This is 42 Presents
Why can you work hard, earn more and still find the life you’re working towards getting further away?
Gary Stevenson joins Thinkable for an evening exploring the relationship between wealth, work and the rising cost of a secure future. The former Citibank trader, creator of Gary’s Economics and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Trading Game argues that understanding the economy begins with asking who owns it.
While most people rely on wages, those with substantial wealth can use the income from their assets to buy more. Gary will explain why he sees that widening gap as central to unaffordable housing and declining living standards, and set out his case for taxing wealth rather than placing more pressure on working people.
Drawing on his experience on the trading floor and his work explaining inequality, Gary connects the decisions that made him millions with the pressures facing households today. Join him for an evening about how we got here and what it would take to change course.
“The rich get the assets, the poor get the debt, and then the poor have to pay their whole salary to the rich every year just to live in a house.”
Gary Stevenson, The Trading Game: A Confession
Gary Stevenson is a former financial trader, inequality campaigner and the author of The Trading Game, a #1 Sunday Times bestseller. He is known for Gary’s Economics, where he explains the connections between wealth inequality, housing and living standards.
Raised in a working-class family in East London, Gary studied mathematics and economics at the London School of Economics before joining Citibank. On the trading floor, he made millions betting that the recovery expected after the 2008 financial crisis would fail to arrive. His experience of profiting while the people he grew up with struggled became central to his account of life in finance.
After leaving banking, Gary studied economics at Oxford and turned his attention to explaining the forces he believed were being overlooked. Through his writing, videos and public appearances, he examines how the concentration of wealth affects the wider economy and makes the case for taxing extreme wealth. His memoir, The Trading Game, tells the story of his rise through Citibank, the personal cost of his success and his eventual departure.
The Trading Game: A Confession
By Gary Stevenson
#1 Sunday Times bestseller
Gary Stevenson grew up in East London with little money and a talent for maths. A trading competition opened the door to Citibank, where he entered a world of enormous bonuses, relentless pressure and bets on the future of the economy.
As hopes of a recovery after the financial crisis faded, Gary made millions. But the trades that paid him so well depended on a bleak outlook for people like those he had grown up with. Success brought money without the freedom he had expected, and leaving proved far harder than getting in.
The Trading Game follows that journey with dark humour and an unsparing account of life on the trading floor. It is a memoir about class, ambition and the personal cost of making a fortune in a world increasingly divided by wealth.
“The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass.”
Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting
“Compelling, intensely readable, unsettling.”
Rory Stewart, author of How Not to Be a Politician
“The best finance memoir I’ve ever read.”
Zeke Faux, author of Number Go Up
“A rollicking read.”
Felix Salmon, Axios
VIP Meet & Greet
Make the most of your evening with Gary Stevenson with a premium ticket that includes an exclusive post-show Meet & Greet.
Your VIP ticket includes:
Please note: The Meet & Greet takes place after the show. Books are available to purchase separately on event day.
Doors Open at 6:00 PM
