For almost a decade, I held research analyst positions in various investment firms, mostly in Toronto. In the summer of 2021, I left the city and moved into a yurt I built in the boreal forest. I went from living in downtown Toronto to living alone in the woods approximately 100km away from the closest paved road or grocery store.Self-sufficiency does not exist, as I replaced my relationships with grocery stores and utility providers with natural ecosystems and, ultimately, with God. Knowing that I am able to fulfill my basic needs even when alone in the woods allowed me to replace with love the feeling of anxiety I had in the city.Although my relationship with financial markets changed over time, my love is still alive and well. I deeply understand the importance of timing when it comes to maximizing the impact of my actions. When timing is off, not only are the impacts not maximized, but they can actually become destructive. The fourth dimension is my biggest weakness, and I am learning to live in accordance with its principles.My life is a call option with a time maturity of approximately 100 years if everything goes well. I am 29 years into the trade, and the call option is now in the money. To maximize its value, I am willing to face elevated volatility, and this is precisely what I have purposely done by going to the woods. From the point of view of a long-volatility trader, a life of comfort and entertainment minimizes the value of a human life. The volatility I have encountered in my personal life during the pandemic has been one of the most precious gifts I have received so far, and the payoff has been life-changing. My journey on financial markets started when I was 14 years old. After almost a decade in the investment industry and two years alone in the woods, I now understand that my journey is spiritual in nature. For this reason, comparing my returns to those of other people or indices is self-defeating. My process of self-evaluation is based on my former self, and nothing else. My goal is to grow as a human being, to make mistakes, and to learn from them. Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to learn from the mistakes of others, as I need direct experience to internalize a lesson fully. Writing has always been an essential part of my research process, and I now want to share it with the world, as my audience was restricted to a select group of individuals in the past. This profile should be seen as the personal notebook of a personal life journey. If I get something right, tell yourself that I got lucky. I do not recommend anything to anyone, and if you read what I write too seriously, you may end up alone in the woods, so be careful.”Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19”Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” Matthew 6:26”For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” Walden – Henry David Thoreau
