As financial securities become increasingly complex, demand has grown steadily for people who not only understand the complex mathematical models that price these securities, but who are able enhance them to generate profits and reduce risk. These individuals are known as quantitative analysts, or simply "quants". Due to the challenging nature of the work, a blend of mathematics, finance and computer skills, quants are in great demand and able to command very high salaries.

Everyone knows about the great crash in 1929, how we first coined the term Black Thursday (Oct 24th), Black Monday (Oct 28), and Black Tuesday (Oct 29)… but did you know that the Dow Jones Industrial Average wouldn’t recover to the 1929 peak until 1954? It took twenty-five years. Given the recent volatility and how records are being broken (Dow’s largest single day loss of 777.68 just two weeks ago was eclipsed yesterday by the largest single day gain of 936.42 points), I thought it would be appropriate to fire off some more stock market trivia facts.

Although it would seem that we’re all about assaulting Wall Street executives, what with our violent and awesome URL, the truth is we prefer a calmer approach to dealing with some of the nastiness on the Street. However, all non-punching options seemed to go out the window when it was confirmed yesterday that, yes, Dick Fuld CEO of Lehman Brothers was punched square in the face while working out at the gym.

There are plenty of people telling you to flee the stock market right now. There are also those in the crowd that says now is a great time to buy. If you have a very long-term perspective, I tend to agree with the latter. In this post, I’d like to discuss not if you should buy, but how you should buy (or sell) in today’s market.

From the Great Depression to the savings and loan crisis to the "Panic of 1907," the United States has had a history of bouncing back after tough economic times. Test your knowledge of U.S. financial crises in the quiz below.

"All right, guys. I’ve gotten lots of emails about what’s going on with the economy and bailout, so I thought I’d put together a list of the articles I’ve been reading over the last two weeks. I added my own commentary to them below, plus links to stuff I’ve written that agrees/disagrees with each of the articles. My guess: If you read these links, you’ll understand more about the economy than nearly anyone you meet on the street."

They're called "Off-Site Weekends"—rituals of the high-finance world in which teams of bankers gather someplace sunny to blow off steam and celebrate their successes as Masters of the Universe. Think yacht parties, bikini models, $1,000 bottles of Cristal. One 1994 trip by a group of JPMorgan bankers to the tony Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida has become the stuff of Wall Street legend—though not for the raucous partying (although there was plenty of that, too).

Here's a fact: The speculators and hedge fund managers who run today's stock market need market volatility in order to make money. They can't make enough money if the market stays flat or moves only a bit, so they like extreme and unexpected price movements. They especially like sudden, surprise movements down, when they can make money off stocks they borrow and sell -- or, as they say, "sell short."

When the smoke clears on the current financial and legislative turmoil -- the economic landscape will look considerably different than it did just a few months ago. Here's what we see ahead:

It doesn't take much when you're near the tipping point.  Last week Countrywide Financial said it had increased defaults on some of its home equity loans and several banks took unexpected charges against potential credit defaults.  Suddenly investors reacted as if the whole world had changed. Their fears sent the popular stock averages to their biggest loss in almost five years and the bears proclaimed that the days of easy credit that has fed the bull market over the past 4 ½ years were finally over.