Many of us watched Friends when it was originally broadcast using our rabbit ear antennas or through basic cable. Others watched it on reruns. While, more recently, some of us (or our children) watched on Netflix or, even more recently, on HBO Max. Regardless of how you watched this show about six BFFs in NYC (living well above their means), you may have laughed or even cried, but unless you consulted with Phoebe’s psychic, you may not have realized that the TV show was about securities regulation and provides important lessons for those in the securities business.

While Friends didn’t deal with “traditional” securities issues such as Dogs of the Dow or Roaring Kitty, it did have “Smelly Cat.” It also dealt with pre-Internet day trading in a storyline that sounds remarkably similar to current events: Monica began trading stocks because she didn’t like her available job opportunities. For a neophyte, Monica had fairly sophisticated understandings of the ways of the securities world. Sort of. For example, Monica (and the others) discussed...

Originally published in NSCP Currents - March 2021.