Average age on this forum

[hopspreads]

4 hours ago, Blake Hampton said:

I'm currently 22, joined the board when I was 20.

 

My first stock was Alibaba. 

I got interested in financial markets through an Instagram guru who touted Forex trading as an easy way to make money. Safe to say, it wasn’t. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing was what first put me on the right path. From there, the WEB rabbit hole got me hooked. I bought my first index fund ETF at 22, Berkshire at 24, and Fairfax at 25. I haven’t sold a share since.

Edited Friday at 12:16 AM by hopspreads

[whatstheofficerproblem]

I'm 21. Wanted to join the board when I was 16, my mom said no lol. I joined when I was 19. The $50 has compounded very well imo. The first stock I publicly vouched for and bought after I joined the forum was VRRM. It's up 80% now but was up over 130% at some point. I even met & am in touch with their management as their office is like 4 miles away from where I live, I'll probably never sell this stock for sentimental reasons & I do believe this is a 10 bagger. Life has been kind so far.

Edited Friday at 12:50 AM by whatstheofficerproblem

[james22]

61

 

You young guys are very, very lucky to have found this place so early.

[John Hjorth]

27 minutes ago, james22 said:

... You young guys are very, very lucky to have found this place so early. ...

 

The most fascinating aspect of this fact, here posted by James [ @james22 ] above, is that it's totally up to yourself what you get in return of your one-time CofB&F subscription fee, by board participation!

[StevieV]

I'm surprised that the poll is skewing so young.  I thought a value investing board named after Berkshire and Fairfax would skew older.

[SharperDingaan]

12 hours ago, james22 said:

61

 

You young guys are very, very lucky to have found this place so early.

 

+100. 

 

My first 15 years featured utterly useless performance, and at least two spectacular blow ups where I lost my shirt, and then some!. Thereafter it took years of stellar performance to drag my inception to date CAGR up to > 15%+/yr .... but now, it's the devil who does the dancing!! Trial and error is a great teacher, but it's expensive, you have to survive the losses, be able to successfully synthesise/adapt, and there is no assurance that you will come out 'better'. 

 

But Lenny,  Lenny,   Lenny ...... if you can make it work   

It's your hand around the devils balls .... so squeeze those suckers hard!II

 

SD

[villainx]

On 1/2/2025 at 10:26 AM, rkbabang said:

52 yr old Engineer.

 

I was about 35 when I first joined this board.

 

 

This is me, except not engineer.  I was probably lurker for a while though before first posting.

[hopspreads]

7 hours ago, SharperDingaan said:

 

+100. 

 

My first 15 years featured utterly useless performance, and at least two spectacular blow ups where I lost my shirt, and then some!. Thereafter it took years of stellar performance to drag my inception to date CAGR up to > 15%+/yr .... but now, it's the devil who does the dancing!! Trial and error is a great teacher, but it's expensive, you have to survive the losses, be able to successfully synthesise/adapt, and there is no assurance that you will come out 'better'. 

 

But Lenny,  Lenny,   Lenny ...... if you can make it work   

It's your hand around the devils balls .... so squeeze those suckers hard!II

 

SD

It takes a remarkable amount of grit to keep going after 15 years of underperformance—hats off to your perseverance! What would you say was the most important lesson you learned during those early years?

[Blake Hampton]

22 hours ago, whatstheofficerproblem said:

I'm 21. Wanted to join the board when I was 16, my mom said no lol. I joined when I was 19. The $50 has compounded very well imo. The first stock I publicly vouched for and bought after I joined the forum was VRRM. It's up 80% now but was up over 130% at some point. I even met & am in touch with their management as their office is like 4 miles away from where I live, I'll probably never sell this stock for sentimental reasons & I do believe this is a 10 bagger. Life has been kind so far.

From one youngin to another, what moat do you see VRRM having? I really like the business and think that the space has great growth potential, but it does seem like something I'd struggle to understand. My biggest concern is what is their protection from future competition?

