How my liberal education helped me succeed in the stock market

When I first heard about trading, I was a student majoring in liberal arts at a university. By the way, my name is Riya, and to be more specific, I went to Presidency University in Kolkata (West Bengal, India). My studies had a strong focus on the humanities and social sciences, which were definitely my strong suits. I had no background in math or economics, so it didn’t feel right to enter the financial market. Perhaps I just felt intimidated and unsure about my ability to learn the ins and outs of trading. Something compelled me to plunge as if it was a premonition.

Because I was also involved in my classes, I didn’t understand the terminology and concepts that easily and often found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information I had to process. I stuck to both my studies, and it paid off over time. I made some shrewd investments that yielded returns, and in fact, I also found that my liberal arts background gave me a unique perspective on the market, allowing me to see connections and patterns that other traders might miss. The two pursuits were not as different as I had initially thought. Both required careful analysis, critical thinking, and a willingness to adapt to new information.

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I graduated from university with a degree in arts and a newfound passion for trading, ready to take on whatever challenges lay ahead. My first career prospect was about helping businesses grow their online presence, but I wanted to pursue both social media and trading and find a way to merge them together. 

The two passions complemented each other well. I traded stocks in the social media sector, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and did so quite successfully because my other job gave me the knowledge to identify new investment opportunities in the sector and make all the right decisions. But I had to be careful about emotions about a particular social media platform and that it could influence my trades in a negative way. 

Up to this day, I’ve been benefiting from this positive feedback loop of knowledge and expertise. But, of course, I had to branch out into other sectors and assets as well. So it wasn’t only social media that made my trading career – it was a combination of healthcare and energy stocks, as well as bonds, mutual funds, and real estate. I still owe it to the social media sector for the launch, but I’m not wasting the opportunity to thrive everywhere.