I Left $2 Million on the Table Last Year

I’ve been kicking myself over something lately.

Last year, I made some very good stock calls.

In fact, if you took a basket of my 2025 trades, the stocks would have returned about 43%. That’s enough to beat the market (S&P 500) by nearly three times.

I’m proud of that.

But a couple of months ago, I went back and asked a different question: What if I had invested in those exact same companies a different way?

Here’s what I found.

I wouldn’t have needed to discover a single additional winner. And yet, instead of 43%, that same basket could have returned 303%.

When I saw that number, it hurt. Because it showed me that I had gotten the hardest part right, and still left a staggering amount of money on the table.

Take a few of my biggest winners:

• UAMY gained 210%. This approach could have returned 585%.

• HOOD gained 113%. This approach could have returned 495%.

• GOOGL gained 81%. This approach could have returned 1,545%.

• XOM gained 31%. This approach could have returned 672%.

I picked the right stocks… nailed the timing… and my thesis played out like a charm.

And yet, I potentially left over $2 million on the table.

It hit me hard because I didn’t grow up rich. My mom raised two boys on her own.

I later paid my way through a master’s in finance – a degree that left me six figures in debt by the age of 26. It felt like a hole I might spend decades climbing out of.

Today, at 32, I’m fortunate to have a seven-figure net worth. But I didn’t get there because I had some huge head start. I got there by learning how to put my money to work.

That money gives me something I didn’t have a few years ago: choices.

I don’t have to panic over an unexpected bill. I don’t have to stay in a job I hate because I can't afford to leave. I can make decisions based on what I want my life to look like, not just what I can afford this month.

If I’d relied only on the $1,900-a-month paycheck from my first “real” job out of school, my life would look very different today.

That’s why leaving that much potential on the table last year bothered me so much.

Finding the Winner Is Only the First Decision