This month I am featured in Active Trader Magazine in their “Face of Trading” Segment.
Here is an excerpt from the article. You can read the full interview by picking up a copy at any Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million retailer:
Ryan Mallory’s first exposure to the stock market came when he was 11. A close family friend left Mallory a $5,000 inheritance for college. His father used the gift as an opportunity to teach his son, helping him choose several mutual fund investments. “It was a great time for me to start, because it was hard to make mistakes,” Mallory says, pointing to the massive equity bull market in the 1990s.
His father taught him basic principles of investing, and Mallory followed hot sectors, including tech, buying various mutual fund investments in the dot-com era. “I saw that $5,000 turn into $7,000 then $9,000, and by the time I had graduated from high school it was at $30,000,” he says.
The bull market didn’t last forever, though, and neither did Mallory’s run. “The markets changed completely and I lost a lot of money,” he notes. U.S. stocks topped out in early 2000 and a massive multi-year bear market unfolded as the dot-com bubble collapsed. Mallory’s $30,000 turned into about $16,000. But the experience was far from a total loss.
“I got to learn in a very protected way about the stock market,” Mallory says. “At age 11, 12, or even in college, I didn’t have to make mortgage payments.” He also learned some very specific market lessons. “You can make all the gains in the world, but if you don’t have any idea of when to get out you are basically putting yourself in a no-win situation.”
