The Seeker Files: Character Bios: Abraham Stokes
Name: Abraham Stokes
Human, Class: Stockbroker
Background: Abraham Stokes is a 41-year-old stockbroker working for MegaCo Corporation's finance division (NYSE: MEGA). Abe lives in the suburbs just outside of Manhattan with his lovely wife, Emily, and his current eldest son, Jacob. Jacob's starting middle school this fall.
Abe has a rocky relationship with his ex-wife, Maria. The two of them were married between 2003 and January 2009. Maria filed the divorce papers right after the 2008 crash. Abe and Maria had a son named Samuel. Maria got custody of Samuel in the divorce. Abraham learned, in the middle of 2009, on his 25th birthday, in bankruptcy court, that Samuel had died in an unfortunate trampoline accident at a friend's house. It wasn't a very good day.
From 2004 to 2009, Abraham worked for Merrill Lynch; first as an intern, then as a junior trader. Abe achieved large returns by trading on new-fangled collateralized debt obligations and insider info about forex. The returns were astronomical. Abe got out of CDOs before the crash, but his information broker started feeding him bad information. Abe's positions were heavily leveraged. Abe was among the first wave of employees that Merrill Lynch laid off in 2009.
Between 2009 and 2024, Abe worked for various banks as an increasingly senior trader while trying to launch small businesses on the side. Most of the businesses Abe started sputtered out quickly, but a couple of them turned a modest profit.
Abraham became a Journal Seeker as part of the third step of his mid-life crisis roadmap.
Fieldnotes (Fun-Facts!): -All of Abe's grandmothers are named Maria. It makes Thanksgivings very confusing.
-Abe has a seven-step roadmap for how his mid-life crisis will play out. It must be strictly adhered to.
-Abraham has both an MBA and a CFA. He got his employers to pay for them.
-Abraham enjoys reading Dilbert in the Sunday edition of the Wall Street Journal.
-Abraham used to be happy-go-lucky and full of life. He isn't now.
-Abraham enjoys playing golf and tennis at his local country club.
-Abraham's great-great-grandfather, Ricky, was born in the late 1800s. Due to circumstances that nobody in the family likes to talk about, he's still alive.
-Abraham has a boat, laden with fishing gear, parked in his driveway. He keeps insisting he'll use it this summer.
-In high school, Abraham said he wanted to be an artist. That didn't pan out.
