MY STORY
I am a Gen Xer from the Bronx, New York that grew up in a lower-income, single-parent household. I got into trouble, played outside past dark and had a love for sports. My passion for stocks and trading started when I was a kid in the 1980's. Way back before there was internet, cellphones and personal computers (hard to believe how we survived), I would read the newspaper every morning to get the sports scores and stock quotes. This is before ESPN and CNBC ran all day long. Stock quotes were plastered all over the business section and quoted in fractions (as in 1/16 of a dollar or 12.5 cents). I liked numbers and tracking statistics (I collected a lot of football and baseball cards) of my favorite teams and players which ultimately translated into an interest in stocks and seeing how the numbers moved every day.
I enjoyed playing video games as a kid (started with Atari 2600), specifically Madden football on Sega Genesis, and became interested in Electronic Arts, the company that made the sports video games. I began tracking the stock in the late 80's when it was public under the ticker symbol ERTS (it now trades under the symbol EA). Back then I remember it trading around $16 per share, which on a split adjusted basis, would be about $2 per share relative to the price today.
When I was a 14-year old high school freshman, I began working as a bag boy at Albertsons making $2.85 per hour (minimum wage at the time). I was always worried how I was going to make money as I got older. I dreamed of the day where I could walk into a Toys 'R' Us or game store (Electronics Boutique and Babbages, which was the predecessor to Gamestop in the 80's) to buy any video game I wanted. It was this thinking that had me convinced that as my generation grew older, Electronic Arts was going to make a killing selling their video games to the people that played...and finally had money!
I was a decent student in high school, senior class treasurer and captain of the varsity basketball team. While I dreamed of playing in the NBA, I knew this was not a reality. Given that I was going to college on financial aid (first one in my family), I needed to stay in-state and chose Florida State University (if you've gotten this far, you've probably figured this out already). I was much better in math and did not like to read. I chose accounting as my major since I thought it was my best chance to get a job out of school and make a decent living. I was lucky enough to be at Florida State during the Bobby Bowden years when we won our first national championship in 1993 behind Heisman winner Charlie Ward. We also had a great basketball team with Ward, Sam Cassell, Bob Sura and Doug Edwards. I graduated with my bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting, but my favorite class during my time there was finance and investments.
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I was lucky enough to land a job with one of the Big Six accounting firms after graduation. My starting salary was $34,000. I came out of school with $8,000 in student debt and no savings. I got my first computer as a graduation present. This is when the internet started to become a big thing (think AOL). My passion for stocks continued and when I started working I finally had a few hundred dollars to start investing (I eventually bought a little bit of Electronic Arts). I opened my first brokerage account with E*Trade in the late 90's. This was the infancy of online trading. I would log into AOL to access my account. The user interface was something like a MS-DOS prompt.
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My foray into swing trading was in penny stocks on investment advice I received from family. I really had no idea how risky this was at the time, but I was investing in these boiler room scams and losing whatever money I put into these stocks. I was clueless about charting, technical analysis, stock options or futures. Since I did not have much money, it was not the end of the world.
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The early 2000's saw the internet explode and online trading become more popular. I also progressed in my career where I began making a low six-figure salary as a finance manager for a public company. At this point began to teach myself about trading. This was before Youtube and Tik-Tok and all of the free education on the internet. I actually had to read books! I bought every trading book on stocks , options and trading psychology that could be found. I would scour the shelves of Barnes & Noble every month for the latest trading book. I really took an interest in charting and technical analysis. I would watch how stocks moved against support and resistance levels. I had moderate success, but in hindsight, I had no idea what I was doing. I'd make some money and lose a lot more money trying to trade in and out of stocks. I also did not have much time to devote to trading given that my job and family kept me very busy.
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Fast-forward to the Great Recession, my trading accounts and retirement accounts took a hit. People lost lots of money, confidence in the stock market was at an all-time low and the economy was the worst it had been in my lifetime. The company I worked for went bankrupt. This was a scary time . As the saying goes, "what does not kill me makes me stronger." As luck would have it, I found my first CFO job, albeit for another bankrupt company, that was run by the famous billionaire and shareholder activist Carl Icahn. It was a risky proposition, but I had nothing to lose. I never thought it was job that would last very long, but it would pay the bills. At this time I began to study stock options and all the different strategies that could be traded. I wanted to figure out how options could help limit my risk in the event of another market crash and see if I could make some money on a consistent basis if I lost my job. I can confidently say I have traded every possible option strategy. I learned a lot by putting real money on the line. It was the best education money could buy! I learned about all of the option greeks and gravitated toward selling options and collecting premium off the theta (time) decay.
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My new CFO job went better than expected and lasted nine years. Our company emerged from bankruptcy and I eventually helped lead our initial public offering (IPO) and had the opportunity to ring the bell on the New York Stock Exchange. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good! We had a good amount of success for several years and eventually sold to another public company. Needless to say, this helped grow my trading account to well over seven figures. I finally had some real money to invest and trade in the market, as well as some more time on my hands. It was at this point where I started to delve into trading futures. I opened up a TD Ameritrade account and a Tastytrade account in addition to my original E*Trade account from the 1990's. The different accounts were set up where I could trade different strategies and track each separately.
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As I sit here today, I am 50 years old and the CFO for another company that is about to go public on the NYSE. I have experienced lots of ups and downs in my personal life, career and trading. I can without hesitation say that hard work and a little bit of luck pays off.
If you've read this far, you may be wondering why I created this website. The answer is twofold. I have gained a lifetime of valuable experience in my professional and trading/investing career. I never had someone that I could talk to or learn from that had as much passion as I did. I am confident that my progress and knowledge as a trader would have come much easier with a mentor. I enjoy giving back to aspiring young business students and traders and hope that documenting my trading journey can help inspire others. In addition, this website will provide the ability for me to document my trades and help maintain my discipline. I find I focus and trade better when someone else is watching!
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Hopefully you're intrigued by what you've read. I plan to update this website and my trades at least on a weekly basis. I am going to challenge myself to make $1 million by the end of 2024 solely day trading Nasdaq futures in my Tastytrade account. Please go to My Strategy page to see how I plan on doing it and my $1 Million in One Year to track my progress. These trades can also be done in a smaller account using micro-futures as well.
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One final note - I see a lot of scammers and so called experts charging for advice and trading signals. It is amazing how many services have popped up offering quick profits. The videos and posts about making millions and driving fancy cars is very funny to me. Take my word, most of these "experts" don't have the experience or a clue about what it takes to be a profitable and consistent trader. They are making money from selling their service and churning through people. I don't need to make money by charging for advice. I make plenty of money trading and have a passion for helping others. I am happy to respond to questions and help anyone looking to get better in trading, finance or business in general. Please feel free to contact me any time and I'll respond as soon as I can! Also, if you haven't figured it out, I am a huge Florida State Seminole fan, a big supporter of the business school, a booster and season ticket holder! I love giving back to the school that helped me get where I am today!
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Sincerely,
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