Nodding Along With: Andrew

What's Your Job Title?

👋 I'm a Portfolio Manager

🔪 One Sentence. No Jargon. What do you do?

I invest in consumer stocks and try to make money for my investors (and me).

Obviously I get it but say someone didn't understand. Again, personally? 100% following. But explain it to me like…. I'm a Very Cool Teenager (VCT).

‍

I essentially play a video game for a living 🙌

Here are the rules of the game. I will give you $100 to spread across companies / stocks that you think will go up over the course of the year.

I'll then give you $100 to "bet" on companies you think will go down during that time (so, if these companies go down, you make money, but if they go UP, you lose money).

End of the year, you get to keep what you make 🙌

How the Very Cool Teen (VCT) saw you before + after your story

🚨 Jargon Permitted For The Following Question 🚨

🥴 When someone in my industry says this dumb thing:

Its a bull market!

🪄 They actually mean this sorta cool/important/interesting thing:

This just means that the outlook for investing in stocks is good. In a bull market stocks go up, in a bear market stocks go down

🤬 One annoying thing that people get wrong about my job/industry is…

That professional investing is easy and everyone gets rich. It’s actually pretty competitive. But that’s what makes it fun.

Also that personal investing is only for the few. It’s important for everyone to participate over time, and within their means. That’s why the reddit revolution has ultimately been a good thing (with some bad elements, of course).

🤷🏻♀️ But this other stereotype is actually pretty true…

A lot of wall street is centered around making things more complicated than they actually are. Most of what wall streeters do can be explained pretty simply - but they use a lot of slang and finance-only jargon to make themselves feel cool or to confuse other people. Wall street slang is like secret code for nerds.

🎙 Storytime!

🎯 The Mission: What does this character want?

On an ideal day what do you hope to accomplish between 5pm, 11 pm, between naps?

I hope that my good investing ideas outnumber my bad ones, and I find new and exciting ways to score points (this is a video game of course) over the rest of the year

🦸🏻 The Superpowers: How do they get what they want (on a good day)?

What do you actually do during a typical work day? Try to be specific.

I do a lot of research on companies to try and figure out whether I think their stock should go up or down over the next year. I look at data, their business trends (are they growing, or are they shrinking? is competition increasing? etc). I talk with experts on various topics, speak with management teams, do field trips to go see how a company actually works. I take all of that info, and put it together to try and come up with the big picture.

👹 The Villains: What enemies stand in their way?

What problems/challenges pop up in your typical work day? Be specific! Name names. Fuckin' Greg, right?

I get lots of calls from people trying to sell me various services, the majority of which are a waste of my time. And, lots of other investors (that do what I do) want to chat, sometimes with good ideas, and sometimes with very bad ideas. Also, sometimes the companies or contacts I meet with lie, or at least exaggerate. So its my job to figure out who is telling the truth, and who isn't.

🚨 The Stakes: What will happen if they fail to achieve their mission?

What happens if you fail at your job or if you're successfully stymied by that POS Greg?

Then I lose money for both myself and my investors, could ultimately lose my job, and my poor dog Roni has to switch to generic dog food instead of natural and organic. Think of my puppy, y'all!

👊 The Sidekick: Who or what helps them achieve their mission?

What skills, tools, resources, colleagues, or drugs help you do your job?

Conversations with company management teams, research published by the big banks (sometimes ), my own models, convos with a small group of smart investors, and downtime with my fiance and puppy to help keep my head clear.

🚀🚀 The Transformation: How are they impacted by the mission?

What do you love about your work? How does your work impact others? (clients, colleagues, students, the universe, that kinda thing ya know?)

In terms of impact to others, our investors benefit from the returns I generate, as I help them grow their savings in a low-risk way (boring, for sure, but important nonetheless). But, at the end of the day, my job is fun, and that's why I do it. It's constantly changing, challenging but not impossible, and I get to talk with really smart people most of the time. And, similar to sports, there is always a "scoreboard" to point to at the end of the day. I love that about my job.