If you think you understand the truly complex parts of finance, I would encourage you to re-evaluate. The world economy is still in turmoil and slow recovery because a huge amount of the experts didn't even properly understand the "innovative finance" they were using in 2008.
I don't understand it, and I have seen countless interviews and articles from respected economists who say there are financial products they don't totally understand either.
To "understand" something in finance is not quite the same as other disciplines. You can understand all the pieces and all the rules of something, but not truly "understand" it entirely. Economics involves a lot of sociology/psychology and difficult-to-predict human behavior. It is likely that no one is completely aware of all of these factors when it comes to any given financial instrument.
So, I don't think you should be laughing at someone and telling them to read books as if this is algebra or something.
I understand the parts I've worked in. No one likely has a clear understanding of 100% of finance (this actually crosses finance, accounting and economics, as well as statistics, programming and many other disciplines).
I have degrees in Finance and Economics, I'm a software engineer and my first job was as an Auditor for Andersen, so yeah, I've got a bit of a back ground in the "complex parts" of finance.
All it is for the most part is a fucking shell game FYI with different entities jumping through different nonsensical made up loopholes in tax law, financial regulations and anything else they can do to game the system.
Lots of people understood the "innovative finance" in 2008 and prior. For every stupid bet, there's someone on the other side. In fact, the reason we saw almost no finance people go to prison while the government gave billions, shows they know it far better than you give them credit.
You're right, reading a book about it is beyond most people. You have to actually pay attention as well.
I don't understand it, and I have seen countless interviews and articles from respected economists who say there are financial products they don't totally understand either.
To "understand" something in finance is not quite the same as other disciplines. You can understand all the pieces and all the rules of something, but not truly "understand" it entirely. Economics involves a lot of sociology/psychology and difficult-to-predict human behavior. It is likely that no one is completely aware of all of these factors when it comes to any given financial instrument.
So, I don't think you should be laughing at someone and telling them to read books as if this is algebra or something.