This is precisely why financial modellers need to take holidays. And on those holidays, they need to relax and let their minds wander and be able to indulge in the luxury of thinking.
According to the Economist magazine (August 21st 2021), the nature of holidays is changing with continual connection to the office. We all know plenty of people who will furtively scroll through emails whilst on the beach. However, research shows that time away from work really does help to clear the mind. French workers, who often take much of August off, are expected to “fizz with ideas” in September.
Financial modelling is not the dry subject many think it is. It requires inspiration. A relaxed holiday state gives modellers the ideal environment to think about the big picture and ask a few searching questions about their models. For example:
- What are they really trying to get their model to tell them?
- What areas are causing problems and why?
- Why do they think they need to iterate or include circular references, when this plainly makes no logical sense?
When I am on holiday, I just can’t help thinking about financial models. However, even if modellers would prefer to leave all of these knotty problems in the office completely, a break away from the computer will certainly give the brain time to think, even if subconsciously. Good ideas should be ripe for harvesting in September.