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Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street (Kindle Single)
Janet Tavakoli's Wall Street memoir of personal and professional decisions that reshaped financiers' lives, drove some to suicide, and changed the landscape of global finance.
What would you be willing to do for money and power?
In New York, the Federal Reserve Bank hides damaging information about too-big-to-fail banks from the public eye. A prominent bank CEO seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
In Washington D.C., a former Wall Street regulator checks into a hotel using the name of a hedge fund manager for an illicit meeting with a prostitute. In a D.C. suburb, the CFO of a beleaguered mortgage giant chooses a drastic personal end to “relentless pressure”.
In a picturesque suburb of Zug, Switzerland, the CFO of a major insurance company decides to end his life. In London, a financier kills himself in a way he once said he never would.
In her new memoir, Janet Tavakoli shines a bright light on the money-driven culture of Wall Street and Washington, and the life and death consequences of our decisions that put profit above all.
Approximately 16,000 words of text (not including front and back matter and references. 105 total pages)
Praise for Decisions
"Tavakoli takes us on a scenic tour of the recent lowlights of Wall Street and Washington...demystified and rendered tragically human. It's a compelling tale.”
Jake Bernstein, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
"Merrill Debauchery Only Begins This Woman's Tale... 'Neither Bill nor I believed Calvi committed suicide,' Tavakoli writes. 'Bill joked that he'd never hang himself. It was too gruesome.'"
Bloomberg News
"Janet Tavakoli is a born storyteller with an incredible tale to tell. She takes us on a br /isk journey from the depravity of 1980s Wall Street to the systemic recklessness that crushed the global economy.”
Nomi Prins, author of All the Presidents' Bankers
“An authority on credit derivatives, has written a reflective memoir about life in the world of finance. Tavakoli is not a woman who employs words carelessly, and when she says fraud she means ... fraud.”
All About Alpha
Praise for Janet M. Tavakoli
“She knows her stuff, has strong opinions, and turns a colourful quote.”
Financial Times
“Janet Tavakoli knows more about the inside of the financial world than nearly anyone else!”
Jim Rogers, Author of Street Smarts - Adventures on the Road and in the Markets
“Intelligent analyst whose command of the arcane world...mixed with a brutally honest analytical framework makes it a pleasure to read her work.”
Asia Times Online
What would you be willing to do for money and power?
In New York, the Federal Reserve Bank hides damaging information about too-big-to-fail banks from the public eye. A prominent bank CEO seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
In Washington D.C., a former Wall Street regulator checks into a hotel using the name of a hedge fund manager for an illicit meeting with a prostitute. In a D.C. suburb, the CFO of a beleaguered mortgage giant chooses a drastic personal end to “relentless pressure”.
In a picturesque suburb of Zug, Switzerland, the CFO of a major insurance company decides to end his life. In London, a financier kills himself in a way he once said he never would.
In her new memoir, Janet Tavakoli shines a bright light on the money-driven culture of Wall Street and Washington, and the life and death consequences of our decisions that put profit above all.
Approximately 16,000 words of text (not including front and back matter and references. 105 total pages)
Praise for Decisions
"Tavakoli takes us on a scenic tour of the recent lowlights of Wall Street and Washington...demystified and rendered tragically human. It's a compelling tale.”
Jake Bernstein, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
"Merrill Debauchery Only Begins This Woman's Tale... 'Neither Bill nor I believed Calvi committed suicide,' Tavakoli writes. 'Bill joked that he'd never hang himself. It was too gruesome.'"
Bloomberg News
"Janet Tavakoli is a born storyteller with an incredible tale to tell. She takes us on a br /isk journey from the depravity of 1980s Wall Street to the systemic recklessness that crushed the global economy.”
Nomi Prins, author of All the Presidents' Bankers
“An authority on credit derivatives, has written a reflective memoir about life in the world of finance. Tavakoli is not a woman who employs words carelessly, and when she says fraud she means ... fraud.”
All About Alpha
Praise for Janet M. Tavakoli
“She knows her stuff, has strong opinions, and turns a colourful quote.”
Financial Times
“Janet Tavakoli knows more about the inside of the financial world than nearly anyone else!”
Jim Rogers, Author of Street Smarts - Adventures on the Road and in the Markets
“Intelligent analyst whose command of the arcane world...mixed with a brutally honest analytical framework makes it a pleasure to read her work.”
Asia Times Online
291 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2015
300 people are currently reading
440 people want to read
About the author
Janet M. Tavakoli
20 books78 followersFinance Expert & Author
Janet Tavakoli is the founder and president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a Chicago-based consulting firm established in 2003. Internationally recognized as a finance expert, Business Week called her the "Cassandra of Credit Derivatives" for predicting the financial crisis. This profile features her acclaimed nonfiction finance books and business expertise.
