Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street

Janet Tavakoli's Wall Street memoir of decisions that reshaped financiers' lives, drove some to suicide, and changed the landscape of global finance.

What would you be willing to do for money and power?


In New York, the Federal Reserve Bank hides damaging information about too-big-to-fail banks from the public eye. A prominent bank CEO seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

In Washington D.C., a former Wall Street regulator checks into a hotel using the name of a hedge fund manager for an illicit meeting with a prostitute. In a D.C. suburb, the CFO of a beleaguered mortgage giant chooses a drastic personal end to “relentless pressure”.

In a picturesque suburb of Zug, Switzerland, the CFO of a major insurance company decides to end his life. In London, a financier kills himself in a way he once said he never would.

In her new memoir, Janet Tavakoli shines a bright light on the money-driven culture of Wall Street and Washington, and the life and death consequences of our decisions that put profit above all.

Approximately 16,000 words of text (not including front and back matter and references. 105 total pages)


Praise for Decisions

"Tavakoli takes us on a scenic tour of the recent lowlights of Wall Street and Washington...demystified and rendered tragically human. It's a compelling tale.”
Jake Bernstein, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting

"Merrill Debauchery Only Begins This Woman's Tale... 'Neither Bill nor I believed Calvi committed suicide,' Tavakoli writes. 'Bill joked that he'd never hang himself. It was too gruesome.'"
Bloomberg News

"Janet Tavakoli is a born storyteller with an incredible tale to tell. She takes us on a br /isk journey from the depravity of 1980s Wall Street to the systemic recklessness that crushed the global economy.”
Nomi Prins, author of All the Presidents' Bankers

“An authority on credit derivatives, has written a reflective memoir about life in the world of finance. Tavakoli is not a woman who employs words carelessly, and when she says fraud she means ... fraud.”
All About Alpha


Praise for Janet M. Tavakoli

“She knows her stuff, has strong opinions, and turns a colourful quote.”
Financial Times

“Janet Tavakoli knows more about the inside of the financial world than nearly anyone else!”
Jim Rogers, Author of Street Smarts - Adventures on the Road and in the Markets

“Intelligent analyst whose command of the arcane world...mixed with a br /utally honest analytical framework makes it a pleasure to read her work.”
Asia Times Online