The kitchen table had been booked a day and a half in advance, and the meeting had her as a required attendee, so here she was at seven in the evening instead of hanging out with Motoko. Her mother opened with a typical topic statement.
"Hiromi, your father and I have determined that we need to have a talk with you about your goals and the utilization of your assets."
"We first want to be clear that you should be proud of the growth you've achieved with the portfolio we started you off with, but you need to be aware that only the poor fail to diversify their assets and adapt them to the current situation." her father chipped in.
Hiromi flushed slightly. This was going to be hard to hear, wasn't it?
"For example, your father and I regularly share tips, and shuffle up our assets annually to avoid stagnation. We also make minor adjustments monthly to optimize and synergise."
She shifted uncomfortably, and her parents noticed right away.
"We had hoped your teachers would have made this sort of thing clear, but that is clearly not the case. What have they actually covered in class?"
"Ah, well... They just had us study the technical specs and review the end user manuals..."
"Fiscal responsibility studies with no practical component?!"
"That sounds like a breach of contract, which we will have to investigate later, dear. To get to the main point; we have become increasingly concerned in particular with your missed opportunities recently. You knew about the big scav raids, and your choom was even involved, correct?"
Hiromi nodded in relief.
"Yet, there was a distinct lack of action on your part. That knowledge is exactly the kind of asset you need to leverage."
"You should know, the operation was so large, sudden, and reasonably secret, that the Tiger Claw management were able to short-sell scav futures and make trades in both directions as the news broke. Given all the extra targets hit, intel estimates include deducting a significant variable cost for hiring a set of solos for support. Particularly effective and thus surely high-priced solos that is."
Hiromi coughed involuntarily. Motoko had done all that for free in her anger.
"Even after all that, the estimates are still in the millions of eddies. Possibly tens of millions if the high frequency trading was reasonably successful."
That was an entirely unreasonable number. And zero was a completely unfair slice of the pie chart.
"Now, you surely remember how happy you were a week after the marina incident hit the news?"
Oh. This was going to sad places.
"You made a good profit selling a lot of chrome, but did you know that the marina's stock moved almost half a percentage point that day?"
"And local security markets also had a series of aftershocks when you know what you're looking for."
"So please, let your investment manager know next time!"
"We have also let ours know to give you a 5% finders fee if you have any tips to pass along."