RevShark’s Traditional Thanksgiving Reflections
Every year since I started writing about the stock market back in 2002, I have written a column on the day before Thanksgiving about my background and what I am thankful for. Many of you have heard my story before, but I think it is important to reflect on the blessings bestowed upon us so we don’t forget how lucky we really are.
Back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when I was in business and law school at the University of Michigan, I never imagined my life would take the turns it has. I graduated from law school in 1983 and was an eager young CPA and attorney building a corporate and tax law practice. It was challenging work, but I was slowly making progress until I suddenly went totally deaf and lost everything.
I had suffered from minor hearing loss for years, but it was more a source of annoyance and embarrassment than any real obstacle. For some unknown reason, my hearing suddenly started to deteriorate until I became absolutely stone deaf. I could lip read a little, but to communicate with someone I would need them to give me a written note.
There wasn’t much demand for lawyers who can’t hear, and I was forced to close my law practice. I lost pretty much everything that I owned, and was surviving on a small disability insurance policy I had through the state bar association. To add to my difficulties, I was recently divorced and still dealing with that emotional trauma.
Probably the worst thing about being deaf is that it isolates you from people. If you can’t communicate, you are cut off from the world. In addition, I had no idea what sort of work I could possibly do. I couldn’t do even mundane things that required hearing. About the only job I could find that didn’t require some ability to hear was as a janitor.
One day while visiting my sister, I was fooling with her new computer and came across this new service called Prodigy. People were discussing a variety of topics, and much to my delight, it didn’t require that I hear in order to participate. I soon became immersed in the online world, and eventually stumbled upon the area dedicated to investing in the stock market.
I had taken some of the standard finance classes in business school, and was familiar with basic fundamental analysis and standard portfolio analysis, but these folks online were doing something completely different. They were aggressively trading stocks, and in many cases, had no real idea what the companies even did.
I dabbled in a few investments with the meager savings I had in an IRA and had very mixed results. Eventually it dawned on me that good trading was mostly an exercise in psychology rather than accounting, and that changed my whole perspective. I had to focus on the mood and the emotion of the market if I wanted to make money and used the phrase ‘trading the traders’ to reflect what success in the market was really about.
In the early days, my hearing was still an obstacle in many ways, as I couldn’t call a broker on the phone and there was no online trading at the time. I used to have to drive over to see a broker to actually place a trade. Eventually, more and more tools were available on the internet, and my trading activity picked up substantially.
I found the challenge of the market to be tremendously interesting. It was such a complex mix of fundamentals, psychology, strategy and just plain luck at times. Eventually, I started to have a series of successful trades and my little account was growing at a furious pace. The late 1990’s were an ideal time for aggressive momentum trading and I pursued that game with all my energy.
Obviously, the money I was able to make helped to relieve some of the great insecurity I had been dealing with but it was also a great psychological boost to be involved in a community where my inability to hear didn’t matter one bit. I loved discussing the stock market online and even had a small following of readers who were interested in what I had to say.
I was very active in the early days of American Online debating the Motley Fool who insisted that the buy-and-hold approach was the only way to go. My active trading results told a very different story, and I wasn’t afraid to let people know about it. Eventually Herb Greenberg, who had been a target of some of my abusive posts, asked me to join him in creating a site on America Online. I started the Shark Attack site, and developed what was probably the first chat room dedicated to trading. That room is still operating over 15 years later at Sharkinvesting.com with some of the original members.
Stock trading had changed my life, and what was really fantastic about it was that I not only made more money than I would have as a lawyer, but I loved what I did. It still amazes me that if I had not suffered the trauma of losing my hearing and going broke, I probably would never have discovered it.
My personal life also took a turn for the better. I met a woman while on vacation in Florida who worked with me to develop a rudimentary form of sign language so we could communicate. We were married 14 years ago tomorrow, and now have three children ages 9, 5 and 2.
Technology also came to my rescue in another form. I had surgery for a device called a cochlear implant, which has restored a good portion of my hearing. I can now carry on a normal conversation, but my hearing is still far from perfect. In the next six months I plan to have a second cochlear implant surgery on my other ear with the latest technology.
The point of writing this missive each year is to let those of you who are facing challenges know that you shouldn’t give up hope. At one time, I felt like my world had ended. I never dreamed that my life would change the way it did. I’m very thankful and if it can happen to me, it can happen to you.