Ms. Tavakoli posts topical finance updates at her business site: Tavakoli Structured Finance.
Fiction Writing: Author Janet Tavakoli has written the well-received financial murder mystery Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits. She also writes science fiction using the pseudonym Michael K. Clancy, creating the acclaimed Zombie Apocalypse series. She posts fiction updates at: Janet Tavakoli, Science Fiction and Mystery Author.
Media Recognition: She is frequently published and quoted in financial journals including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, New York Times, The Economist, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune. Television appearances include CBS's 60 Minutes, CNN, C-Span, CNBC, Fox, CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV, and BBC.
Education: Ms. Tavakoli earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where she served as adjunct associate professor of finance.
Books by Janet Tavakoli
Finance & Business: Credit Derivatives (John Wiley & Sons, 1998, 2001, 2022)
Structured Finance & Collateralized Debt Obligations (John Wiley & Sons, 2003, 2008): an exposé of grave flaws in the structure, sales practices, and methodology for rating structured financial products.
Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street (John Wiley & Sons, 2009): the causes of the greatest credit bubble in the history of the world, how we could have avoided it and how we can prevent it from happening again.
The New Robber Barons (2012): Janet Tavakoli's ongoing chronicle of the global financial crisis captured in her articles from the September 2008 meltdown through February 2012.
Nonfiction: Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street: Janet Tavakoli's nonfiction account of Wall Street skullduggery.
Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism: Janet Tavakoli's autobiographical account.
Fiction: Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits: Janet Tavakoli's financial fiction thriller debut.
Janet Tavakoli is the founder and president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a Chicago-based consulting firm established in 2003. Internationally recognized as a finance expert, Business Week called her the "Cassandra of Credit Derivatives" for predicting the financial crisis. This profile features her acclaimed nonfiction finance books and business expertise.
Ms. Tavakoli posts topical finance updates at her business site: Tavakoli Structured Finance.
Fiction Writing: Author Janet Tavakoli has written the well-received financial murder mystery Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits. She also writes science fiction using the pseudonym Michael K. Clancy, creating the acclaimed Zombie Apocalypse series. She posts fiction updates at: Janet Tavakoli, Science Fiction and Mystery Author.
Media Recognition: She is frequently published and quoted in financial journals including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, New York Times, The Economist, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune. Television appearances include CBS's 60 Minutes, CNN, C-Span, CNBC, Fox, CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV, and BBC.
Education: Ms. Tavakoli earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where she served as adjunct associate professor of finance.
Books by Janet Tavakoli
Finance & Business: Credit Derivatives (John Wiley & Sons, 1998, 2001, 2022)
Structured Finance & Collateralized Debt Obligations (John Wiley & Sons, 2003, 2008): an exposé of grave flaws in the structure, sales practices, and methodology for rating structured financial products.
Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street (John Wiley & Sons, 2009): the causes of the greatest credit bubble in the history of the world, how we could have avoided it and how we can prevent it from happening again.
The New Robber Barons (2012): Janet Tavakoli's ongoing chronicle of the global financial crisis captured in her articles from the September 2008 meltdown through February 2012.
Nonfiction: Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street: Janet Tavakoli's nonfiction account of Wall Street skullduggery.
Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism: Janet Tavakoli's autobiographical account.
Fiction: Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits: Janet Tavakoli's financial fiction thriller debut.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 20, 2015
WOW
Janet Tavakoli is not only one heck of a great writer, but also a person of high moral integrity. This short read discusses everything I wanted to know, or didn't want to know, about Wall Street, and America's financial crisis. It took Tavakoli less than ten years after fleeing Iran with a suitcase and 1,000 dollars to become the head of mortgage-backed securities marketing for Merrill Lynch. Oh, the stories she tells about parties and strippers coming right into the offices of men during work. And, oh my, how she got fired from her first position with them for speaking up and announcing this was just plain wrong. But hey, this led her into the wonderful world of mortgage-backed securities. Right into the belly of the biggest collapse since the Great Depression.
While I admit to floundering in the beginning, economic speak, huh? Still, this mattered little as the broader practices of big bank practices were laid bare. Guess what? It's worse than I could have imagined. Tavakoli not only names names, but explains why the "big banks" are too big to fail. And, of course the rhetoric as to why this is so. She also talks about why the bail outs helped no one but the banks through a nifty little secret the public was never made aware of. Why only a handful were ever prosecuted for the serious crimes committed. How the Supreme Courts ruling on campaign spending has affected contributions to candidates. Yup, it's all here.
I like to have somewhat of a working knowledge of what's happening in the big world of Wall Street. This book allowed me to have just that. Really enjoyed this one.
