Christopher Griffiths
Micro 2 Macro
When I was 14 years old I ran a candy store out of my backpack. At the end of 7th grade, after all the video games I wanted and all the coke-floats I could drink, I had a net worth of $200. With school out of session, my market had dried up; I needed a summer-hustle.
That summer my Dad and I were driving up to Ottawa in his huge old white station wagon. He kept talking about a company he was buying shares in -for 15 hours. Impatiently, I interrupted him, "I get it! Great company! Will it go up?" - and he nearly shouted, "YES!" On the holiday, I learned about the imminent rise of China, about the company's cash flows and earnings ratios. Much of it was over my head, but his excitement was infectious. I bought $100 worth of a petroleum company called Hurricane Hydrocarbons.
In middle school, I had no trading account. Dad acted as a broker to encourage my interest - my crisp $100 bill was his, and I had a sheet of paper to represent shares. He taught me about bid/ask spreads and market cap while the 56K modem screeched and whined my anticipation. I scanned price-readouts with bated breath: one hundred dollars is a lot of ice cream and soda pop.
"Should I sell, dad?" was a useless question. "I don't know, Chris, should you?" I had educational support, but no spoon feeding. So I read. I scoured the Investor's Business Daily for mention of my stock, watched for earnings reports, I had charts in my backpack. When the fall semester started, I couldn't wait to get home and check the day's trading. A few months later Hurricane was bought out by a larger conglomerate: I made 130% on my first trade.
Generally, nobody cares about your money as much as you. Today, 10 years on, I'm still digging into balance sheets, listening to earnings calls, and reading analyst reports. In my letter to you, I'll find Macro trends - game changing technologies, demographic shifts, political realities - and take a microscope to the data on companies. With research and logic, we'll see through the fog of panic and greed that feeds Wall Street. With patience and discipline, with good analysis and methodical execution, our portfolios will grow.
Welcome to the µ2M archive.
That summer my Dad and I were driving up to Ottawa in his huge old white station wagon. He kept talking about a company he was buying shares in -for 15 hours. Impatiently, I interrupted him, "I get it! Great company! Will it go up?" - and he nearly shouted, "YES!" On the holiday, I learned about the imminent rise of China, about the company's cash flows and earnings ratios. Much of it was over my head, but his excitement was infectious. I bought $100 worth of a petroleum company called Hurricane Hydrocarbons.
In middle school, I had no trading account. Dad acted as a broker to encourage my interest - my crisp $100 bill was his, and I had a sheet of paper to represent shares. He taught me about bid/ask spreads and market cap while the 56K modem screeched and whined my anticipation. I scanned price-readouts with bated breath: one hundred dollars is a lot of ice cream and soda pop.
"Should I sell, dad?" was a useless question. "I don't know, Chris, should you?" I had educational support, but no spoon feeding. So I read. I scoured the Investor's Business Daily for mention of my stock, watched for earnings reports, I had charts in my backpack. When the fall semester started, I couldn't wait to get home and check the day's trading. A few months later Hurricane was bought out by a larger conglomerate: I made 130% on my first trade.
Generally, nobody cares about your money as much as you. Today, 10 years on, I'm still digging into balance sheets, listening to earnings calls, and reading analyst reports. In my letter to you, I'll find Macro trends - game changing technologies, demographic shifts, political realities - and take a microscope to the data on companies. With research and logic, we'll see through the fog of panic and greed that feeds Wall Street. With patience and discipline, with good analysis and methodical execution, our portfolios will grow.
Welcome to the µ2M archive.
| m2m3.pdf |
| m2m2.pdf |
| m2m1.pdf |
