The Uruguayan Connection

My father, the cute kid on the right, leaves Montevideo, where he was born, together with his father, the stern rabbi on the left. Dad eventually made his way to Toronto, Canada, where I was born. At that time, a selfie next to an Air France sign was cool (as was the airline). Not anymore.

Born in Toronto, Canada

I was born a few weeks before the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup for the first and last time in my lifetime, beating the Montreal Canadiens in Game six. Family lore has it my father wanted my mother induced early, to ensure he didn’t miss the playoffs. Perhaps that is what cursed them for the last 60 years. (P.S. Mom, Me & Enzo. First haircut.)

Aiming at the Planets

Graduated with a BA (cum laude) from Yeshiva University in New York City, with a major in Mathematics and Minor in Physics. At this point in my life, I had never taken a course in finance or accounting. I wanted to go on to graduate school and become a professor of gravitational physics. (P.S. There were no jobs in that field.)

Geeks, Good Cheer & Statistics

While enrolled in an MA program in Mathematics & Statistics at York University, our kind professor Claudia Czado invited us to a Christmas party in December 1991. I survived the Christmas party and her brutal statistics course — though not the ugly sweater — and graduated with an MA in June 1992. And yes, if you were wondering, that was the demographic composition back then as well.

My First ‘Media’ Appearance

In what is the likely the first time I was ever ‘cited’ in the media, this article summarizes (and simplifies) a chapter of my Ph.D. thesis on the impact of income taxes on the pricing of derivatives. Bottom line. Taxes distort everything, including options.

I Got My First Ph.D.

Graduating with my (first) Ph.D. in Financial Economics, from York University in Toronto, and the person not wearing that odd-looking red robe from medieval times, is my grandfather Hillel Mannes. He helped and encouraged me to get thru-and-out of graduate school, because he himself was unable to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Berlin in the 1930s. (But, as he reminded me many times, at least he got thru-and-out of Germany.)

Stocks for the Retiree’s Long Run

Using monte carlo simulations in research project as a graduate student, beardless and portly, my co-researchers (C. Robinson and K. Ho) and I found that (surprise, surprise) stocks are a good investment, even if you are retired and despite the ups and downs. The Globe & Mail took notice. So did many retirees and their financial advisors.

Paul Samuelson Cuts-Me-Down to Size

Received a personal letter from (the legendary) Professor Paul Samuelson (see on side) in which he completely ‘destroyed my paper’ on using Probability of Shortfall & Ruin for decision-making in retirement planning. I also learned that all great economists retire to Florida. Sadly, it took me twenty years to realize how right he was (on both), and I attempted penance with the following article in the Financial Analysts Journal.

Welcome to the Fields Institute

Gave my first invited seminar at the world-renowned Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (in Toronto). The paper had absolutely nothing to do with the Asian Financial crisis, which apparently disappointed a number of people in the audience (and the US state department.)

That seminar did inaugurated an extremely fruitful and productive relationship with Fields over the next 20 years. I ended-up serving on the board of directors and incubating two start-ups.

My First Book is Published

I was warned by senior academics early-on in my career, to focus on writing scholarly articles and to avoid writing any books. Otherwise, they said, I wouldn’t get tenure. I ignored them (and have always had difficulty with authority.) This went on to become a Canadian best seller, though the publisher went bankrupt.

Float Your Mortgage

I authored a study on whether Canadians are better off with a floating versus fixed rate mortgages. That study has been quoted, debated, questioned and cited again in hundreds of newspaper article over the subsequent 25 years.

Life is More Random Than You Thought

My most widely cited and quoted academic paper, which was published in the prestigious Insurance: Mathematics & Economics journal, was joint work with my mentor and friend David Promislow. At the time, I had no idea it would “impact” the field, but stochastic mortality & longevity models are now standard. Options are much more valuable than you think.

Stress in the Sunshine State

Of all the consulting projects I ever worked on, this one in Tallahassee was definitely up there on the stress & pressure list. Was asked to select the “best annuities” for the State’s new Defined Contribution (DC) plan, as an alternative to their Defined Benefit (DB) plan. Back then there was limited shelf space, and every company wanted in.

Columnist for the National Post Magazine

A number of the articles I wrote for the National Post magazine during 2003, were nominated for awards, and one of them — something to do with mortgages, no doubt — earned the gold medal from the National Magazine Awards Foundation in Canada.

Stock Picking Pays Off

I won The Globe and Mail stock picking competition for three years in a row (2002, 2003, 2004) then ‘retired’ and published an article to explain how I did it. Though, perhaps what I should have done, was leverage all that publicity and open-up a hedge fund.

Best Dinner Ever

Had the honour to break bread with Daniel Kahneman, Richard Thaler, Roger Ibbotson, Peng Chen and Steve Henkle, in Chicago, as part of my consulting work for Ibbotson Associates. Other than eating, I kept my mouth shut, and listened.

I Got a Graham & Dodd

Received the Graham & Dodd scroll award from the editors of the Financial Analysts Journal, for my co-authored article “Human Capital, Asset Allocation and Life Insurance” which has by-now become the standard way of ‘thinking’ about personal investing and insurance, together – and much to the chagrin of all CFA candidates who must struggle thru the maths.

Life Insurance is Just a Hedge

This article, which was published in the Journal of Banking and Finance, was one of the first to rigorously show how to “add” different types of life insurance and longevity annuities into a portfolio framework. It seems tenured business professors with safe human capital need more protection, all else being equal. Their investment banking students, on the other hand, not so much.

Pensions in New Mexico

I was appointed by New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, to the Retirement Systems Solvency Task Force. Although I didn’t serve very long in this capacity, and it was a volunteer position, I did learn a heck-of-a-lot about the interaction of pensions & politics. Although, when I retire, I want to buy a ranch in Taos, NM.

Prophet of Doom in White

Designated the Guru of Worry, while wearing a very unfashionable white suit, in a full profile in York University magazine. (And his blood pressure hasn’t been the same since.) 

QWEMA Goes to CANNEX

I sold my first tech company QWEMA Group to CANNEX Financial in Toronto, and finally learned how real-world business actually works, versus the stuff they teach you in business school. I remained on the board for a few years after that, until the founder (and I) got tired.

Going Back for the Future

I got ‘infected’ with the history ‘bug’ soon-after I visited the (UK) National Archives, Kew, Richmond, and this is the — over 300 year old — charter of the Bank of England. The long list are all the investors back in the 1690s. They wanted a bank, because they were sick-and-tired of Monarchs and Kings who defaulted on their debts (the topic of my 2017 book).

A Confession Earns Awards

My writing on annuities for RESEARCH magazine in the US earned two Azbee Awards of Excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), thus ‘proving’ that I can do more than just write ‘math’.

Mo Goes to the Land of Mao

My book “Are you a stock or a bond?” is published in Mandarin, though I’m told by people who actually speak the language that the translation of the title and even the book content itself is extremely loose.

Performing in an Opera House

I always wanted to sing in Donizetti’s La fille du regiment, but this was second best. I gave my 1,000th lecture to financial advisors and planners for Investors Group, just outside Toronto.

Tontines and Coke in the Townships

Visited South Africa, to help launch a community tontine in the townships of Soweto, together with the fine young crew of entrepreneurs at NOBUNTU. Although I didn’t understand much of the discussion, the deal was as follows. In exchange for a lump sum, you received one (dead) chicken and two (live) bottles of coca cola every month, forever. Not a joke.

King Billy Wins Big

Honoured, excited and somewhat surprised that my (history) book on King William’s Tontine was awarded the 2017 Kulp-Wright book of the year award for contributions to Risk Management and Insurance, by the American Risk and Insurance Association. It was the first book focused on history to win this award over its history. Long live King Billy!

Chronological Age is Different from Biological Age

After testing my own biological age, and finding it was lower than my chronological age, I realized we needed a theory (and the world needed another paper) on how to calibrate decumulation and retirement plans to your true age. I’m quite proud of this work with my long-term collaborators Tom Salisbury and Huaxiong Huang. In fact, if I had to guess, this one will be cited for a while.

Longevity with Oldest People in the World

Every single conference in Asia requires a final group photo at the very end, or (as my teenagers say) it didn’t happen. This is the Spring meeting of the OECD, that is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Tokyo. To be very honest, I don’t quite remember what I spoke about, jet lag and all. Something to do with retirement.

Best Lunch Ever

If my best dinner was in 2006 with Kahneman and Thaler, then my best lunch was in 2018, with the great, kind and brilliant Professor Menachem Yaari in Jerusalem. His foundational model on the human lifecycle, insurance and annuities has been used and cited thousands of times.

Ho, Milevsky & Robinson Reunite

Lovely re-union with two of my earliest co-authors, Chris Robinson and Kwok Ho, at a Financial Planning Research conference. You never forget your very “first one” (co-authors, that is.) Note how we all aged over the 20 years that have gone by, though the original papers haven’t aged as badly.

Invited to Speak at Brookings

Was invited to speak about (what else) retirement income planning, in Washington DC, at the prestigious Brookings. I also had my first appearance on C-SPAN. Though, it’s unclear to me, who exactly watches this channel.

Invited to Keynote at the IME

Though I have given thousands of lectures and seminars over my life, this keynote lecture at the 2019 Insurance: Mathematics and Economics congress in Munich was special. I had given my very first seminar as a young graduate student at the inaugural IME congress in Amsterdam in 1997. And, here we were over two decades later, and I was asked to be one of the plenary speakers. History, and that is exactly what I spoke about.

COVID Teaching from Home

During the COVID pandemic, I taught all courses online from my home office. This became rather tedious after a while, so at the tail-end I invited some of the MBA students taking my FINE6050, to my home office. (No worries. We put the mask back on right after the photo.)

Human Capital & Squid Game

My book “Are you a stock or a bond?” is published in Korea (south, ahem), which is the fourth language — that I don’t speak or understand — in which my books were published. Though this one seems to be closer to the original intent.

¡Viva Los Pensiones!

In my first-ever visit to Madrid, I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual FIAP Conference, which is Federación Internacional de Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones. It also gave me the opportunity to test my Spanish abilities. Based on the translation, though, I’m not really sure I understand what I said.

Land of Ferdinand and Isabel

Of all the historical archives I have visited, by far the most visually impressive was the Royal Library of El Escorial, located within the San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastery near Madrid, founded by King Philip II in the 16th century. I put my Spanish to great use!

My Very First IMDB Entry

In what is likely the largest collection of academic economists and finance professors for Hollywood, I explained how “annuities” have been used to finance “decumulation” for centuries and quite possibly millennia. Sadly, and despite my strong performance, we weren’t nominated for any Oscars. Oh, well, there is always next time.

Tontines for Sale

The Tontine Hotel in the “Heart” of Peebles in Scotland was for sale, and I decided to check out the real estate. I thought to myself, “Why not diversify with a hotel?” Though, I decided not to invest, mostly because I didn’t like the price, or the name.

Tontines Resurrected in Canada

I helped Guardian Capital launch the first modern tontine fund in Canada. The initial publicity wasn’t great, it didn’t sell very well, but I certainly learned a lot (and had a lot of fun). The truth is, the real genius behind it was Barry Gordon (on the right). I was just along for the ride (on the left).

MSc with Distinction in Edinburgh

During COVID I went back to graduate school in History, Classics and Archeology and two years later, in November 2022 I graduated from the University of Edinburgh and was awarded an MSc in History with distinction. My MSc was expanded and then published as a book.

Some Papers Can Take Forever, to Write

In what is likely the longest I waited to complete a paper, this one with my lifelong friend and co-author Jan Dhaene, took the longest. We started the project (yes) over 25 years ago, when I was visiting the University of Leuven, in Belgium. Over time, the topic changed many times, and we finally got it done in Zimbabwe, Africa. (Long story…)

Religious Matters

Absolutely delighted that my co-author subcommander Marcos, and I, finally managed to get this controversial article “Pensions and Protestants” published in the Annals of Actuarial Science, which is an imprint of the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and quite obviously the main ‘go to’ outlet for ecclesiastical historians & experts in religious studies for cutting-edge research (ok, maybe not, but I am proud of this one…).

Back to the University of Edinburgh

As I approach my sixtieth birthday (chronologically, not biologically), I have decided to go back to school, this time for a PhD in Intellectual History. Here I am with my fellow graduate students at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. Yes, it can be weird being a student again. But stay tuned for my dissertation and next book. It will be a while. History takes time.