Overleveraged, Overconfident

Excel-lent Mistakes: A Hall of Shame

Cherise Lloyd Season 1 Episode 4

This Spreadsheet Could Ruin Your Life (And Definitely Your Bonus)
You think it’s just Excel—until it’s not. In this episode of Overleveraged, Overconfident, we unpack five real-world spreadsheet fails that triggered $24 million losses, $6 billion meltdowns, government investigations, and even global austerity policies. From Barclays hiding rows in a bankruptcy deal to Fannie Mae's $1.2 billion “oops,” and JP Morgan’s $6B model built by one guy in London with a PhD and no backup plan, it’s a masterclass in how bad inputs = career-ending outputs. If you've ever copy-pasted a formula and prayed no one noticed…this one's for you.

Come for the Excel horror stories, stay for the schadenfreude.

This episode was researched and written by Cherise Lloyd. Some music was created by using UDO. You can find show notes, transcripts, and sources at www.overleveragedoverconfident.com. Follow us on Instagram at Overleveraged Overconfident. Support the show on Patreon and help us keep deep-diving into those spectacular financial fails.. Overleveraged Overconfident is part of Seven Seven Spider, which specializes in deep dive research and financial storytelling. All research uses publicly available sources, so no confidential or regulatory information, just my keen sense of spotting nonsense.