Janet Tavakoli is not only one heck of a great writer, but also a person of high moral integrity. This short read discusses everything I wanted to know, or didn't want to know, about Wall Street, and America's financial crisis. It took Tavakoli less than ten years after fleeing Iran with a suitcase and 1,000 dollars to become the head of mortgage-backed securities marketing for Merrill Lynch. Oh, the stories she tells about parties and strippers coming right into the offices of men during work. And, oh my, how she got fired from her first position with them for speaking up and announcing this was just plain wrong. But hey, this led her into the wonderful world of mortgage-backed securities. Right into the belly of the biggest collapse since the Great Depression.
While I admit to floundering in the beginning, economic speak, huh? Still, this mattered little as the broader practices of big bank practices were laid bare. Guess what? It's worse than I could have imagined. Tavakoli not only names names, but explains why the "big banks" are too big to fail. And, of course the rhetoric as to why this is so. She also talks about why the bail outs helped no one but the banks through a nifty little secret the public was never made aware of. Why only a handful were ever prosecuted for the serious crimes committed. How the Supreme Courts ruling on campaign spending has affected contributions to candidates. Yup, it's all here.
I like to have somewhat of a working knowledge of what's happening in the big world of Wall Street. This book allowed me to have just that. Really enjoyed this one.
November 20, 2017
Great summary on the educated corruption of Wall Street
I liked the clarity of how human greed led and will lead financial crises. The accumulation of wealth at fast pace is a sure path to decadence, irresponsible living, and prostitution of people’s minds.
I liked the clarity of how human greed led and will lead financial crises. The accumulation of wealth at fast pace is a sure path to decadence, irresponsible living, and prostitution of people’s minds.
March 12, 2018
Not quite sure if I liked this book. Its about the financial crisis but also seems to be a book more about self-promoting by the author about how she knew everything was so bad in the securitized mortgage back securities. Everyone on Wall Street and the banks all seem to be bad guys in her view and this stems from their macho needs. Most of what she was stating is probably true but the way it is written in this book makes it seem more like a vendetta on her part. A short book that probably should have been much longer with more elaborations and facts.
April 12, 2015
The author is an insider of the Wall Street culture and in this short memoir she describes the arrogance and incestuous relationship between the regulators in Presidential administrations and the executives of the major financial firms.
The story opens with a description of a couple of female strippers performing in an office of the Merrill Lynch financial firm. They were hired as gifts for a male trader that was going to be married soon. There were other females in the office, including a customer but they were expected to accept that “boys will be boys,” even when they are performing transactions measured in the millions and even billions. Of course, there is also the obvious “uncomfortable workplace” ramifications.
Sadly, this is the high point of the book as the recounting descends into the even more scandalous behaviors. Tavakoli has written several books about the financial industry, so she has demonstrated her understanding of complex financial matters. She also understands when it descends into self-serving fraud.
Tavakoli describes cooperative behavior between people such as former Treasury secretaries Hank Paulson, Timothy F. Geithner, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers and the executives of the financial firms that is most politely called “questionable.” As she describes it, they deliberately enriched each other with the American taxpayers picking up the tab through the massive bailouts. Her descriptions as to why Goldman Sachs has had such favored treatment disgusts you and makes you very pessimistic for the future.
Even though it is short, this memoir will make you sad, mad and depressed about the future. All indications are that the probability of another bailout being needed in the future is rather high.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review also appears on Amazon.
The story opens with a description of a couple of female strippers performing in an office of the Merrill Lynch financial firm. They were hired as gifts for a male trader that was going to be married soon. There were other females in the office, including a customer but they were expected to accept that “boys will be boys,” even when they are performing transactions measured in the millions and even billions. Of course, there is also the obvious “uncomfortable workplace” ramifications.
Sadly, this is the high point of the book as the recounting descends into the even more scandalous behaviors. Tavakoli has written several books about the financial industry, so she has demonstrated her understanding of complex financial matters. She also understands when it descends into self-serving fraud.
Tavakoli describes cooperative behavior between people such as former Treasury secretaries Hank Paulson, Timothy F. Geithner, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers and the executives of the financial firms that is most politely called “questionable.” As she describes it, they deliberately enriched each other with the American taxpayers picking up the tab through the massive bailouts. Her descriptions as to why Goldman Sachs has had such favored treatment disgusts you and makes you very pessimistic for the future.
Even though it is short, this memoir will make you sad, mad and depressed about the future. All indications are that the probability of another bailout being needed in the future is rather high.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review also appears on Amazon.
