Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time
.Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
Everyone struggles with something in school.
For me, it was learning geometry and probability as a freshman. After deciding my teacher was absolutely no use to me during tutorials, I turned towards the next most logical choice: my dad. Full of confusion, I reached out to him, hoping for some quick advice. I instead saw his eyes light up eagerly, giddy for the opportunity to teach what he had learned as a student at Wharton Business School. That night, I actually learned about terms like "permutations" and "transversals", and felt ecstatic off the natural high after experiencing my first "aha!" moment. Seeing my grades improve, I chose to start sitting with my dad more often and practice what I struggled in. These conversations mostly ebbed and flowed around what I was learning at school, but soon we began talking about financial competence, or as my dad puts it: "The most important skill one can have".
As a 13-year-old, this bored me to death, yet I made conscious efforts to absorb my dad's wise words. The beginning few weekends consisted of going over basic terms, like "supply-demand curves", "elasticity", and "monopolies", but we slowly became more hands-on, and once we got to actual investing, I was hooked. My dad warned me, however, "It's not a game, it's much easier to lose money than it is to gain profits." He added only half-jokingly, "Also don't use 'eeny-meeny-miny-mo' to justify your actions in investing!" Since then, every day precisely at 9:15 p.m, the two of us get together and discuss our new findings for the day. I'm not afraid to admit it: I sucked at this in the beginning. While my dad would share details about market caps and inter-relational GDP's, I would share details about new smartphone unveilings and speculations about pricing. But my dad showed patience, and I learned to understand what to look for within news clippings and headlines. Not long after, we began talking so fluently, my mom described it as "hearing Martians talk" due to how engrossed we were with the topic.
My dad believes it's up to him to illuminate the hidden workings of the world to me as I grow up. For the two of us, investing is our 3rd hidden working, right after 'friendships' and 'got your nose!' As we learned more, I realized Investing is the closest us humans can get to real magic. It's not hard to imagine a Portfolio Manager or Personal Consultant uttering the words, "Now for my next trick, I will make profits appear out of thin air!" Of course, all magicians have their secrets, and it is up to us to discover them. As I discover more and more 'magic tricks', I realize how applicable these lessons are within my daily life. Being able to analyze statistical data, organize charts, or plot directional variances isn't necessary to get through a normal day, but why simply amble when you can seize opportunities? This struck a chord with me, and the hunger to create something meaningful was on my mind. Investing is my perfect win-win-win situation; Where I'm able to apply my skills in my daily life, apply my profits for my expenses, and share my experience with my friends, all while increasing my awareness of our world. It's hard to contain my ramblings for the subject, evident through what my friends call "passionate, but too one-sided" debates at our lunch table.
I can admit that I faced difficulty in school with certain subjects. It's through my personal motivation that I overcame this struggle, and found something I'm passionate about. To me, there is no greater excitement than the ability to bring together my passion for investing and my daily life in ways that will support my desire for learning and higher understanding.
I'm still in the midst of editing, but before I continue, can I get some feedback and critiques?