Robert Leonard is an Accounting & Finance professional with a great passion for investing (stocks & real estate). At just 25 years old, he has one of the sharpest young investing minds in the country.
Robert is also a great interviewer. He’s currently the host of two podcasts on The Investor’s Podcast Network: Millennial Investing and Real Estate Investing. As host of these shows, he speaks with other brilliant investors who share what they’ve learned about stocks, real estate and personal finance.
In this episode, we discuss how Robert found his passion for investing at an early age. He recalls working as a bank teller when he was 18 years old to pay for college. Back then most of his income was invested in a 401K—now he’s more an individual stock-investor.
We also discuss how Robert became such a skilled communicator, which he mostly attributes to his Professional Communications class in college. The techniques learned from his instructor gave him confidence to speak in front of people. He also believes podcasting has helped him to become a better communicator—in the beginning his shows were more scripted than now.
This is a great conversation with a sharp and perceptive young investor!
Other topics discussed:
- Robert’s chat with Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank
- O’Leary helping people buy their personal freedom
- His admiration of Warren Buffet
- Reducing “decision-fatigue” in the morning
- Quickly learning “value investing”
- Trading with advent of commission-free brokerages
- Increase in trading/investing since Pandemic started
- Index funds & Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
- ServiceNow ($NOW) & Snowflake ($SNOW)
- Robert’s view on Trading vs Investing
- Developing skillsets to develop online businesses
- Great trades on Carnival Cruise Lines ($CCL)
- Sharing your portfolio on CommonStock.com
- Zoom ($ZM), Apple ($AAPL), Amazon ($AMZN), Tesla ($TSLA)
Questions asked:
- Can you share a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you are now?
- What was your biggest takeaway from that [Kevin O’Leary] interview?
- How did you become such a skilled communicator?
- What was the biggest takeaway [from the Professional Communications class] that you’re able to apply to your podcasting?
- How do you think brokerages going commission-free have changed investing?
- If you haven’t beaten the market by the age of 30, would you consider shifting more to index funds and ETFs?
- Have you considered investing in ServiceNow ($NOW) and Snowflake ($SNOW)?
- How do you think about investing in cruise companies, oil & gas, and all these companies that have been battered lately?
- At what age will you be teaching your son about money?
- How can we find your portfolio and take a look at it?
- What did you struggle with early on that you feel like you’ve really improved?
Fun questions:
- Social media – net positive or net negative for society?
- If you could wake up tomorrow with any number of Twitter followers, how many would you choose and why?
- How much time per day do you spend on Twitter?
- What kind of car do you drive?
- If someone dropped $1 million in your lap tomorrow, what would you do with it?
- If you were given a $100,000 tomorrow and forced to invest it in 3 companies: Apple, Amazon, and Tesla – how would you allocate those funds?
- If you were given another $100,000 to bet on which presidential candidate [Donald Trump/Joe Biden] would win New Hampshire – each pays even money – which one would you put your money on?
- What’s your favorite podcast?
- Overrated/Underrated: Mark Cuban, Anthony Pompliano, Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Jim O’Shaughnessy, Peter Schiff, Tim Ferris, Dave Portnoy, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson
Listen here:
Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble – Warren Buffet
Books mentioned:
- Mastery by Robert Greene
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Connect with Robert:
- Facebook: Robert Leonard
- Twitter: @therobertleonar
- Instagram: @therobertleonard
- Youtube: The Investor’s Podcast Network
