Mooers' Stories Vol.12: @iamiam keeps improving through trial and error at all stages of life
We asked ChatGPT, "why is community important in investing?" It said:
Yes, learning from each other is the essence of a community. That's why mooers are the core of our community. Mooers' Stories aims to let you meet mooers that might inspire you in our community. In this episode, we invited @iamiam, who has been investing for more than 20 years and posting daily, to offer his insights on how to take the leap into investing. Let's dive into his story.![]()
Notes: All the information comes from the interviewee and is published with interviewee's consent. The testimonial provided herein may not represent other customers' experience, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success.
For some people, investing might start with a spark, a fledgling curiosity that develops into a more dedicated interest and then grows into an all-consuming passion. For @iamiam, this spark was ignited in school by an encouraging teacher.
@iamiam: I grew up at my grandpa's service station, and I was always outdoors. I started trading in high school, and as part of an economics class, we simulated a 10 thousand dollar investment. I handily beat the class and had such a large return that my teacher thought I cheated. When he checked my investments, he discovered I did not cheat, and he called me into his office, and he and I began investing. He taught me strategy, and I picked the stocks. I had many teachers along the way, but he was the first. He introduced me to strategies from Elliott, Livermore, and Peter Lynch.
When I took my first engineering job, my boss was the employee retirement president and so we discussed stocks and bonds and strategy a lot. This is when I bought some tech giants all at lows, in fact, they doubled within months of my purchases. That was when you had to call a broker and place an order. Soon after, companies like etrade started coming out, making it easier for individual investments. and now look, I'm chatting stocks with someone halfway around the world - amazing!
What was your first investment?
Interesting story, a hotel company was one of my first investments that tripled before I sold it. I joined the military after high school and completed college while enlisted. While in the military, I continued to invest, this time taking advantage of the .com bubble. I sold everything near the peak and did not invest again until 2004...In December I saw another change in the market and reinvested. I learned momentum trading over time, starting in 2018 when I was able to trade options and stocks on individual trading platforms."
What kind of investor are you?
That depends. I was a long-term investor and commodities trader but sold all of my long-term holdings in November 2021. Now, I am a momentum trader and commodities trader.
How did you learn about momentum trading?
Trial and error, lots of books, lots of websites. I use a lot of my experience.
How do you set your take-profit and stop-loss levels?
I set trailing stop losses when I set them. So that if an option falls, as an example, 10% in any given session, it will close. I tend to monitor my positions closely. I will sell a portion at the first pullback - usually enough to cover my position.
What are your key approaches to investing?
My key approach currently is to watch commodities as I believe we are in a commodities super cycle caused by deglobalization and inflation. While being hesitant on the markets in general.
What do you find most challenging in investing? How did you overcome it?
Oh, that's easy, GREED. Greed is the most difficult emotion to control - when it's good you think it will always be good, and when it's bad, you will desperately try to make it good again. Greed is good, as it leads to action, but it must be controlled to remain profitable because nothing is good for long. I struggle with greed every day, self assurance, and greed, a bad combination. I post reminders in my trading room to maintain self awareness, so I don't get too greedy.
Are there any other lessons you learned from investing?
Investment is life. It is one and the same, if you let it be, I invest in what I know - commodities (a Peter Lynch strategy). that way I can feel my investment. What am I using every day, what is it made of? Who makes it? Where do they get the materials? And how can I profit off of it?
What is your best trade ever?
That's the way back machine, and it would be - real estate or a tech company.. But recently it was a medical, automaker and agricultrual companies. I've had other really good ones it's hard to remember them all. This market has had more 1+% daily moves than at anytime in history!
What motivates you to post daily in the Moo community?
Boredom. I was already charting my own investments. And i would read some comments from mooers like Mr Treacherous and wanted to participate in the fun!... Later, I started reading what I thought was bad information and wanted to put another view into the conversation.
I'm charting the path of the Nasdaq (and markets in general). I started doing it to counter the bulls at the time ( around November 2021 to jan 2022, when I believe I started actively posting). Since then, I have just kept with it. As long as someone commented or they got a trade right, I felt a need to keep posting. Now I feel guilty if I don't get a post out. I try to keep any followers up to date on my counts. I would like to make better posts, but time is short. I hope they are liked and helpful. Making a bad post is a big fear of mine.
If you could travel back to when you started trading or investing, what advice and warning would you give a younger you?
Invest MORE! haha. Honestly, that would be it, and I should've taken more risk when I was younger.
Be Patient, Be Safe, Be Wise
Interactive Activity
1. Make your choice
2. Spark meaningful conversations
Topic: What else do you want to know about iamiam? Any other topics you would like to discuss with him? Comment below to let us know.
1. 30 points: for mooers who raise insightful and iamiam-related questions
2. 70 points: for each of iamiam's replies to mooers' questions
Time: From now to Apr 15, 23:59 ET
(Rewards will be distributed within 5–10 working days after the activity ends.)
Notes: We encourage benign and in-depth interaction, from which all mooers can learn from each other, helping community members be more courageous and not alone in the investing journey.
Just in case you didn't know, you can also be the one to tell the story! Interested? Comment below to let us know! We'll reach out to you as soon as possible!
Thanks for your time. See you next time! ![]()
Disclaimer:This presentation is for information and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. See this link for more information.
Disclaimer: Moomoo Technologies Inc. is providing this content for information and educational use only.
Read more
Comment
Sign in to post a comment
Moomoo Community Official Account
Always here for mooers!
25KFollowers
449Following
10KVisitors
Follow
Mooers LabOP :
Hey, mooers. Let's give a big round of applause for @iamiam. Feel free to interact with him if you have anything to say! There is a chance for you to win the points reward.
Just in case you didn't know, you can also be the one to tell the story! Comment to let me know if you're interested.
Cat army : Congrats @iamiamhe is a gem of a person too! Super right in prediction of market direction
71229336Bedbugguy : What time is it?
doctorpot1 : amazing story
I'm interested in your journey, would it be ok to ask why you chose engineering instead investing career path after high school?
it seems like if you were to go to an investment job, you would be really rich now
ZnWC : Inspiring stories. I have just started to learn investing and would like to ask you the following questions:
1. As a retired investor, what is your investment goal and purpose?
2. What advice you have for people who want to achieve FIRE (financial independence and retire early)?
3. Your sold long term holding and started comodity trading. What are your portfolio and risk level?
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to learn from your experience
Xixi29 : Thanks for sharing and is a real pleasure reading and learning from you.
For low risk investors, what recommendations do you have besides putting into money market fund during this volatile market condition?
GodSpeed289 : (1) Under the current volatile investing landscape, should we take a conservative approach?
(2) Are you a believer in "Cash is KING" philosophy?
icezzz : Thanks iam for your sharing, is inspiring for beginner like me. I always thought you are economists . What’s your favourite options strategy ?
MooMamaLlama : wow what a journey!!!
you've made some wise choices, and had some great achievements that's for sure!
I'm still perhaps trying to figure out what 'type' of investor I am, so may I ask
Might you intend to partially go back to long term investing given we've now seen some very good opportunities?
Or do you now only prefer trading momentums and commodities? Maybe because the markets were/are better? or just because you enjoy it?
Seems like you've had some great teachers/mentors, thank you so much for passing on the knowledge and being one for so many of us here
KingNY-Life :
View more comments...