Hi, I’m Sam, and you’re going to be reading and hearing from me a lot more.
I’ve joined the team at Palm Beach Research Group, bringing my expertise and experience in crypto, as well as in stock markets and investing.
As the newest kid on the block, I thought it’s worth giving you the quick-fire version of what I’m doing here and why you should bother listening to anything I’ve got to say.
My story starts at Christmas Day 1988. My brother and I wake up and tear out of our rooms to the family room. In front of the fireplace is our “big present.”
My mum and dad were both teachers with modest incomes, and for Christmas we’d each get a few small presents. But we’d also get one “big present” for us both to share.
This Christmas was something else, though. As we tore away the wrapping paper, underneath was the Nintendo Entertainment System Action Set.
That’s right, mum and dad went and bought us a bloody Nintendo!
Inside was the console, a Duck Hunt/Super Mario Bros. combined cartridge, and – completely blowing our little minds – a laser gun for the Duck Hunt game.
Source: Nintendo Fandom
This was a seminal moment for me, although I didn’t realize it at the time.
The idea of a laser gun you could point at the telly and shoot the ducks on the screen… It was wild. And just being able to play video games at home, it was the stuff that little-kid dreams are made of.
I tell you this because that’s probably the best, earliest memory I have of my curiosity and inquisitive nature as to how things work, or more specifically how technology works.
This beginning of what I call my “inner nerd” is important because 22 years later, that curiosity and inquisitive nature would completely change the direction of my career and my life.
TradFi Called, and I Came Knockin’
As amazing as the Nintendo Entertainment System was, as my dad put it, “You can’t make a living playing video games.”
(He was right… At least in the ‘80s he was right. Today, with esports and livestreaming on the rise, not so much.)
Only a few years later, though, as a 10-year-old, my interest in something else would also take on a formative part of my future.
That’s because we found out my grandfather (we called him “Pop”) had begun investing for us.
Not huge amounts… just little bits here and there, slowly building up over the years, using dividend reinvestment plans, compounding growth… all the fundamentals of basic, long-term investing.
Take a look at the card below. This was my introduction to investing as a 10-year-old.
This is one of several stock cards Pop had in his records of our investments. This was the card for our ANZ Banking Group shares.
See that first date on the top left of the card, November 1993? I was 10 years old.
This stock card and the others lived in a small, gray, metal box with a Royal Australian Air Force insignia on it. His time in the Air Force clearly helped my Pop develop meticulous attention to detail.
We used to sit at his desk in his office, and we would look through the newspaper to see the closing prices and stock movements from the day prior. We would call up the finance radio segments, and he would get me to ask the experts about specific companies.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was a financial researcher and analyst at age 10.
I would end up working my way successfully through high school and university, initially undertaking a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce double degree, then realizing law was achingly boring to me, and finishing up with majors in finance and economics.
In short, my radar was pointed to a career in the financial markets. Traditional finance (TradFi) called, and I came knockin’.
I would end up working as an independent financial adviser in Melbourne, Australia. I loved helping clients build and protect their wealth. It was a fun time.
But ultimately in that industry, you find yourself fighting with one hand tied behind your back.
The things I found most interesting were ways in which individuals could invest in stocks and technologies that had exponential growth potential.
The asymmetric-risk plays, where you had moonshot potential on the table… but you didn’t have to bet the farm, so to speak.
(You’ve probably heard Daily editor Teeka Tiwari talk about changing your financial life without putting your current lifestyle at risk. That’s one of the many reasons I wanted to work with him.)
But as a financial adviser, most of that was off-limits. It was all funds, funds of funds, and exchange-traded funds.
I understood how to construct a portfolio, but the most fun part of investing was always in the high-risk, high-adrenaline stuff. I wanted to do that more with a distinct focus on tech.
So I did. I left advising and got into research and publishing through financial newsletters. And I’ve been in the financial publishing world ever since.
But it was that inherent appetite for risk, being a self-confessed technology nerd, and that natural curiosity that would alter the direction of my life in ways I never thought possible.
It was also a pivotal moment where I began to connect several important dots…
The Power of TradFi’s “Opt-Out Clause”
On one hand we had governments, central banks, and the establishment manipulating our financial system, the economy, and the liberties of everyday people.
It became clear that central bankers and government officials would do whatever it took to save their own backside. And if that meant the destruction of global finance and the erosion of other people’s wealth, so be it.
And on the other hand, there was a way out of that control and manipulation. A gigantic “opt-out clause” that unshackled individuals from the controls and constraints of TradFi.
We’re seeing the exact same thing play out right now – central banks and governments willing to push the “self-destruct” button on the economy and your wealth to save their own backside.
If in the coming weeks this all plays out as Teeka predicts, then we might even see the complete and utter collapse of the U.S. dollar.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Most people will watch their purchasing power evaporate… However, on November 8 at 8 p.m. ET, Teeka will reveal the one asset that will skyrocket.
You can sign up for Teeka’s emergency briefing called The Final Collapse by clicking here.
In the coming days, I’ll tell you more about my realization of the power of TradFi’s “opt-out clause” and how it changed the course of my life.
Until next time,
Sam Volkering
Analyst, Palm Beach Daily