Aged Fail

Ever been to a skeezy night club and watched a 45-year-old guy try to pick up a 20-year-old girl? And then later in the night, you catch a peek of him through the window of the diner down the street slumped alone in a booth eating pastrami-hash and eggs over medium?

That's one form of aged fail. It's what Match.com is for.

Another form of aged fail comes in the world of finance. In this example, two brokers reach an agreement for the exchange of some asset at some point in the future. This deal arrangement structure is common in futures trading.

So Broker A says he'll sell 100 shares of stock to Broker B on June 1 at $10 a share. However, when June 1 comes along, Broker A is like "uh, it turns out I don't have any shares of that stock." Broker B is all "you better get it, brah."

Eventually Broker A stops returning Broker B's calls and, before you know it, rumors start circulating that Broker A was last seen boarding a plane to Rio with a briefcase possibly full of negotiable bearer bonds (but also possibly full of clothes; you know how rumors get).

Anyway, after 30 days from the settlement date, the original contract is an aged fail. Broker A now has the SEC breathing down his neck (all for a matter of $1,000 contract...our guess is that guy had other things going on). But hey, we're sure Rio is nice as long as those bearer bonds hold up.