Another year in the book and already starting my 5th year as a full time investor. Who would of thought I would make it that far? Certainly not some of my old colleagues and some friends asking me when I will get back to ‘‘work’’?
I left the corporate world in 2019 just 6 months prior to the ‘‘infamous’’ pandemic and took the plunge and invest full-time with my own capital that I was able to save and grow (and shrink) in the public markets for the last 20 years (now 24 years). I was at a crossroad with my health and investing was getting serious and I had to commit and make the jump if I wanted to make this a full time gig. What a great idea I thought at the time until I saw my capital dropping -30% in March 2020…
I have been managing my own capital for the last 11 years (now 12 years) and shared my journey publicly on Twitter along the years. Believe me or not, I don’t care.
‘‘Despite the CAGR over the years, 2023 was not a great year for my portfolio at all and a year end performance is just an arbitrary time, I only care about my CAGR over the years and report to myself. Took a big hit with $CLPT and $XPEL in 2023 if you want to know.’’
Not sure I will share it moving forward, I have had people ask me to manage their capital and invest in the Maxwell House Capital Fund but I am not a professional fund manager, do not have a CFA tittle, any accreditation and formal finance education to do so.
Your idea of investing full-time:
The reality is more like this:
Sailing is probably the best analogy an investor told me years ago and Fahd from Roach Cap and @nachkari explained perfectly well on Twitter (Sorry X now…old timer here).
Do you have the stomach to handle the volatility?
The question is not IF….but WHEN? You gotta be a professional money loosing investor/trader to make it in this game by first handling the draw-downs and taking loses.
Back in July 2022 we had the 3rd bear market in 4 years when historically we averaged 1 every 4 years. Do you think I didn’t have a sleepless night? I can guarantee you I did a few times.
I am optimist about the future and markets keep going up on a long term horizon.
The Why?
You must think…this guy must drive a Lambo and travel to exotic places all the time! (Like that successful 20 year old trader add you saw on YouTube selling $1000 course on how to trade and looks like he made it…)
Sorry to disappoint, but if money was the only goal I wouldn’t be doing this. Money is the results of years of work and failures (because there has been a lot) usually in any discipline. Investing and trading is no different. You gotta follow your process and strategy sticking with it during tough times and perfecting it along the years. I do this because I enjoy investing, trading, learning about myself, my mistakes, different businesses, different strategies, meeting investors, founders, management team and constantly improving my process. I even made some good friends along the way! To me this a full time passion that consumes a good part of my time obviously in order to make a living for my family. I am having fun doing this and will continue to do so until… I guess it is not fun anymore? Who knows?
Money has never been the quest for me and my family…TIME was and still is to this day. In the end, money buys you either the red new shiny toy or….TIME.
The decision to quit the corporate world was centred around the 3 below sphere in life:
Focus 1: Health
Focus 2: Family
Focus 3: Investing
The most precious gift investing allowed me was time with our kids while they are young. I got to spend so much time with my oldest daughter growing up (she was 1 year old at the time) and just started kindergarten this year. We also had our our second child during that time. I cherish so many found memories and continue to enjoy every day. Investing also allowed my fiance to be a stay at home mom.
I don’t think I will regret this decision to spend time with the kids while they are young when I will be old. If I investing fails somehow, I can always reinvent myself plus who knows how long I will be doing this? For now, I still have the fire burning.
What I will be working working on in 2024 and biggest takeaway:
My priority number 1 is to continue to enjoy time with my kids and family. I need to learn to let the markets go more often and throw that phone away. Markets will always be there no matter what and there is always another opportunity.
I want to continue to have fun investing, learning, meeting investors and businesses.
I want to continue to fine tune and make this process sustainable for the future.
Work on the psychological side of things:
Investing is 90% psychology. Whoever said this, everyone has been re-quoting it, but if you have been doing this now for a few years, you will realise it is true.
Probably the biggest takeaway from 2023 for me is I was out of tune with investing for a few months for many reasons and wasn’t on top of my game. Had two difficult years in a row in the markets and a lot going at home with the family and young kids.
I also got too complacent and the markets kicked me in the… I was frustrated trying to perform, accomplish many things at the same time. I lost focus and should of disconnect from the market and take a break. I didn’t. I learned it is ok to take a break, to step away. I have good investing friends to support me who went through the same struggles.
Call this my mental sanity, my discipline but it is an area of focus of mine to study and work on for 2024. I will explore more the psychological side and self-awareness this year. I have a few books I ordered and started. Some investors also recommended some resources as well to help me.
Outside investing:
I want to continue to step out of my comfort zone in another endeavour that I can draw learning from to help in many aspects of my life including investing. For me it has always been about the outdoors, hiking, biking, backcountry skiing and running. I started trail running back in 2016 and have been doing ultra races the last few years. It is another long term endeavour filled with challenges that I can draw conclusion and parallel that helps me in my daily life and investing.
I will attempt my first 100km ultra trail race this year and training for this. I have completed two 50 millers the last two years (Well the second one almost due to an injury….).
I thought of doing another 50 miller this year and my friend
challenged me to do a 100km trail race. Again, I was getting too complacent…I highly suggest you find another long term endeavour than investing that can help you be on top of your game. To me it has been beneficial in many aspects of my life.
This post is getting already too long….until next time and appreciate the comments below!
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Great post. Kids are kids once. That time goes by so fast and there is no next time.
Being full time has a honeymoon phase then it's well boring unless you have other interests. Even if I wanted to spend 7/8 hrs per day in deep research mode my brain would fizzle out.
Good luck on the marathon. Why someone would intentionally do those is beyond me.
Thank you for this recap and for sharing your journey, much appreciated !
I got my last paycheck in 2019 as well, and I’ve been supporting my wife & 2 young kids since then. That’s quite a lot of pressure and the 2nd boat Gif is quite accurate ahah, but spending time with the kids (especially as they are homeschooled) and being able to work on my own terms is invaluable. All the best to you and your family for 2024 :)