Q1 2024 check-in
I can’t believe how quickly this year is going by. It feels like so much and so little have changed at the same exact time. Yet, here we are three months into the year. Time really does feel like it goes by faster as we age. I can’t believe this year of being 30 has flown by and been such an unexpected year in so many ways.
I started the year feeling very lost in my career. At that point, I was about eight months in of interviewing for full-time jobs. I was simultaneously contemplating trading and investing full-time, but was feeling hesitant and conflicted about such a risky choice. After a healing conversation with my dad where he told me that I don’t have to prove anything to anyone—including him and my mom, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It felt like the push I needed to be honest about what I really wanted to do. A couple of weeks after that conversation, the primary job I was interested in told me that they were pausing all hiring on the role. There was one other job that I made it to the final stage (pre-offer reference check) but I once I got the request for references, I just knew that there was nothing appealing about going back to a full-time job to essentially do the same type of job I spent my twenties doing.
I’ve officially been trading and investing full time and am genuinely so surprised how much I like it and how much I feel like I’m learning. One of the most interesting things about the stock market is that there is just so much human emotion and psychology at play—driving price action and our own trading decisions. I’ve talked about how one of my biggest struggles over the course of my life is the ability to sit with discomfort and uncertainty. Especially in the context of having struggled with an eating disorder and using alcohol to cope, I have always found it challenging to just sit with emotions that make me uncomfortable. There’s been tendency to act, do something, distract myself to get away from the discomfort, but to be invested in the stock market means having to actively be uncomfortable and tolerate risk, ups ands downs, and uncertain outcomes.
Because of this, investing actively is helping me work on my anxiety and emotional tolerance. I see patterns in my real life showing up in the way that I make trades. For example, sometimes I will scalp easy trades, meaning I’m getting in and out of small trades multiple times in a day, rather than taking a riskier trade setup that might last several days, weeks, or months but offer a higher return. This reflects some of my short-sighted tendencies when it comes to taking low-risk, low-reward approaches. It’s not that it’s a bad strategy, but by definition has limited upside.
Overall, I’m really enjoying investing. It provides an incredible lifestyle in terms of being able to work from wherever and be independent and not have to rely on an employer to make money. I also know that this like any other job is primarily driven by the desire to make money. It’s much better than any salaried job, but at the same time it’s definitely not my life purpose. I know for a fact that I was not placed on this earth to look at stock charts all day and push buttons for the sake of making money. I’m actively still exploring and thinking about what other projects are interesting.
The other big benefit tied to the decision to pursue investing full-time is that I can travel on my own timeline. I was originally thinking that I’d find a job in the spring meaning that I could take a trip to Korea in the fall, but with my newfound freedom, I’m really excited to be going back to Korea this spring. My mom and sister will join me for the first couple of weeks—our first girls trip and our first time going to Korea together. I really want to be intentional about how I spend the time for the couple of months that I’m there. I spent way too much time during my September to October 2023 trip freaking out about jobs—all for me to decide a few months later that I don’t one. This time, I want to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff, explore more cafes and design-forward spaces, take more pottery classes, and lastly do more market research (because Korea has so many innovative, high-quality business models).
I’m still living at home and am also really enjoying this. I have gone to look at a few houses but have been recently feeling very mixed about purchasing— will write a dedicated post on this sometime soon because it’s been weighing on me on the last month or so. Overall, I think the benefits of living with my parents outweigh the cons. I’m not necessarily saving money because what I would spend on rent is going to our shared bills but after having lived alone for most of my twenties, it’s actually really nice to have my family around on a day-to-day basis. I’ve also been exercising consistently and have built a pretty enjoyable routine.
In terms of things I’d like to work on, reducing screen time, especially social media usage is top of mind. I am addicted to social media much more than I would like to be and so actively limiting the time I spend on a daily basis and just getting off of it on the weekends are a good place to start. I’m also trying to reduce my caffeine intake. I am also addicted to coffee so this will be a slower tapering down to one cup in the morning. One thing I’d love to incorporate more of is creative practice. I have started writing poetry again and am thinking about starting a YouTube channel. I’m not really sure what the focus would be—if you have any ideas of content you’d like to see, please DM me on Instagram (@koreangalonfire).