Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

Age: 27

Family status: In a relationship

Favorite book: leonardo cohen “The spice box of earth“

Cannot spend a day without: time having moved forward

I have never: seen such a glossy piece of students’ press as the Insider

Languages spoken: Latvian, English

Partying vs. studying: 20% / 80%

Blondes vs. brunettes: blondes

Please, tell us a few words about yourself for those who were not at the first FE lecture with you.

I was born in Adelaide, Australia. After finishing university there, I went to Royal Military College and graduated as General Service Officer. Then I moved to Sydney to study Finance further. I’ve been doing a Ph.D. there and also working  as a research assistant. After finishing my Ph.D., I moved to Riga.

Why did you decide to study Finance?

I was inspired by a high school teacher I had. The insights in economics and finance I gained from him both in the classroom and outside in various discussions really inspired me to study finance further. It was also after discussions with him that I started trading stocks. At that time I was too young to own stock on my own name. So I started trading on my dad’s name, and I was fascinated by a bunch of questions that I couldn’t answer and couldn’t understand, e.g., why do stocks have a certain price? Why does that price change? How does information that a person might have gets impounded into prices? Curiosity on those questions inspired me to study finance.

Tell us about your work experience

As an undergraduate I worked a bunch of students’ jobs just to get by, such as selling newspapers, selling ties, participating in drug trials for the Medical Department of my university. Then, as my studies progressed, I started doing research assistants and teaching assistant’s work, and I started to learn more about finance. This was my first time full-lectureship, but I’ve been lecturing different courses before in the University of Sydney and a couple of other research institutes around Sydney as well.

Is there anything special or unique about SSE Riga students as compared to Australian students?

In comparison, SSE Riga students are more motivated and hard-working. That makes it somewhat more interesting to interact. The sense of humor is very different there.

Tell us about your hobbies

One hobby I have is brewing beer. I own a small brewery in a small sea-side village, just a little bit south from Sydney. Another hobby of mine is restoring old, antique French cars. They are a rare thing in Australia, and there are not many around, but I’ve got three of them: old 1975 model Renault’s. I used to spend a lot of my weekends rebuilding engines and switching parts around to keep the cars in a running order. It was a great joy to drive these vehicles, now that they are so old and the engine is so primitive in the way it’s constructed, and yet it can still drive you out several hundred kilometers in the countryside. Also, in Sydney I sang in a small local ensemble and in a men’s choir, and I danced in a folk dancing group. Actually, I also lead a folk dancing group. We collected dancers from all around Australia to form a decent size group, and we were able to dance here during Dziesmu Svētki.

Your main values in life?

As the number one I’d put moral integrity, this idea of saying and doing what you know is right and what you know is morally the correct thing to do. Not what is the most comfortable or the most popular. That means often taking personal sacrifices to do what you believe is the most correct. Within that is the idea of honesty, even more, it is the moral courage of speaking out against things that are wrong, even though that is going to come at a personal cost. These things challenge you as you live your life and it is often not the most self-satisfying in the short run, but it is the principle by which you can sleep easily at night.

What was the happiest moment in your life?

It was when I found out that I’d got a silver medal in Australian National Beer Competition; the happiest because it was the most surprising and shocking event in my life that I’d least expected.

What is the greatest challenge you have faced in your life?

A significant challenge was before flying out for Latvia, after I packed my favorite 15kg of finance textbooks in my suitcase and was left with 5kg of luggage space, deciding what to put in those 5kg to be able to live in Latvia for a year. After arriving at SSE, I found that most of the hardcopy textbooks I brought with me JB (Jevgenijs Babaicevs) had as pdf.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Probably doing research and teaching, these are the two things that I’m really quite passionate about. I’m not sure whether it will be in finance or some other area, but I’m fairly convinced that those two things I’ll be still doing in 10 years time. Other topics that interest me are the behavioral aspects of finance, even towards psychology, and understanding how peoples’ cognitive exhibit influence behavior and how that causes classical finance models to break down. Another field I could end up is brewery; you can do a Ph.D. in some brewery-related subjects, e.g., in Czech Republic, Germany, and the U.S. I would also like to raise a family. 

One important lesson you have learned from your life experience?

Not to pass up opportunities that you might pass up because you’re too risk averse to take on the challenge. Sometimes people are too scared of not succeeding, so they let the opportunity go by.  There’s nothing worse than the regret that sets in afterwards. The lesson I’ve learned is the following: don’t be scared to give it a shot, fail, try again, fail, and try again.

Recipe for a happy life?

Finding your own passion in life, finding something that you really love above all other things, and, once you’ve found that thing, then throw yourself at it. To find your passion – travel the world, explore different fields of knowledge, take risks, take opportunities, give things a shot. I think people end up unhappy because they think too much about what society’s expectations of them are. Those types of people will end up not being happy about their lives because they are not maximizing their own expected utility function, but instead their parents or society’s imposed utility function.

Your wish to SSE Riga students.

My wish for each of you is to find your own passion and pursues it. SSE Riga students make a big point of party vs. study. You will know that you have found your passion in life when you can no longer tell the difference between these two things because your study/work is a party!

Liene Grizāne

Madara Devko