Learning Projects

Challenge yourself to learn new things

I’ve been very impressed with the content coming from Neckar’s substack. Neckar’s substack is an investing and money management themed substack that writes high quality pieces on financial markets and the people who play that game. I was introduced to Alix Pasquet through an interview conducted by Frederick, the author of the substack. The quality of information and the principles offered by Alix are applicable to many individuals looking to be the top performers in their fields.

One of the key lessons that Alix talks about is the importance of expanding your circle of competence. Many people feel like learning new topics are too difficult an adventure to endeavor on. I for one, have always enjoyed the expansion of my conscious through learning new topics foreign to me.

The principle of learning projects, which is an idea brought forth by Alix is something that I have practiced in the past. I just recently started a new learning project in the field of computer science, cybersecurity and programming. I was inspired by the recent developments in the AI space and the markets to learn the area well. There is a lot of opportunity for businesses and investors to capitalize from this emerging technology. However, I believe that solid understanding of technology and programming will be the key differentiator for investors. That led to my learning project.

I have also decided to relearn or to return to financial and investing literature for a fresh look into investing and its practices. We can get rusty and complacent. Revisiting topics we believe we know well can prove to reshape our perspectives. Therefore, my two summer learning activities are:

1. Computer Science

   1. How computers work.

   2. Programming

      1. History, development and ecosystem of computer science

      2. Python for Data Science, AI, ML

      3. Django

2. Corporate Finance, Accounting, Valuation and Investing

   1. Financial Analysis & Modeling

   2. Basics of Accounting (for non-accountants)

   3. Field Research

   4. Industry, Company and Customer Analysis

      1. Porter 5 Forces

      2. PESTLE

      3. SWOT

      4. Monte Carlo DCF Analysis

      5. PIE (Price Implied Expectations)

   5. Stakeholder/Management Organizational Chart

      1. Management

      2. Governance

      3. Key Holders

   6. Behavioral & Narrative Patterns/Analysis

   7. Intelligence Gathering & Analysis

In the comings days, I’ll have a curriculum on the books, courses, videos and other material I’ll be using for my learning projects. I like to structure my projects like a college course with a syllabus that will review our key objectives, the material and the coursework or homework that I’ll have assigned. In my case, for the programming projects I will be coding applications that will automate a lot of tasks I do. Also, I have some AI centric ideas that I will test and develop. My finance/investing project will have coursework more aligned toward writeups on books, companies, industries and investment strategies/techniques.

Ask yourself am I holding back my growth with a limiting self-belief? If so, what’s something that interests you, and how can you build a learning project around it?

Thanks for reading.