Money, read like people.
Nagham Writes is a newsletter in a form I call Narrative Finance. It begins with a simple conviction: markets are not machines occasionally disrupted by emotion. They are systems in which fundamentals are continuously interpreted through fear, desire, memory, and denial. Psychology does not merely distort price; it helps produce it.
One bias,
three lenses
Each issue takes one cognitive bias—the kind psychologists have named and studied—and follows it through three lenses.
The StoryA human story—a reported case, a composite, or a clearly fictionalized scene—in which someone is caught inside the bias before knowing its name. This is where the pattern becomes recognizable, because you have been this person or sat across from them.
The WorldThe same bias at scale, playing out in a capital, a negotiation, or a crisis. Governments and institutions repeat many of the errors individuals make. The stakes change; the psychology remains recognizable.
The MarketThe bias with a ticker attached: what market participants may be rewarding, ignoring, or mispricing—and where the strongest case against the thesis lives. Analysis, not advice.
Who’s writing
I’m Nagham—a Lebanese-American writer based in Beirut, with a background in law and international affairs. Living through a currency collapse transformed behavioral finance from a textbook subject into something immediate and observable.
Nagham Writes launches in English and is being built to support Arabic editions properly. Any Arabic edition will be adapted and reviewed in my voice—not published as an unreviewed machine translation.
Our Approach
Nagham Writes is for investors who want to own businesses for the long term, with room for selective swing trades around those holdings.
Our starting point is the business: how it earns money, what could strengthen or weaken it, and whether its price offers value under reasonable assumptions. An apparent bargain deserves scrutiny. What has the market misunderstood—and what might we be missing?
We connect that company-level research with the wider world. Economics and geopolitics become useful when we can explain their effect on a business’s customers, costs, financing or competitive position. Human behavior helps us understand both market expectations and our own blind spots.
Long-term conviction anchors the approach. Decisions about adding or trimming require a fresh look at valuation, price behavior and total exposure. Every investment idea needs room for uncertainty—and evidence that would make us reconsider.
Our purpose is to help readers understand what they own, recognize meaningful changes and make decisions with greater preparation and discipline.
The rhythm
The Sunday Letter arrives every Sunday.
Get the Sunday LetterNagham Writes offers independent commentary for educational and informational purposes. Nothing published here constitutes personalized investment advice.