Here’s How a Trader Turned Student Loans into a $12 Million Fortune

Trading is serious business because you are competing against innumerable factors that could alter the direction of the market at moment’s notice. More so, you are “competing” with millions of other traders globally. Many of those traders are more experienced, have more trading capital, and most of them have faster workstations. Hence, a cursory glance at the trading market will suggest that the odds are mostly stacked against you.

Nonetheless, you need more than experience, money, and faster computers to succeed as a trader. The single most important habit you need to develop to become a successful trader is ‘Perseverance’. This piece seeks to draw insight from the story of someone that turned his student loans into a $12 million trading portfolio.

The untold story of Chris Sacca

Very few people know the full story of Chris Sacca, most people just know that he is a successful venture capitalist. He has stakes in Uber, Instagram, Twitter, Kickstarter, among others, and he sits on the board of many prominent Silicon Valley startups. Of course, you’ll also know that he currently has a net worth of $1.21 billion. What you may not know is that he built his fortune by initially working with Wasserstoff Aktien kaufen and investing a bulk of his student loans in the stock market.

In 1998, at about the time he was in law school, Chris started cashing out his government student loan checks. The cash however didn’t go to booze and whatnot; rather, Chris used the money to buy up many tech stocks of that time. By year 2000, he already has a $12M portfolio having stayed resolute in the market without taking profits off the table.

Of course, this is no longer 1998, the times have changed and you might find it hard to obtain a student loan (you might not be a student) or getting any other loans for the matter. Nonetheless, an understanding of what goes on the mind of loan officers can help along on the path to getting your personal loan approved.

The story gets more interesting; Chris made a grave mistake that is all too common with rookie traders and investors. He didn’t take his profits off the table and he didn’t diversify his portfolio. Hence, when the dot-com bubble got burst between 2000 and 2002, Chris had very little protection in the market and you can guess what happened next. He lost all his money in that market crash and the fact that he was irresponsible with leverage calls also got him into a $4M debt.

Winners don’t quit and quitters never win

Chris Sacca’s perseverance and resolute commitment to succeed however sets him apart from the millions of other traders who lost their fortunes in the dot-com crash. He negotiated a debt consolidation plan with the lender and they reworked his total debt to $2.125M. Then he went back to work in trying pay back his debts and to rebuild his lost fortune. Over the next five years, Sacca completed law school, worked at a law firm in Silicon Valley and floated a consultancy firm.

He repaid his debt in 2005 and he went on to become one of the prominent venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. If not for his perseverance, Chris Sacca would have been another statistic for highlighting the perils of the stock market. However, his advice on how to get rich quickly is subject to debate. He says, “My best piece of advice for the quickest way to get rich is to not spend any of your money, and then you’ll have more than you need.”