Foreword
Hello all,
Before we get started here I’d like to give myself a brief introduction. My name is Jarah Macfarlane, and I am the founder of Macfarlane Investors, a Washington State-based registered investment advisor that focuses on changing lives through the investment process. I’ve never been one for titles and have never quite figured out what to call my job officially. You might get the standard industry terms like Wealth Manager or Financial Advisor, but most often when people ask, I simply tell them I founded a company that helps people invest. It’s as simple as that.
For clients, we do this in whatever way serves them best and is most comfortable. For some clients, I directly manage investments and conduct in-house financial planning. For others, I advise on specific situations without taking all of their assets under management – areas like taxes, retirement needs, or stock suggestions. This work is done for individuals, families, and organizations from all walks of life and different backgrounds. I am an Accredited Portfolio Management Advisor by the College for Financial Planning and a licensed and registered Investment Advisor Representative of Macfarlane Investors in the state of Washington.
The bottom line that I am trying to get at is that investing is my thing. It has changed my life, and in the process, has brought me immense joy and new knowledge – knowledge that needs to be shared. This is the knowledge that is not a part of traditional education systems, and the lack of education on this topic continues to perpetuate the economic and social issues we have in this country. While working professionally with investments may not be your path, I am writing this book because I want to help bring this important knowledge to you. Hopefully, by the end of this book, you will have passed the “financial nonelective”, the most important class you never took in school. Before that, however, here’s a very brief story about how I fell down the rabbit hole of finance.
When I began college, I was certain that I wanted to become a doctor. I spent a fair amount of time with healthcare professionals while growing up, and I always found myself deeply inspired by the help they are able to provide. I, too, wanted to be able to give that help. Over time, the more I learned about the profession, the more daunting it began to feel. The first problem may have been the fact that I had no interest in biology or organic chemistry whatsoever. On top of that were the tests, the extra years of schooling, and the immense debt I would ultimately incur. I have always been somewhat financially aware, but imagining the dollar amount associated with an “MD” next to my name swirled in my head for a good six months. During that “swirling” period, I wound up back home for Thanksgiving break. A few days after the holiday, I went over to a buddy’s house to hang out with some of my old high school friends.
I remember very distinctly the words that caught my ear: From the kitchen, someone asked “What do you think about putting on this S&P 500 spread?” I didn’t know what a single word of that meant – so I started by googling “S&P 500.” My obsession with investing, the decision to start my own firm, and the work I do with clients every day, more or less stems from that first search. I bought myself the classics, like The Intelligent Investor and A Random Walk Down Wall Street, and have followed up on every new term I’ve heard since then. When I returned to school, I began losing interest in my studies. Instead, I spent my time learning all about public markets and investment strategies. I was also working a few part-time jobs at the time, so with money put aside for college, I had a good amount of discretionary income. This was during the beginning of Robinhood mania, so the ease of access combined with my newfound interest was an opportunity for a lot of losses and lessons. I distinctly remember sitting at the small desk in my dorm room, looking out at the view of the library as I listened to Bloomberg investing podcasts, watched stock analysis YouTube videos, and constructed my portfolio for hours. This all took place between late 2019 and early 2020. At the time, I was unaware that things were about to change drastically. I vividly remember the eerie sense that the pandemic brought to campus in those first spring months. I also remember sitting in class watching the Dow shed 13%. This investing thing isn’t easy, I must have thought. We were sent home from school and the classes that I didn’t really care about moved online. Suddenly, the stage was set for my real commitment to finance.
I took another job and started pouring everything I had into the markets. Uncertainty lingered, and the world became a very different place, seemingly overnight. I am lucky to have stumbled across this passion when I did. For me, it made the pandemic’s effects somewhat tolerable. The next fall we returned to school in a hybrid fashion. I changed my major to finance and took any available in-person classes. I was encouraged by a professor to apply for Seattle University’s Redhawk Fund: an investment portfolio run by finance students. I did just that but got rejected for not one, but two roles. The first time, they didn’t like the fact that I applied to be a portfolio manager rather than an analyst. Apparently, the management roles were reserved for upperclassmen with “management experience,” whatever that meant. Ironically, I did have management experience at the time, I was actively working as the Assistant Manager of a full-service and take-out restaurant at the time. The second time, they didn’t agree with my investment philosophy. I wanted to buy Tesla; they wanted me to do reporting on health insurance companies. I remember being bitter, feeling like the bureaucracy of the industry I was entering might just chew me up and spit me out. However, I stayed the course with my own portfolio throughout all of this, investing every cent I could.
Soon I began to see the positive effects this had on my life. I felt work to be more rewarding, knowing the money was going to work just as hard. I was able to start paying for things independently. I was able to buy gifts for people and not worry about price tags. It allowed me to go skiing with friends and pay the rent at my own place. Lastly, it brought me immense joy. I feel so incredibly blessed to have stumbled upon my career path so early. What do they say? “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”? Sounds good to me.
With a slight chip on my shoulder after being rejected by the Seattle University fund, and with people beginning to ask me about the markets and how to begin to invest, I realized I wanted to do my own thing. Through this, I have come to find that healthcare is not the only way to help people. Maybe my contribution could instead be in finance. Fast forward a year or so and I am doing just that. I left Seattle University and transferred to an online program focused on CFA prep. I sponsored myself for the Series 65 examination and earned the Accredited Portfolio Management Advisor (APMA) from the College for Financial Planning. In a short amount of time, I have been lucky enough to find my calling and truly begin pursuing it. Whatever you might be passionate about, the information in this book will undoubtedly help you pursue your own calling as well.
As I always say, money is a tool, and investing changes lives.
Jarah.