- RevShark
Every year since I started writing about the stock market back in 2002, I have written a column on the day before Thanksgiving about my background and what I am thankful for. Many of you have heard my story before, but I think it is important to reflect on the blessings bestowed upon us so we don’t forget how lucky we really are.
Back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when I was in business and law school at the University of Michigan, I never imagined my life would take the turns it has. I graduated from law school in 1983 and was an eager young CPA and attorney building a corporate and tax law practice. It was challenging work, but I was slowly making progress until I suddenly went totally deaf and lost everything.
I had suffered from minor hearing loss for years, but it was more a source of annoyance and embarrassment than any real obstacle. For some unknown reason, my hearing suddenly started to deteriorate until I became absolutely stone deaf. I could lip read a little, but to communicate with someone I would need them to give me a written note.
There wasn’t much demand for lawyers who can’t hear, and I was forced to close my law practice. I lost pretty much everything that I owned, and was surviving on a small disability insurance policy I had through the state bar association. To add to my difficulties, I was recently divorced and still dealing with that emotional trauma.
Probably the worst thing about being deaf is that it isolates you from people. If you can’t communicate, you are cut off from the world. In addition, I had no idea what sort of work I could possibly do. I couldn’t do even mundane things that required hearing. About the only job I could find that didn’t require some ability to hear was as a janitor.
One day while visiting my sister, I was fooling with her new computer and came across this new service called Prodigy. People were discussing a variety of topics, and much to my delight, it didn’t require that I hear in order to participate. I soon became immersed in the online world, and eventually stumbled upon the area dedicated to investing in the stock market.
I had taken some of the standard finance classes in business school, and was familiar with basic fundamental analysis and standard portfolio analysis, but these folks online were doing something completely different. They were aggressively trading stocks, and in many cases, had no real idea what the companies even did.
I dabbled in a few investments with the meager savings I had in an IRA and had very mixed results. Eventually it dawned on me that good trading was mostly an exercise in psychology rather than accounting, and that changed my whole perspective. I had to focus on the mood and the emotion of the market if I wanted to make money and used the phrase ‘trading the traders’ to reflect what success in the market was really about.
In the early days, my hearing was still an obstacle in many ways, as I couldn’t call a broker on the phone and there was no online trading at the time. I used to have to drive over to see a broker to actually place a trade. Eventually, more and more tools were available on the internet, and my trading activity picked up substantially.
I found the challenge of the market to be tremendously interesting. It was such a complex mix of fundamentals, psychology, strategy and just plain luck at times. Eventually, I started to have a series of successful trades and my little account was growing at a furious pace. The late 1990’s were an ideal time for aggressive momentum trading and I pursued that game with all my energy.
Obviously, the money I was able to make helped to relieve some of the great insecurity I had been dealing with but it was also a great psychological boost to be involved in a community where my inability to hear didn’t matter one bit. I loved discussing the stock market online and even had a small following of readers who were interested in what I had to say.
I was very active in the early days of American Online debating the Motley Fool who insisted that the buy-and-hold approach was the only way to go. My active trading results told a very different story, and I wasn’t afraid to let people know about it. Eventually Herb Greenberg, who had been a target of some of my abusive posts, asked me to join him in creating a site on America Online. I started the Shark Attack site, and developed what was probably the first chat room dedicated to trading. That room is still operating over 15 years later at Sharkinvesting.com with some of the original members.
Stock trading had changed my life, and what was really fantastic about it was that I not only made more money than I would have as a lawyer, but I loved what I did. It still amazes me that if I had not suffered the trauma of losing my hearing and going broke, I probably would never have discovered it.
My personal life also took a turn for the better. I met a woman while on vacation in Florida who worked with me to develop a rudimentary form of sign language so we could communicate. We were married 14 years ago tomorrow, and now have three children ages 9, 5 and 2.
Technology also came to my rescue in another form. I had surgery for a device called a cochlear implant, which has restored a good portion of my hearing. I can now carry on a normal conversation, but my hearing is still far from perfect. In the next six months I plan to have a second cochlear implant surgery on my other ear with the latest technology.
The point of writing this missive each year is to let those of you who are facing challenges know that you shouldn’t give up hope. At one time, I felt like my world had ended. I never dreamed that my life would change the way it did. I’m very thankful and if it can happen to me, it can happen to you.
- RevShark
