Nice to be out from under

First post for this blog. Feels like it should be a momentous occasion. It's been something I've been wanting to do for a long time... blog about money and trading and how we buy and sell to get ahead on the world.

One problem, though -- I was employed full-time in the financial services industry. For about ten years -- total -- since the late 1990's. I got in on the virtual ground floor at a division in one of the planet's top financial services companies (which, for various reasons, shall remain nameless). It was a new division that had been formed to bring some activities in-house that had been handled by outside third parties. MMNFSC  (Major Multi-National Financial Services Corporation - as my former employer will henceforth be referred to) decided they were sick and tired of shelling out vast sums of money to outside parties, when they could hire folks internally to do the job... have more control over their efforts (and isn't control often what it's all about?)... and whatever money they would be "paying" to these internal people, would be going back into their coffers.

Smart. I only wish they had been as smart about many other things after that point, but that's another post(s) for another time(s).

Anyway, I got into this division, and we kicked some serious ass. I mean, we pretty much revolutionized how MMNFSC did business with a lot of their key customers. We did good work. We made money in the process. We got all tricked out with tons of schwag -- I still have clothing I wear regularly, emblazoned with the logo from that employer, and when I clean out my attic and basement, I periodically come across odds and ends with the logo on them, which were prizes for projects well done.We were well-fed, well-equipped, well-cared-for. And life was reasonably good, if you're into that sort of thing.

Only one problem -- in terms of what I could do, personally, with my own investing and my own financial activities, I was strictly limited. As in Strictly. We had to report all our personal holdings on a regular basis. If we had accounts with other brokerage firms, we had to cancel them and bring our $$$ over to MMNFSC -- unless you had special dispensation from some Invisible Power On High (which some people had - how they managed it, I'm not sure).

Now, I understand the concepts of conflict of interest and company loyalty and keeping the money in the family. But when my co-workers had to report their monthly brokerage earnings, and those earnings were used to adjust their compensation expectations... well, it just seemed pretty un-American to me. Let me get this straight -- I know how to trade and make a nice living on the side, and you're going to limit how much I can earn at my full-time job, effectively devaluing the contribution I make to your company, because I happen to be a talented investor?

Makes no sense at all. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

I guess that's one of those examples of the kinds of decisions that were made that ultimately caused the company to tank and end up farther down the food chain, 15 years after I first started working there. Just plain old poor decision making.

Anyway, the good news is, I'm not there anymore. I was there for about nine years, then I took some time to go off and do some startup work, try out different industries, and broaden my skillset and experiences beyond what MMNFSC had made possible. Then I went back to the fold for about a year, remembered the reasons I'd left in the first place, and now I'm out of there. Permanently. (I'll share the inside scoop on what it's like to work at a fading former powerhouse some other time).

It's been a good year since I left that globally dominant part of my world, and it's taken me about that long to collect myself, regain my footing and remember why I got into that industry in the first place... and why I have left them for good. It's about the money. Not how much they paid me. Not how much they sent my way in the form of performance shares and incentive bonuses. It's about how much they allowed me to make on my own, in my own way, on my own time. I'm a firm believer in the rights of all people to earn their keep in the world -- and more. I believe that every individual has a right, even an obligation, to make a good living, and to have a diverse amount of income sources, not put all their eggs in one basket and hope to high heaven that that basket won't tip over. I believe that there are innumerable opportunities out there for advancement and enrichment, and we can and should have the wherewithall to pursue them, insofar as they don't harm others, and they contribute to the greater good.

Sounds idealistic? Maybe. But I'm an American, and I'm a human being who believes in opportunity and potential, and anything that stands in the way of my -- and others' -- ability to improve themselves in the world... well, that's just wrong.

And any company, even if they are a financial services firm with fiduciary duties, that stands in the way of individuals using their own best judgment on how to get ahead in the world (like forcing them to close all accounts with competing brokerage houses, and requiring them to report how much money they make through diverse channels), is not the kind of place I want to work.

Even if there are many, many very good reasons why a financial services company would make these requirements, I have no interest in being bogged down in their machinery. I have money to make. Opportunities to pursue. And being out on my own is probably the best thing for me.

So, that's where I am - out on my own, out from under. Freed up from that Big Brother-y gaze always peering over my shoulder, watching my every move. I'm free at last, and looking forward to what the investment world has to offer. I can't say I'm going to get rich overnight. And I will probably not share all my secrets for how I get where I'm going -- that's for you to find out for yourself. But I do intend to follow up on opportunities that look promising. And not let anything hold me back.

It's all wide open now. And that's very cool. Even better, I get to write about it all.