Is this thing on? OK, good…
Writing had never been a big part of my life. I disliked it all throughout school, but that slowly began to change once I entered the financial planning world and found topics that naturally interested me.
It started with detailed note taking to help me absorb and retain the information I was reading throughout the day. Eventually I was asked to distribute those notes in a daily internal email to the firm’s portfolio managers. The email consisted of bullet points on a series of market-related topics I thought were important. Over time bullet points turned to sentences, and sentences turned to paragraphs.
In 2010, I launched an external email titled Market Minute with a goal of educating and informing people on investing and financial planning. That initial email went out to 34 people. Today, Market Minute has over 1,000 subscribers.
Writing helps me organize my thoughts and, in turn, learn better. In medical school, learning often occurs through a process of see one, do one, teach one. Market Minute has allowed me to “teach one” for nearly seven years. It also has led to some wonderful opportunities to write for Enterprising Investor, Forbes and CNBC.
I’ve been wanting to start my own blog ever since I read Barry Ritholtz’s The Big Picture in 2008. I settled for distributing Market Minute as well as contributing to these other financial outlets, but I’m excited to finally get my chance to have a website of my own.
I suspect this blog will be a little less formal and perhaps a little more fun. Maybe it will just be more of the same. I don’t know, but I’m excited to find out.
In the months leading up to today, I’ve received tremendous support from some of my favorite authors in the financial blogging community. In fear of leaving anyone out, I will broadly say thank you to the people that have motivated and inspired me to take this next step.
Now, let’s get started.