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Writer's pictureSofia@Lifeboost

My financial journey so far

Updated: Jul 20, 2023

From 0 SEK (no knowledge) to over 2 million SEK (confident capital manager) in ten years:


I attended the Music Program in high school and barely passed Math B. My interest in math or investments was practically nonexistent. That's how it can be when you're young, but things can change over the years.


When I was 18 years old, I participated in a stock competition organized by my grandmother for me and my cousins to learn more about stocks. I didn't understand anything and didn't put any effort into the competition, but a few years later, I started to develop a genuine interest in stocks. I spent a significant portion of my free time Googling about stocks, listening to finance podcasts, and reading books about investments.


At the age of 23, I deposited 5,000 SEK into an investment savings account (ISK) at a Norwegian bank to learn how to buy and sell stocks. I was living in Oslo during that period of my life, so my initial stock purchases were in Norwegian small companies. I lost 50% of my invested capital in the first year, but I learned a lot about buying and selling stocks and funds, brokerage fees, dividends, exchange rates, stock issuances, capital gains tax, leverage products, and other exciting investment concepts and features. During the same period of my life, I embarked on a real estate adventure and bought a two-room apartment in central Oslo that I owned for three years. While learning more about stocks, I was also studying social work at the University College of Oslo and working part-time at the Social Services Income Support Office.

In 2015, when I finished my studies, I moved back to Gothenburg. I sold the property in Oslo and used my carefully managed funds to purchase a new apartment in Gothenburg. I also opened accounts with Swedish brokers Nordnet and Avanza and started buying stocks on the Swedish stock exchange. I invested in long-term investments and dividend stocks, such as HM, Investor, and other major Swedish companies that pay dividends.


A few months later, I met a man on Tinder who devoted his life to stock trading. With his university education at Chalmers, including financial mathematics, he had a thorough understanding of the stock market. He took my knowledge of stocks and finance to a whole new level. Our romantic relationship also developed, and he is now the love of my life.


While my future day trading partner and I moved in together, I worked as a school counselor. A few months later, I went on sick leave from work due to overload. After two months, I started working part-time at the Social Services Income Support Office in Sweden. At the same time, I started day trading more and more. It went well enough that after a year, I quit my job at the Social Services and decided to fully focus on day trading – no one remembers a coward. I had rented out my apartment for two years, and now it was time to sell it. I used the down payment for my daily buying and selling of stocks. I managed to earn a decent full-time income from it for five years. My focus was on initial public offerings (IPOs) and capital raising in small companies in the Scandinavian market. At most, I managed over two million SEK.




Of course, I made mistakes – one specialty I had for a while was trading so-called falling knives (stocks that fall uncontrollably, and it can be difficult to assess how far the fall can go). I have probably lost up to 50,000 SEK on such a trade. It is important to learn from one's mistakes.


My best trade was around 200,000 SEK in one day. The trade I am most satisfied with is probably my trading in a simple subscription option where I observed, researched, bought, and sold at the right times, earning 70,000 SEK in about a month with an investment of around 15,000 SEK.


It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. In 2022, the Ukraine war happened, and I lost part of my cash investment because I foolishly had put a portion of my capital into a long-term investment – a small pharmaceutical company on the Swedish stock exchange. This happened the same week I gave birth to my second daughter. It was a turbulent time, both financially, mentally, and physically.

I was on parental leave but occasionally traded when my daughter was sleeping. My focus wasn't 100%, and I didn't feel happy. I missed coworkers, meeting people, and making a difference in my clients'/customers'/students' lives as a social worker.


Spring 2023. I realized I needed a significant change. I applied for a job as a social worker and got a dream job as a school counselor at 50% where I speak English during work hours and get to work with amazing young people. At the same time, I started my own coaching business called Lifeboost Sweden.


I knew nothing about running my own business, but I had an idea of how it should look. I packaged my services into three parts – psychosocial health, physical health, and financial health.


Fall 2023 - spring 2024 will be a test pilot for my coaching business. I will probably niche myself towards one of my three focus areas, but time will tell.


Right now, I'm not day trading but dedicating all my time to my children, my partner, and my jobs – all these aspects of my life are passions, and it feels great! I will definitely continue day trading in the future, but at the moment, there are other things in life that interest me more. Besides, I get enough stock talk at the dinner table and throughout the rest of the day. It's a part of my life.


What do you think I should specialize in?


What do you believe women between the ages of 20 and 35 would benefit from the most?


All the best,

Sofia



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