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Hi everyone,
So...my story. At the end of 2019, I moved to Spain for a new project. New country, new language, and only a few hundred euros on my account. I took the job partly out of curiosity, partly out of uncertainty. I honestly didn’t know where I was heading in life back then. I was waiting for something. Who knows what...
Two months later, I broke my leg while hiking and had to call a rescue helicopter in a foreign language. Shortly after that, COVID hit.
Like many retail investors during lockdowns, I suddenly had time. Work started going well, I found meaning in what I was doing, and money slowly accumulated. That’s when I discovered investing. Through podcasts, like all us millennials.
I did what many people did at the time:
Easy platforms, copying others, automated portfolios, a bit of everything. I didn’t really understand what I was doing. I was driven by FOMO. I believed markets would only go up after COVID. Bitcoin felt like something you had to own or you were missing out. Investing was a topic everywhere, even at the gym.
Then reality hit...
Markets dropped. “Buy the dip” turned into another dip, and then another one. I panicked, kept changing strategies, even tried shorting without really understanding the risks. Looking back, it was a long chain of bad decisions. Technical analysis? Fundamentals? Mostly chaos instead of a plan.
It took more than a year to slow down.
I stopped copying others and stopped experimenting and started asking myself why I was investing in the first place. I shifted from chasing returns to understanding sectors and businesses. Fewer decisions, longer holding periods. First the bigger picture, geopolitics and macro trends and then sectors, and only then individual companies.
I leaned into what I’m actually good at. I’m a planner and an analyst. I’m not built for fast trades. I work better with long-term thinking and adapting over time.
Not everything worked out. I closed some positions at a loss because I lost confidence in them. But mentally, something changed. I stopped checking prices constantly. I stopped reacting to every headline.
Today, investing for me is mostly about calm and sleep. I invest surplus money, not hope. I focus on companies I’d be comfortable holding through bad periods. Dividends also matter to me.
I recently became a father. That changed my view on risk more than any book ever could.
I’m still learning and probably always will be. I’m sure more mistakes are ahead. I’m just less afraid of them now.
**I’m curious:**
* How did you personally get into investing or trading?
* What was your biggest early mistake?
* What helped you slow down and stick to one strategy?
Thanks for reading... if youve managed to stay until the end...