My Grandparents, they spend most of their life as rice farmers in a small village near Guangzhou, China. My father and mother, who seeks better education for me and my brother, immigrated to North America in the 1990s.
When I first come to America at the age of 13, I don't speak a word of English, and going to school was difficult. I was quiet most of the time, because my self esteem was low due to the language barrier.
I was bullied in high school, and when my teachers told my parent that I was behind in school, and was quiet most of the time. my parents took me to see the doctor.
The funny thing is both my parents and the doctor thought I have "learning difficulties" (doctor's term for stupid) and they thought they should send me to special education schools at that time.
That's when I realized I need to take some action, and improve my grades.(because I don't want to be sent to special Ed). I open myself up, made some friends, and studied a little harder. Before you know it, I was graduating College.
After college, I was lost. I loss the sense of purpose. I don't know what I should pursuit. Like most college graduates, I look for jobs that's relevant to my Major, which is Facility Management. If you ask me what it is, it's an Engineering Major, that's all I wanted to say.
I have worked in construction, as a HVAC contractors, Office Assistant, and Teacher's assistant. Eventually, I settled in an Asian food manufacturing company in Brooklyn, NY.
Because my parents are hard working individuals, our life in the US wasn't bad. We have a steady income, and they have savings. Very soon, we have bought our first home in Brooklyn, NY.
Since renting in New York is really expensive, I find it quite difficult to just survive with my meager salary at the time. I decided to live with my parents, so I could save some money.
I managed to save about $13,000 in a year or so, but I was not happy. I was being extremely frugal, and try to save every dime, and 13k was all I could save. Since the stereo type that Asian are mostly good at math, so I did some math. If I keep this up for like 40 years, I could probably save 520k. I was quite disappointed.
520k at the age of 65 is quite small a number for anyone living in New York where the cost of living is among the highest in the world. Looks like I'm going to have to retire poor and frugal.
The worse thing is, I DO NOT enjoy living in frugality.
I can't spend on food I like, clothing I love, or even buy some nice things for my family during the holidays.
Something has to change.
That's when I hear about Forex Trading from my girlfriend at the time.
Her parents made a fortune from Forex Trading, and maybe I can look into it too, she said.
I was skeptical, but I started researching it.
The moment I started to read about forex trading, the stock market, and all the derivatives my mind was lit up! There is a chance after all, I can become wealthy!
It was then, I decided to start Trading, as a Forex Trader...
I started as a technical trader.
I analyze charts, use indicators such as MACD, Bollinger Band, Fibonacci Retracement, and RSI, the whole nine yards.
All those indicators and pricing averages are really difficult to understand, but I was patient, I spend time to learn and use them.
I pay internet gurus to teach me how to trade, only to find out most of them are just scammers.
They can't make a single dime for themselves...
Five years later, and after thousands of trade transactions, I got nothing but $60,000 in debt...
I loss money, and I ask my parents to invest, then I borrow from personal loans...
I need to win back the money I loss in forex trading...
Another two years have passed...
I finally stopped forex trading, because I find it impossible to predict the price actions.
It was futile to stay persistence to something that is out of my grasp. I decided to give up investing, and just work and earn money honestly like everyone else...
I have worked for few more years... but life of an employee is obviously destined, and hopelessly dull.
There is little hope of advancement, and even if there is, your life is limited to this rat race...
Again, I started looking back to investing in stocks...but I ask myself this time, why do you still believe in investing?
My answer is : "Why not?"
Why someone else can do it, but not me?
This time, I started by learning more about investing first; That is when I discovered the book "intelligent investor" by Ben Graham. Recommended by the legendary investor, Warren Buffet himself!
I begin to learn aggressively... Absorbing any knowledge I can like a sponge...
Books after books, I begin to understand this concept called "Value Investing" that got Warren Buffet so rich...
This is when I found my mentor by reading his book... (he does not want to be named here)
As a real legend himself, he has assets in the hundred million dollars range at the age of 35, the same age as I was...
This is where my journey begins as a "Value Investor"...
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