Thread by @IrnestKaplan

I started as a technology sell-side equity analyst at Societe Generale Securities in July 2000

A year later, the NASDAQ was 53% down
2 years later, it was 73% down

Those two years were a great education 😂

I started at the peak of the dotcom "bubble"

I was an electrical engineer who had worked in the tech sector for a few years.

I had my CFA level 1 & thought it seemed quite straightforward ;-)

I remember wondering why were people using Price to Sales multiples...

In September 2000 I visited Boston & New York for the first time.

I was fortunate to be sent to the SG Cowen Tech conference in Boston. My eyes lit up. I shook the hands of many top CEOs of the star companies at the time.

It was magical

On that trip I even visited the World Trade Centre & went up to the public viewing deck. I was there EXACTLY 1 year to the day before 911

@shaunabe will remember my visit to him in NY at the time. Thank you Shaun for being such a great host!

I even visited the floor of the NYSE. But I had no tie. So I had to buy one outside ;-)

I went to the "pit" where Cisco was trading and will never forget that Cisco traded more that day (in value) than our whole local SA stock market in a month!

Talk about eye opening!

The mood was very upbeat at the time. But I couldn't appreciate just how euphoric things were because I hadn't been in markets before that.

The next two years, I learnt a lot.

While today's tech markets (and the run up post COVID) is different :

(the companies are different & it's totally different times),

I do feel there are many similarities. The excitement, the emotions, the dreams

It brings back many memories

Luckily for me I had very little capital invested in the market back then ;-)

(mainly because I had very little capital, lol)

So it was a learning exercise that luckily didn't cost me financially.

Today, it's a different story. I don't have a pension fund so my retirement rides mostly on my portfolio and my investment choices

I am quite nervous about the level of some of the top tech growth stocks

But all I can do is try understand them and their management teams better & try pick the ones I believe in for the long-term

I will probably end up with one or two disasters but my aim is that the portfolio as a whole will do well over the next 15 years

I find studying great co's & their CEOs very stimulating

But I think the main thing is to have FUN and ENJOY THE JOURNEY

Being able to connect with & learn from so many like-minded amazing folk here on FinTwit has been truly remarkable!

Thank you all