The Amateur Investor. Ep 1: Wading in

The place was a little out of the way, but then again everything I was about to do was going to be far out of my way. I pulled up to the small house just outside of Brisbane City proper. Hsuan met me at the door, followed by his small dog whose name I can never recall, but am too shy to ask about. 

In a small study in the back, surrounded by a spread of pop culture memorabilia with his small dog laid out on my feet, we talked shop. Having just returned from a year overseas interning for non-profits, I was unemployed and looking for something new to do. I knew Hsuan from my climbing gym. He was a nice guy, in his early forties though he doesn’t look it at all. Between climbing sessions and beers, we bonded over a shared history in martial arts, amongst many other things. But we always came back to investing. On my return, those conversations picked up again, and I was eventually invited to come aboard with Mockingbird to help with their new blog, a position I am in no way qualified for.

I understood vaguely how the market worked. I’d seen The Big Short and had talked with friends at work about the concept of stock shorting and commodities trading, but personally, the most investing I had ever done was in the form of a managed fund for a rainy day. Not exactly Warren Buffet-type stuff. But this late afternoon meeting on a sleepy February afternoon was going to change all that. I was about to get jumped into the gang.

We talked about investment theses, the factors that govern market shifts and success stories in stock trading. All things that up until that afternoon, I had never given any serious thought. It was a full information dump to say the least. By the time I left, my head was swimming. I had and still have a whole bunch to learn and catch up on; setting up a trading account, compiling a list of companies and researching their viability as an investment option. But for all the confusion, I was very excited. As a child, I was a big fan of problem solving and mental gymnastics and understanding the intricate nature of the stock market seemed like the trick I wanted to work at and maybe one day, master. 

I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing, but I’m learning a little bit at a time. So whether you’re a professional investor or like me, are just starting to take an interest in the stock market, there’s something for everyone here. Join me, as I wade slowly into the confusing world of stock investing and try to remove as much of the mystery behind investing as I can manage. I’m not sure what the format is or how often I’ll do this, so we’ll just take it as it comes. Welcome to the Amateur Investor.