 

Edited Friday at 11:40 PM by Blake Hampton

[Blake Hampton]

I'm extremely grateful I got served a relatively big loss when I first started; it helped me quickly realize what was actually important.

 

I feel sorry for the ones who walk into a casino for the first time and win big.

[nsx5200]

1 hour ago, Blake Hampton said:

I'm extremely grateful I got served a relatively big loss when I first started; it helped me quickly realize what was actually important.

 

I feel sorry for the ones who walk into a casino for the first time and win big.

If there ever was a game that's super-competitive(hard), and has a significant luck component to it, it would be poker.  I would recommend reading The Biggest Bluff to gain an understanding of the psychology of winning the right way vs the wrong way in the face of randomness like in poker (and of course, the stock market).

[james22]

2 hours ago, Blake Hampton said:

I feel sorry for the ones who walk into a casino for the first time and win big.

 

Likewise, don't be too seduced by how well others write or even their logic.

 

Judge them instead by their record.

 

Too easy to be impressed by Fama-French, DFA, Swedroe, Hussman, GMO, etc. otherwise.

[SharperDingaan]

16 hours ago, hopspreads said:

What would you say was the most important lesson you learned during those early years?

 

1) Survive to fight another day. First time out it's punishing, then it's an asset; as you know you're hard to kill. 2) Watch, learn from the best, adapt it to your own way, then just do you; you ain't WEB, so stop trying to be WEB, 'cause you're better than WEB! 3) Work in the industry, do the CFA, and question everything. Can't do squat without good tools.

 

Assumes you're already bloody minded, have confidence in your abilities, and there are no dependants. No matter what, you're going to land on your feet; the only question is whether the guy who threw you still has his/her eyes!

 

SD

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:18 PM by SharperDingaan

[whatstheofficerproblem]

6 hours ago, Blake Hampton said:

I feel sorry for the ones who walk into a casino for the first time and win big.

 

Don't even get me started on what I've lost at the Vegas MGM Grand. The stock market has been much kinder to me haha. That said, I'll likely continue posting here until I see the pearly gates. Maybe @Blake Hampton & I will be the next Spek & John Hjorth a few decades down the lane.

Edited Saturday at 05:38 AM by whatstheofficerproblem

[John Hjorth]

9 hours ago, nsx5200 said:

If there ever was a game that's super-competitive(hard), and has a significant luck component to it, it would be poker.  I would recommend reading The Biggest Bluff to gain an understanding of the psychology of winning the right way vs the wrong way in the face of randomness like in poker (and of course, the stock market).

 

@nsx5200,

 

Thank you for the book recommendation. We would all appreciate you opening and starting a separate topic in the Books Forum about the book, so your recommandation doesen't 'drown' in the 'CofB&F flow of posts'. It dosen't have to be be a full blown book review in all aspects. 

[hopspreads]

15 hours ago, SharperDingaan said:

 

1) Survive to fight another day. First time out it's punishing, then it's an asset; as you know you're hard to kill. 2) Watch, learn from the best, adapt it to your own way, then just do you; you ain't WEB, so stop trying to be WEB, 'cause you're better than WEB! 3) Work in the industry, do the CFA, and question everything. Can't do squat without good tools.

 

Assumes you're already bloody minded, have confidence in your abilities, and there are no dependants. No matter what, you're going to land on your feet; the only question is whether the guy who threw you still has his/her eyes!

 

SD

 

 

 

So you believe the CFA is a worthwhile time investment ? I'm hoping to land a quant role as I'm currently studying statistics. I find risk management roles to be quite interesting 

[SharperDingaan]

4 hours ago, hopspreads said:

So you believe the CFA is a worthwhile time investment ? I'm hoping to land a quant role as I'm currently studying statistics. I find risk management roles to be quite interesting 

 

It's a union card; if you want industry experience in anything interesting, it's pretty much a requirement. As you have to learn the technical, and selling sides anyway .. you might as well get the certification. Do you have to swallow the 'CFA Way', and the up/or out abuse of CFA candidates ?? .... YES, but only until you have the required years of experience. Thereafter, do your own thing.

