How I Got Into Stocks
The journey begins in elementary school and continues through high school. My teachers played a vital role, but Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Benjamin Graham are the best teachers I never met.
I grew up in the Yo short for Youngstown, Ohio, and lived there until May 7th, 2016. For the past eight years, I’ve called San Francisco home. While my childhood dream was to live in Los Angeles, moving to San Francisco was the most logical choice at the time—and I’ve come to love it here.
I vividly remember my 5th or 6th-grade teacher, Mr. Banks, at West Side Upper School. He once told us he would look us up in the future to see where we ended up. After class one day, he started talking about stocks. He mentioned Take-Two Interactive and EA Sports, sparked by a conversation about the video games I was playing—GTA and NCAA Football. That moment piqued my interest, but it wasn’t until my freshman year at Ursuline High School that I began to learn more about investing.
Mr. Stroia, a legend at Ursuline, was known for his quirky ability to draw a perfect circle on the chalkboard. We would challenge him to do it again, but he always refused, leaving us in awe. In his class, we were each asked to pick an index fund and manually track its progress over time. My friends and I would go to the bathroom to call in for price updates before class, or even during class, to calculate gains or losses. This was my introduction to index funds, and by the following year, my knowledge had expanded to another level.
I transferred to East High School, a public school, for my sophomore through senior years. It was during this time that my interest in stocks started. In my sophomore and junior years, I took Army ROTC with Mr. Szewczyk, one of the most chill yet disciplined teachers I’ve ever had. He once asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. At the time, my dream was to play D1 college basketball and eventually make it to the NBA, so I answered, “I don’t know.”
That same day, or perhaps the next, I found myself on the computer researching the top current and emerging jobs in the U.S. Out of all the possibilities, I was drawn to the role of a financial advisor. It seemed like a natural fit, given my knack for research, helping people, and other relevant skills. Growing up in Youngstown, where sports competition is fierce, I trained myself with a mindset modeled after Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James. I applied that same competitive spirit to investing.
While trading penny stocks on mock portfolio apps, a thought occurred to me: Who is the best at investing in stocks? A quick Google search led me to the Oracle of Omaha, Warren E. Buffett. Curious about who taught Buffett, I discovered Benjamin Graham and studied everything about him. Next, I learned all I could about Buffett and his partner, Charlie Munger.
Studying those three turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. It led to consistently strong returns over time and ultimately landed me a paid Portfolio Analyst internship at Stifel Financial Corp during my senior year of high school. Tom mentioned he hired me over college students because of my knowledge, and I owe much of that to my business teacher, Ms. Paige, who relentlessly advocated for me. Toward the end of the internship, Tom mentioned how he wished he could hire me as a financial advisor “right now.”
I’m deeply grateful for the influence of my teachers on my life and the lives of other students. In this article’s subtitle, I mentioned how Benjamin Graham, Charlie Munger, and Warren Buffett are the best teachers I never met. Meeting Warren Buffett someday would be an honor.