My first exposure to trading was around 1997. I was student and was working during the summer break. Usually used half of my paycheck to go in holidays by the end of the summer and the other half in trading.
At that time, it was the beginning of online trading, fees were high, so I also traded “warrants” (kind of options) to leverage my profits and of course usually ending losing my summer job’s money 😉
I participated in some hot IPOs (telecom) at the end of the ’90s in the middle of internet bubble. I was president of an investment club back in 1999-2000. It was an exciting time!!!
I studied economics and completed a Master’s degree in Finance & Trading in 2001-2002. My goal (at that time) was to work 10 years as a money manager and probably teach (part time) economics after that…
My dream was to be a trader in NYC or work in a Global Macro fund. I was fascinated by people like Georges Soros, Jim Rogers, Warren Buffet…
I started my career in Paris in Front Office as a assistant/junior Portfolio Manager & Advisor then moved later to Oslo as an Institutional Equity Sales (ending with High Yield Sales in 2011).
It was super exciting times and highly educational to see how everything was working. But I always missing the fact that I wasn’t the one taking the investment decisions. And to be honest, it was a tough time to work in front office between 2006 & 2011.
Compliance rules were extremely strict, so I never was able (allowed) to trade actively after I was graduated. At the same time, I still had the desire to learn more and also took extra education as “Certified Portfolio Manager” & “Certified Fixed Income Analyst”. I was always tracking on Bloomberg all what I could read about John Paulson, Bill Gross and other big names at that time… Parallel to that, I started to be interested in Forex (back in 2008) as it could have been something where compliance rules could allow me to trade.
My goal was still to work as a hedge fund manager/dreaming to work in a Global Macro Fund. But as I said: exciting but turbulent times in the years 2008-2012 and I didn’t succeed to move front Sell Side to Buy Side…
Around 2012 I decided to quit finance, started a CrossFit box (2013-2017), competed in CF Masters, and thereafter became a teacher (maths, economics…), took education in pedagogy (Master’s level).
With two small kids, being a teacher is such a great job!
So now on, I’m teaching and have some spare time to get back to my passion and dream. My kids are now older, and I decided in 2020 to start a 5 years project:
“Become a consistent & profitable money manager.”