By September 1987, I was seventeen years old.
The Disney investment I had started two years earlier had performed spectacularly. What began as $50,000 had multiplied five times, and even after taxes, my earnings were staggering. Adding the liquid portion from my share in the trolley company — the $1 million my father had given me — my total liquid cash now stood at roughly $1 million.
It was surreal. In my first life, I had dreamed of hitting my first million by twenty. Now I had done it three years early. And yet, I didn't feel the rush of triumph that others might. Wealth was just a tool. Timing, patience, and strategy were what mattered.
With the money secure, I turned my attention to another battlefield: the SATs. Stanford was my target, but more than that, I wanted to look like a genius in the eyes of the world. Being a teenage millionaire was impressive, yes, but I didn't want to rely on luck or inheritance. My brilliance had to be visible in both academics and intellect.
So I buried myself in study sessions, balancing mathematics, literature, and critical reasoning with finance and the early signs of business law. My mother, a lawyer, guided me through the basics of contracts and corporate protection. I wanted to be able to protect myself legally, to understand the mechanisms of wealth beyond just buying and selling stocks.
Time flew like a breeze. I woke each morning with a sense of purpose, splitting my day between SAT prep, reading market news, and quietly monitoring the world's trends.
And then came October 19, 1987 — Black Monday.
The Dow plunged more than twenty-two percent in a single day. Headlines screamed. Investors panicked. Chaos swallowed Wall Street. Most fortunes evaporated in hours.
But I wasn't afraid. I had already liquidated my Disney positions in September, securing my $250,000 profits. My $750,000 from the trolley company stake remained untouched, giving me a full $1 million ready to act.
While panic gripped most investors, I identified Microsoft — still underestimated, undervalued, and poised for the coming PC revolution. Windows, Office, the rise of personal computing — I could see it all clearly.
At the market's bottom, I began quietly accumulating shares. Every dollar invested now had the potential to multiply tenfold if timed right. While the world ran in fear, I bought. Patience was my weapon. Timing was my shield.
By the end of October, my positions were secured. Microsoft was my new foundation, a bet not on luck but on knowledge, foresight, and strategy.
As I returned to my SAT prep, I smiled. Knowledge, patience, and timing — the three pillars that had carried me this far — were about to carry me even further.
Seventeen, a millionaire, and ready. The real game had begun.