April 14, 2018
A short book about the financial crisis from an insider’s perspective. Sounds right up my alley. It fell short in my opinion, however. I agree with another reviewer that there’s no shortage of self-promotion, but I think some of that is warranted. My biggest frustration is that she presumes a lot about the reader’s knowledge and understanding of complex financial terms and transactions. I have a public and corporate accounting background and still found myself frequently flipping over to google. I can’t imagine if you didn’t have any foundational knowledge in finance/accounting.
Overall, it wasn’t a waste of time but there are better books/articles about the crisis.
Overall, it wasn’t a waste of time but there are better books/articles about the crisis.
January 19, 2018
Required Reading for all Taxpayers
I’m basing my opinion off the assumption the author’s assertions are 100% factual. The banking system is the greatest destroyer to the US middle class. The workers pay for all the arrogance and greed with taxes and 401k loses. The unscrupulous fleecing of the American working class should result in criminal prosecution for all involved.
I’m basing my opinion off the assumption the author’s assertions are 100% factual. The banking system is the greatest destroyer to the US middle class. The workers pay for all the arrogance and greed with taxes and 401k loses. The unscrupulous fleecing of the American working class should result in criminal prosecution for all involved.
May 14, 2018
Good points, but opinionated
It’s hard to find a book that puts facts in to play regarding the financial crisis.
There were some facts in this book but a lot of it was opinions from our author and not always based in fact.
It was still a thorough account from her perspective what the financial crisis was. I find it good to gather perspective from all angles as well.
It’s hard to find a book that puts facts in to play regarding the financial crisis.
There were some facts in this book but a lot of it was opinions from our author and not always based in fact.
It was still a thorough account from her perspective what the financial crisis was. I find it good to gather perspective from all angles as well.
January 18, 2018
A look at the financial crisis from an insider's view.
History always repeats itself in different ways. 2008 financial crisis was an empire falling story in financial industry. Now I understand why old bankers miss their glory days.
History always repeats itself in different ways. 2008 financial crisis was an empire falling story in financial industry. Now I understand why old bankers miss their glory days.
March 5, 2018
While brief, it was a very interesting read.
While much of the book comes across as an opinion, it seems to be based on an educated opinion. I enjoyed reading a behind the scene timeline of events.
While much of the book comes across as an opinion, it seems to be based on an educated opinion. I enjoyed reading a behind the scene timeline of events.
December 10, 2017
Nice quick read to get your blood flowing if you've lost your anger over the theft of $trillions of taxpayer dollars by bankers from the 2007-08 banking "crisis".
February 14, 2017
Tavakoli's take on the financial crisis of the late 2000s, while not new in terms of facts, brings another perspective in terms of gender and ethnicity. Good, quick read.
August 27, 2015
***I won this book through Goodreads First Reads***
I liked this book. I thought it was really interesting to hear the perspective of an insider. Janet Tavakoli is obviously super knowledgeable about the topic and it showed in her writing. My only complaint was that there was so much jargon; I felt that for the lay person it could be a little confusing, though I know she tried to explain everything to lay people to the best of her ability. I guess I'm just not that smart when it comes to economics. Kudos to her for calling people out on their mistakes. The whole meltdown probably wouldn't have happened if people had listened to her in the first place. Good book.
I liked this book. I thought it was really interesting to hear the perspective of an insider. Janet Tavakoli is obviously super knowledgeable about the topic and it showed in her writing. My only complaint was that there was so much jargon; I felt that for the lay person it could be a little confusing, though I know she tried to explain everything to lay people to the best of her ability. I guess I'm just not that smart when it comes to economics. Kudos to her for calling people out on their mistakes. The whole meltdown probably wouldn't have happened if people had listened to her in the first place. Good book.
November 22, 2016
Somewhat disjointed story line
Interesting and quick read, but story line is somewhat disjointed. I wish the author would have spent a bit more time on more thoroughly narrating the story and provide more background information. This could have been a more in-depth and informative book overall.
Interesting and quick read, but story line is somewhat disjointed. I wish the author would have spent a bit more time on more thoroughly narrating the story and provide more background information. This could have been a more in-depth and informative book overall.
November 19, 2016
Some good content here, but it's very disjointed and in horrible need of some serious editing. Nevertheless, it's short enough to push through, and there's decent value there, primarily dealing with the 2008 financial crisis.
January 4, 2017
This was another Amazon single that is not very well written. Interesting insight to the shady and sometimes deadly financial world where misogynism is still very prevalent.
April 18, 2017
Wow, Agree with her latin American friend. " we have seen this movie before accept this time it is in English".
Worth the read, for those that were blind tax payers. To big to fail they said... Do take the time and start understanding where your tax paying money went...
Worth the read, for those that were blind tax payers. To big to fail they said... Do take the time and start understanding where your tax paying money went...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews