Every financial disaster has a mechanism.
Money Examined publishes researched stories and books about money, financial history, and the decisions behind success and failure. Sourced, plainly written, and never a sales pitch.
Our first book
10 Disasters That Ruined Smart People
True stories of brilliant people, devastating money mistakes, and the mechanisms behind them.
Isaac Newton. Ulysses S. Grant. Mark Twain. Two Nobel laureates in economics. The man who ran the New York Stock Exchange. Each was smarter, more experienced, or more accomplished than almost anyone around them. Each lost something large.
Seven patterns, three centuries.
The technologies changed: quill and ledger, telegraph, ticker tape, computer models, derivatives. The mechanisms did not change as much.
- 1The crowd
- 2Borrowed money and financial leverage
- 3Concentration
- 4Unexplained returns
- 5Hidden or unaccepted losses
- 6Rare but devastating risks
- 7Misplaced certainty
Stories in sixty seconds
Get them by email →The South Sea Bubble, 1720
Even Isaac Newtonbought the top.
Newton reportedly lost around £20,000.
Banking
The day
a bank lost
everything
One column is enough to bring the whole house down.
Markets
The$1billionmistake
The author
Robert Greenland
Robert Greenland writes about money, human behavior, and the decisions that shape fortunes.
From the South Sea Bubble to the collapse of modern financial empires, his books explore the extraordinary stories behind financial success and failure — and the lessons that remain relevant today.
Explore his books →