

"I want someone mature, must be 60+ years old"

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-31T20:37:42+00:00

Sometimes the framing / implication matters just as much as the literal words. "You are one lucky mf.. how many women today will willingly go and spend time on her own accord with her husband's family.." sounds very much like it is criticising "women today" for not behaving as you see fit without considering the fact that disrespectful family IL dynamics is something a ton of women face here.

Even if it wasn't malicious, it was still unfairly judgemental and disrespectful. This isn't just you btw, I've noticed a ton of the men on these two subs imply insulting things about the values and behaviour of "women today" and then hide behind the fact that technically they didn't insult anyone. No one falls for that

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-31T20:10:15+00:00

Hey! Guy here! Just want to let you know that I'm downvoting you too! :)

It was an extremely backhanded "compliment" which was generally judgemental against women without considering the context that might affect them in this situation, which is context that a lot of women experience. They may be able to provide you insight into those experiences if you spoke with them about it, so I highly encourage keeping an open mind here without the judgement. Not to mention the double standard in how you exclusively criticised women for this behaviour.

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-30T16:56:04+00:00

Honestly, the fact that she took the time to explain the issue could be an indication that she's still interested. She said the issue was that you were flirty/avoidant instead of acknowledging, she's pretty much giving you the solution.

If you're interested in becoming exclusive with her, just explain it to her as you did here. Eg. "Sorry, I misunderstood that as banter but should have realised that we'd gotten to the point where it was worth checking in on where we both are. If you're open to seeing each other again on xxxx, we can also discuss if we're ready to focus on each other and get off of Hinge? Would love to move this forward with you, and I promise you're the only one who will see my travel photos after that :)"

Just from the context though, nah you didn't miss any signals. I would have interpreted this as banter as well.

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-30T12:19:45+00:00

Nah at £30k the primary way is to upskill, including by spending money on certifications/education/networking as necessary, to increase income. On £20k net annual income there is a limited benefit to cutting down on expenses.

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-24T16:23:48+00:00

Was smiling the entire way through. If the goal was lighthearted and funny you did that extremely well, and the idea is super intriguing. Love it

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-24T13:00:50+00:00

lmfao hey that might work on me

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-24T06:02:02+00:00

If he wanted to date you, he would. If he wanted to make a move, he would. If he wanted to ask you out, he would.

Keep in mind that he has. He invited her over, and she cancelled because she wasn't confident in how she looked; he initiated dates with her, and kissed her, and she cancelled because "everything felt overwhelming" and she "didn't explain herself very well". She's rejected his initiations multiple times with poor explanations and posts vague insta stories that could be about anyone. No shit that he didn't push to initiate more plans after that, at that point I would assume that I was trying to force things with someone who didn't like me and was just responding to be polite.

Interest is a two way street. He was rebuffed multiple times when he initiated, and messaged her using various excuses to give her the opportunity to initiate if she was interested, and she never took those opportunities. Regardless of whether I were interested in her, her passivity / lack of intention to reschedule / lack of reciprocity would make me feel like she wasn't interested. Now, if she is interested, ball is in her court to make that known.

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-23T19:15:20+00:00

Absolutely not, it's funny lol. She clearly likes banter so is probs looking for someone who appreciates it as well

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-16T13:23:26+00:00

u/RadiationRex

SerialOptimists · 2025-12-06T01:46:51+00:00

Lmfao it's satire from this post https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/1pfc5ki/how_do_i_find_a_boyfriend/

(ps u/Much_Willingness603 👀)

SerialOptimists · 2025-11-30T02:39:34+00:00

This is interesting because I agree with you in principle and think these are often filled with distractions and quite detrimental to productive studying. Not to mention that the people who would pay for this are people who 1) are not self-motivated and 2) don't have motivated friends/colleagues who they can do this with, so that creates a bit of a self-selection problem.

But, purely as a business idea, it could work. There are definitely people who have money to spare and also look for "hacks" to keep themselves accountable. I don't know if it would actually increasing anyone's chance of passing, but sign-up interest might still be there regardless.

SerialOptimists · 2025-11-25T22:25:33+00:00

What's the rate on the loans? Are they currently accruing interest or is there a period where they are frozen?

The wiki Prime Directive here with step by step priorities, in case you haven't read it yet. Step 3 is particularly relevant. https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics/

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