Recently, while perusing for a podcast to listen to while I did some light editing, I came across this guy named Gary Stevenson. The title of the podcast was something catchy like “Everything they tell you about the economy is WRONG”, I know, it’s quite tired marketing, but hey, I guess it still works since I still clicked on it lol. What helped though, I think, was that the description mentioned he was one of the top traders at Citi bank. We’ll come back to this claim in a moment.
Over the course of this particular podcast, ironically enough, we learn almost nothing about Gary. They talk about his book releasing in paper back, he tells a couple of small stories, and for the most part the remainder of the podcast is him talking about income inequality. As someone who has seen income inequality here in the United States, I found myself agreeing with much of what Gary had to say and moreover, I caught myself wondering, “so what do we do about it.” Gary finally outlines the answer: taxation, and policies designed to limit the control “rich people” have over our resources. To be clear, he makes it known that when he’s talking about “rich people” he’s not talking about doctors, lawyers, or teachers that invested their savings, rather he is talking about rich people who essentially own lots of assets and just collect rents. After the video was done, I found myself wanting to hear more. I still had more questions, and I was especially interested in his history as a trader.
So I looked around his YouTube channel and I watched a couple of his videos and, after noticing I had a ton of audible credits waiting on the sidelines, I decided to get his book The Trading Game. With an effort to avoid making this like those ghastly book reviews everyone has to do in high school and college, I’m just going to give you the most basic trajectory of the story and then tell you my thoughts.
Gary grows up poor –> he is great at math and gets into a good school (London School of Economics) –> he cheats at a card game and wins an internship at Citi bank –> does well, meets a lot of interesting traders, and gets the job –> he capitalizes on a volatile time in the markets and makes a lot of money, like a lot –> burns out and tries to quit –> goes to battle with the bank over his money tied up in stock value –> wins, the end.
As a plot line, it’s not bad, and it hits on a lot of the “financial fiction” tropes, namely: the rags to riches story, growing out of childhood friendships because of lifestyle changes (I know it isn’t it in my short outline but trust me, the parts including Harry are…. not good.), and making all the money just to find out it wasn’t what you thought it would be etc. etc.
But the major problem with the book is that it seriously lacks meaningful depth. I wanted deeper reflections, more vulnerability, and more of his personal story outside of the trading. Him cycling through girlfriends, his relationship with Harry, and even his relationship with his family seemed jarringly superficial. Often times, it felt like I was reading a book narrated by someone who was still working through some serious self deception issues; almost like he felt trapped between trying to tell a story he thought people would like, and telling the story that really happened. Thus, this created a lingering feeling that you were only being told part of the story.
And so here is the bombshell: Gary wasn’t the top trader at Citi bank, ever. In fact, according to colleagues that talked with the Financial Times, he was pretty much average and he probably didn’t even know who the most profitable trader was. You’re probably scratching your head right now, I know I was. Like, if you’re already a multimillionaire, what do you need to lie for? Did the money run out? Was he pressured by publishers to embellish his story for sales? His former colleagues mentioned that he had delusions of grandeur. Maybe that was it? I wish I could tell you.
In addition to forcing readers to untangle which parts of his narrative are fact or fiction, this damning lie unfortunately casts a shadow on his talks about inequality. Although I do appreciate that he is spreading awareness, one does wonder whether this is an exercise in advancing a political cause or if this is merely an attempt at being cast as the famous hero of the common man. At best this lie merely hurts his credibility, at worst it supports narratives that accuse those supporting income inequality reform as grifters.
With all this being said, it’s hard to rate this book any higher than a 4.5/10. I should say, by no means do I feel like I wasted my life listening to it, but after reflection it’s hard to say I really read anything of Gary’s story given that it was painfully superficial and based on a barefaced lie. Sad to say Gary lived up to the final boss of super hero tropes: You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.