The Construct of Technical Jargon
"How can I possibly learn about finance? Every time I look at a WSJ article, I feel like I might as well be reading Sanskrit. Why is this Krugman guy writing in secret code?" Although they probably won't admit it, we've all been there, and so have your favorite stock market gurus. So, why is it that information in this sector is made to be inaccessible to new entrants? Well, it's because of social constructs and lingual restrictions that work to create a metaphorical wall between the top 1% and the rest of the US population.
I'm not here to be the Paul Revere of the wealth dispersion gap in the United States. I'm here to explain how and why the financial or technical bullsh*t you hear investment bankers referring to isn't as complicated as everyone believes.
"The rich are getting richer! The rich are getting richer!"
Illustrated by Haleigh Roy
The term "social construct" applies to almost every facet of our lives. It can be applied to race, gender, ethnicity, and in this case, knowledge. What's particularly disappointing is that the metaphorical wall I referred to is built with bricks crafted by convincing people they are inferior. Convincing smart people that they cannot do what the wealthiest individuals in America do on the daily because they don't have the secret recipe. Brick by brick the financial elitists have built this wall, and now it feels as though a newcomer can't climb high enough to see over it and catch a glimpse of the promised land.
If you stood outside of the NYSE for 20 minutes with open ears, you might think, "Wow, that's some complicated stuff they're referring to," which is entirely understandable. But in reality, the terms and phrases you may hear are likely not as complicated as you think. More importantly, this type of thought is precisely what the top 1% want you to think. More confusion means more bricks separating them from you!
According to Judith Shulz's From Wall Street to Main Street: Tracing the Shadows of the Financial Crisis, the financial sector is described as a complex and nontransparent system that intends to possess elements of ambiguity. In her book, Shulz refers to the literature of a former employee of the Wall Street investment bank Saloman Brothers named Michael Lewis. Lewis' book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (2010), discusses how the importance of ambiguous language within the bond market grew wide during the housing crisis in 2008.
According to Lewis, "The bond market terminology was designed less to convey meaning than to bewilder outsiders.” With strategic purpose, the top 1% manipulated language to put a blanket around concepts such as derivatives, concepts that make the rich, richer.
This idea is not confined to the 2008 housing crisis and continues today. When you hear a phrase like "ROI," those who aren't familiar with financial terminology hesitate to ask what it means. You feel you might be asking to have fifteen minutes of your time wasted staring at someone who is using even more technical terms to simplify the initial term. In reality, it just means return on investment, which is something everyone understands.
It's time we cut the bullsh*t. The only way people can ease their way into finance is to have a destination that helps ease them in. Even places like Investopedia and The Motley Fool, who have it in their mission statement to be a disruptor and an educator, employ elements of intimidating language and technical jargon. The longer you wait, the more time you're wasting. Never hesitate to ask questions because odds are, your question has a simple answer… or at the very least, a simple version of the answer.
Sources:
Schulz, Judith. From Wall Street to Main Street Tracing the Shadows of the Financial Crisis from 2007 to 2009 in US-American Fiction. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden:Imprint: J.B. Metzler, 2016.