Series: Ask A Banker

Should banks be required to hold much more capital as a safety net? Just kidding, banks don't hold capital!

The main skills required are attention to detail, cheerful obedience, and the ability to add two-digit numbers in your head. Also, it helps to like finance.

A reader who just re-financed his mortgage asks: Why are so many people willing to lend huge amounts of money at such low interest rates?

Banking is a highly regulated beast. Shadow banking, not so much.

Does anyone make anything that beats a low-cost index fund? There are at least two short answers to this, which are (1) Don't ask me, and (2) No.

Two common questions: 1. Shouldn't more bankers be in jail? 2. How do I get a job in investment banking?

Short answer: Of course! Long answer: Here's what it's costing taxpayers, what people are doing about it, and what might happen if we broke up the banks.

More and more stocks are traded by computers, at speeds so fast humans can't keep up. The problems this creates are largely the problems created by all trading, just speeded up.

They're traveling money salesmen. This explains why many of them are so ornery so much of the time.