Things noticed that change how you read the next one.
Expect an edge to be small, to fade, and to cost more to find than to run; a large, durable, obvious one is probably not an edge.
Quant interviews, and any conversation about whether a published strategy can still work.
From The Man Who Solved the Market · Gregory Zuckerman
The 2023 runs redistributed deposits towards the largest banks and exposed a pricing gap that already existed; they did not reprice the system.
Any question about the 2023 banking crisis, deposit flight or the funding advantage of the largest banks.
From Deposits and the March 2023 Banking Crisis–A Retrospective · Stephan Luck and Matthew Plosser, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Liberty Street Economics)
Before weighing advice, work out how the adviser is paid and what that pays them to say.
Evaluating any product, fund or recommendation, and in interviews about asset management economics.
From Where Are the Customers' Yachts? · Fred Schwed Jr.
The price of risk tracks the mood, so the useful time to buy is when the mood is worst, and the dangerous time is when it is best.
Any question about market timing, contrarian investing or what to do in a crisis.
From Berkshire Hathaway's 2008 letter to shareholders · Warren Buffett
Private credit's borrowers are more levered and its recoveries lower than the syndicated market's, and the capital waiting to be deployed is what pressures underwriting.
Credit fund, leveraged finance and private equity interviews, and any discussion of where the risks in private credit sit.
From Private Credit: Characteristics and Risks · Fang Cai and Sharjil Haque, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FEDS Notes)
Being distinctive is not a state but a cost paid continuously; stop paying it and the drift to typical begins.
Questions about culture, moats that depend on behaviour rather than assets, and personal career choices.
From Amazon's 2020 letter to shareowners, Jeff Bezos's last as chief executive · Jeff Bezos
The common factor among people who last is not how they pick trades but how they limit what a wrong one costs.
Sales and trading, hedge fund and any markets interview that asks how you would manage a position.
From Market Wizards · Jack D. Schwager
Institutional AI is scoped, governed and data-limited; expect to work inside those limits and to be able to explain them.
Questions about AI in banking, technology roles inside financial firms, and any claim about what AI is doing to the industry.
From Goldman CIO Marco Argenti on the Warp-Speed Improvements in AI · Bloomberg Odd Lots
Growth is arriving faster and concentrating harder, so a company's trajectory in its first year tells you more than it used to.
Venture and growth diligence, cohort analysis, and any question about base rates for new companies.
From Stripe's 2025 annual letter · Patrick Collison and John Collison