🦉 Learning to be a Young Investor

my story

Seven years ago, my father unexpectedly passed away.

I was doubly blessed to have had one of the most loving and caring parents ever and for the legacy he left behind for our family.

Since I had begun to shoulder some of his financial affairs before passing, from the moment he passed, I took on the role of managing what he left behind for our family.

It was a huge responsibility and challenge, especially just being in my late 20s.

While continuing my regular life, and nine to five job, I started tackling this role. And dealing with financial advisors, fund managers, lawyers, tax specialists, and banks.

It was a struggle, and there was so much I didn't know. The fear of making mistakes that could hurt my family’s future hanged over me constantly.

At the same time, since early on I began to lose trust in the financial advisors I had been handed down.

So I decided I had to learn how to become a good investor.

But where does one start? And what does that mean exactly?

Looking back, what saved me was admitting to myself how much I didn’t know.

I began reading extensively, enrolling in the CFA program, taking online courses, and engaging with professionals, among other things. Each small victory was amazing, and every mistake was a hard lesson learned through trial and error.

While learning about the markets, I also had to learn how to deal with my family, my father's legacy and getting to know myself better.

The more I kept going at it, the more fascinated I became by how financial markets connect with so many things: success, failure, data, wealth, human behavior, the past, the present, and the future—ever-evolving.

I owe a lot of my learning to the awesome content being put out today by many great investors in the wealth management and investment world, whom I'll keep mentioning in my posts.

Their insights set me in the right direction and crucially, stay on it.

Unfortunately, the people sharing good advice are easily outnumbered by the large number of media pundits, salespeople, doomers, and gurus out there who offer advice to benefit their pockets—at our expense.

Why start the young investor?

So much of our lives revolve around making, saving, or passing on money. Yet, beyond personal finance basics, we are rarely taught how to manage money—which is not the same thing as creating it.

Whether due to personal success or family circumstances, you may find yourself, just like I did, looking for answers online and on social media. If you're reading this, it's because you want to learn and take control of your financial future, not screw it up or hand over the keys blindly.

The blessing is that we've never had so much access to tools, data, and opinions. That's why I love this world.

The problem is knowing what to do with so much of everything. Shifting through so much BS, and building your understanding takes time and experience.

I promise you this isn't another market research newsletter. Most professional investors don't consistently beat the market, which makes me very skeptical of most people offering research notes and stock picks.

We usually start learning about investing by asking, "Which stocks should I buy?" or thinking this game is all about maximizing returns.

I know I did. 

Which explains the abundance of such advice out there - like honey for the bees.

The single most important thing I learned as a young investor is to be around the right people. In our digital age, that means following, listening to, and reading them.

With that, everything else—whether you want to allocate one way or another, hire an advisor or self-direct, believe in crypto or not—will fall into place.

Receive curated highlights of what the right people are saying, and avoid the BS, gurus, and noise. Embrace diverse viewpoints, challenge yourself, and expand your knowledge.

That’s what the young investor is all about.

Lastly, the most unexpected discovery was learning to deal with myself and our psychological biases. I continue to be surprised by the convergence of investing with individual self-awareness and the need for having a sound temperament and humility.

Every young investor has to learn this from scratch through every bear market and hype cycle.

After seven years, I wonder, if I have become a ‘good investor’?

I don't know.

There is much I still don't know.

I continue to learn.

But I can sleep at night with the investments I've chosen, I trust the the advice I am receiving, and my family's financial goals are being met.

I hope the insights from my journey, the mistakes I've made—and will continue to make—and the lessons learned can help you, too.

We live in exciting times, and I look forward to what lies ahead.

Al Atencio

the young investor

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