 

Most would go to MBA school; de-tox, do their 2 years, find their significant other, move out to a 'normal' job in corporate finance, and settle down. That's when your 'investing career' really begins; it's purely an off the side of the desk thing, and it's when you put your capital markets technical and selling experience to use.

 

What will really help you is a decision early on; as to whether you want to spend your working life running businesses, or do you want to spend it buying/selling bits of paper. If you choose to run businesses, 'investment' is just one more tool ... and you hire as needs be, vs do it yourself; while knowing enough to ask the right questions! I come at investing, purely from the business side.

 

Simple test. What's more interesting in statistics; proving the hypothesis via all manner of tests, or extracting the information in the right hand tail of the normal curve? The MBA is interested in the right hand tail ... 'cause that where the successful outliers are.  Go back to the data, extract the relevant data lines, and try to find out what made those data sources so good; 'cause maybe you can do something with that!

 

SD 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:57 PM by SharperDingaan

[Onefoothurdles]

41 year old banker. Been on this board since 2011-2012… so in my early 30s / late 20s but lost my original login details and never bothered trying to retrieve it. 
 

Prior to joining COBF, I had a fairly basic understanding of investing from a practical perspective - which was largely shaped by the big investors i followed, the books i read, my formal studies (CFA etc) and my own investing experience. All in all a very institutional approach to investing. 
 

There were a number of COBF threads that had a huge impact on me in shedding some of that ‘institutional’ indoctrination - Packers thread, Ericopoly and some stuff by Dazel - how they thought about risk and return, portfolio sizing, options etc was truly invaluable - those threads need to be pinned somewhere as required reading!

 

Key takeaway for me was, as a retail investor, you have this tremendous flexibility and freedom in your investing toolbox when compared to major institutional investors who have mandates, small cap restrictions, overheads, liquidity/ redemptions, reinvestment risks, career risk, admin, all other hang ups when managing institutional money

 

Its understanding those strengths and applying it in an intelligent and thoughtful way through your investment journey thats made the difference for me. Truly grateful to this board and its members

 

Edited Sunday at 10:42 PM by Onefoothurdles

[cubsfan]

@Onefoothurdles  that's a great message , and you should post more.

[NonObviously]

41 year old (as of 3 days ago). Still the newest member of COBF, but have been lurking for a while.

 

First bought FFH stock in 2015 when my financial advisor told me he could sign me up for the FFH Shares Offering at $650 CAD/sh (FFH was buying Brit), I agreed but had little idea what I was doing. And...here we are, almost a decade later. 

[Gregmal]

On 1/4/2025 at 12:37 AM, whatstheofficerproblem said:

 

Don't even get me started on what I've lost at the Vegas MGM Grand. The stock market has been much kinder to me haha. That said, I'll likely continue posting here until I see the pearly gates. Maybe @Blake Hampton & I will be the next Spek & John Hjorth a few decades down the lane.

Yea if you guys just stick with it, stay open minded, and continue to learn and refine your process you’ll be in great shape. Everyone who is young and smart naturally gravitates towards the bearish macro stuff because it sounds eloquent. But it’s largely toxic if taken too thoroughly. Been there, done that. Now I often get confused for a permabull LOL. But believe me, I’ve paid my fair share in bearish premiums to Mr Market!

[james22]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

Everyone who is young and smart naturally gravitates towards the bearish macro stuff because it sounds eloquent. But it’s largely toxic if taken too thoroughly. Been there, done that. Now I often get confused for a permabull LOL.

 

This.

[DocSnowball]

48, physician-educator, born in India and immigrated to the US in 2004.

Joined this forum in 2015 when studying value investing as an elective for my MBA at U Mass Amherst. 

 

Grateful for the community and the advice on lessons learned looking back. The greatest gift has been the grounding and the attitude to learn every day. 

Have only made 5-6 equity investments in all these years, with individual stock allocation <20% of portfolio limited to one IRA account.

Each decision and ownership has brought a world of education. 

 

Grateful for this community and the moderators and posters. Onwards 2025, cheers to making each decade the best one yet!!