#171. Liquidity Access Plan (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)

What was your best day…of getting out of something at just the right time?

The penultimate month of 2023 was time of major transition for me. In two and half weeks, on the exact same Friday, would be: (1) the day of signing the final papers with my lawyer for a brand-new downtown condo I was paying for in full (no mortgage); and (2) the last day of my current job.

Okay, well, not that major of a transition. I was only providing the funding (i.e., liquidity) and official title for the condo: my brother and his girlfriend would be moving there. (My family’s assets were, for all intents and purposes, pooled. The town house I was living in was technically owned by my brother.) And the new office I’d be taking was literally the cubicle right below my seat on the trading floor; same level, same department, even in the same super-specialized fiscal agent function.

Two weeks before this, I had successfully attained a move—via full application process, competitive interview, etc.—from temporary principal analyst in foreign reserves management (a promotion I got nearly a year earlier, after Celdieu left on secondment, #74) to permanent principal in debt management (my original function, #114). Which was actually a bigger deal than it sounds, since Celdieu was slated to come back in March and technically, if nothing else changed before then, I’d be demoted. Which, after already spending the five years before this as a senior analyst—my progression had been slower than average—was an outcome to be avoided at all costs.

So through all of 2023, there was a never-ending pressure to prove myself in my role: to show both within this function and outside that I could take on this higher responsibility. The first three months went extremely well, with me successfully coordinating and completing the critical annual project for our function under very tight time constraints and limited resources.¹ (I’d been the only person on the policy team where promoted, and we’d only just brought in two senior analysts, from another team and from medical leave, at the start of the year.)

Where things went slightly sideways was with the next big project I led: understanding the liquidity properties of the reserves and coming up with an extensive “liquidity access plan” for it. It was important, and I took it very seriously (because I took everything seriously in 2023), but it was less central, more abstract, and—unfortunately for me—more intellectually interesting to others than the earlier project. So, ironically, two of my colleagues in particular intervened a lot more aggressively on this one: Aaron Brookbank, my close friend (#12, #3) and principal on the trading side, who had taken on a harsh career and life pseudo-mentor role with me in preceding years; and Lorraine Bouchard-Sauve, one of the policy senior analysts who was very smart but could sometimes take insecurity about her own performance out on others via harshness.

In short, there was a good bit of tension around how I was handling this file, culminating in me actually crying once (albeit in a virtual setting, so muted) in front of them in mid-April. Though we were able to patch things up well and work together through the summer a lot more effectively, and everything else I did in that role through 2023 was quite successful (namely, the #23 conference), that incident stuck with me and the file never quite gained the excitement that typically characterized my other projects (esp. in my new function). I was pushing hard only because it was my responsibility as a principal.

This Wednesday is the culmination of all these months of work: a formal “liquidity access plan” exercise with senior management and several other involved teams.² At this point, I know this is the final major thing I will do in foreign reserves. And this session is a big deal: at least forty people in the room, and twenty online, and it’s not straightforward at all. Not a lot more than a presentation, it’s literally me explaining the whole system start to finish and selectively directing questions to the right experts at specific points to generate meaningful discussion on issues and specific mechanisms that would never arise outside a setting like this.

It goes pretty well. As expected, it’s slightly all-of-the-place; in a fairly productive way that gives everyone else (not me anymore) a lot of good direction on how to shape future work. I end my tenure in foreign reserves by delivering a clear, visible success on a messy project (that for the most, I didn’t really want to work on).

And this whole day is elevated, because Seung Hyun, a trader from our Calgary office is visiting this week—he’s a central person in this liquidity exercise³ and chose this week specifically so he could be here for it in person. And despite only seeing him in person once during my Calgary visit in the spring (#102), him and I have similar personalities and a strong natural connection. And tonight is the night that Seung, Lorraine, I, as well as the other Ottawa traders Reggie Tsao (#90), Neil Bednar, and Russ Lockwood go out after work.

And it goes very late. We have drinks for a few hours at the 3 Brewers right next to the office, go to Ottawa’s premium taco place, El Camino, for dinner, than finish the night at the Lieutenant’s Pump.

Lieutenant’s Pump is an especially unique bar in Ottawa. It’s really just an extended network of smaller bars, each connected via narrow hallways, which makes the whole place feel infinitely large. The six of us settle down at a table at one of these smaller bars, I have to prod the staff there a few times to put Game 5 of the World Series (which ends up being the clincher) on the TV.⁴ And with my obsessive baseball fandom becoming an item of legend among the foreign reserves team by this time, half the entertainment for everybody is just watching my reaction—and extensive commentary—as the final innings of the Rangers’ first World Series title wrap up. (Even though Neil and Russ are the only real fans.)

This night might have been my peak (in Ottawa at least, #23) of my six years in foreign reserves. It was good I had saved the best for last.

For that, I will have to partly think the Grade 2 ankle sprain I suffered from office gym basketball in January (#90), which forced me stay at home and do nothing but work for a full month.
Note that at this point Aaron Brookbank has already taken a secondment-promotion at an adjacent institution, as the director of… debt management: i.e., he would be my client/de facto boss in a months’ time.
Especially he was Aaron’s counterpart, and with Aaron having just left he’d doing both people’s jobs for the past month.
At first they saw they’ll do it. Then, literally one minute later, I ask them again to put it on. And guy laughs at me and tells me, “Yeah, I’m on it. Settle down man, you are way too excited.”