Some careers seem carefully planned from the beginning.
Chris Cathey’s was not one of them.
In Bulls, Bears and Pigs: Trading, Grief and Reinvention, Cathey looks back on a life that took him from a working-class upbringing in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the University of Cambridge, a PhD in Chemistry and eventually the trading floors of Goldman Sachs.
It is an unlikely journey and that is exactly what makes it so compelling.
Growing Up Far From Wall Street
Cathey was raised in Newcastle in an environment shaped by ordinary working-class life.
His father worked in heavy engineering, while his mother worked in retail. The world of elite finance could hardly have seemed more distant.
Yet even as a child, Cathey was absorbing lessons that would later become unexpectedly useful.
Through family members who enjoyed betting, he learned about odds, probabilities and risk. What looked like everyday exposure to gambling became an early education in thinking about uncertainty.
That mindset would eventually fit surprisingly well with trading.
Cambridge Changed the Direction
Academic success opened a door Cathey had not initially imagined.
He was encouraged to apply to Oxford or Cambridge and eventually won a place at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he studied Natural Sciences.
Arriving there was intimidating.
Cathey came from a very different social background from many of the students around him and he initially felt out of place. But Cambridge also taught him something more important than any single scientific subject: how to think.
He later continued into postgraduate study and completed a PhD in Chemistry.
At that point, an academic career might have seemed the obvious next step.
Instead, Cathey began looking elsewhere.
From Chemistry to Trading
As he explored different career paths, investment banking caught his attention.
Trading offered something very different from laboratory research. It was fast, competitive, unpredictable and driven by decisions made in real time.
After a long interview process, Cathey received an offer to join Goldman Sachs.
Suddenly, the boy from Newcastle who had studied chemistry at Cambridge was entering one of the most demanding environments in global finance.
He started at Goldman Sachs in 1993 and built a career that would eventually span thirteen years at the firm.
More Than a Career Story
The early chapters of Bulls, Bears and Pigs show how unusual opportunities can emerge from unexpected combinations of experience.
A working-class childhood taught Cathey resilience.
His family introduced him to odds and risk.
Cambridge sharpened his thinking.
And Goldman Sachs gave him a stage on which those lessons could be tested every day.
But this memoir is not simply about professional ascent.
The later story moves into love, grief, fatherhood and reinvention, giving the book an emotional dimension that goes far beyond finance.
That is why Cathey’s journey from Newcastle to Goldman Sachs matters.
It is not just a story about getting somewhere impressive.
It is about how a person is shaped by where they come from, what they learn along the way and how dramatically life can change after success arrives.
Bulls, Bears and Pigs: Trading, Grief and Reinvention is the story of one unlikely path through education, finance, family, loss and starting again.
Discover Chris Cathey’s journey in Bulls, Bears and Pigs.
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX34WRSD/