First contact with markets through broad index funds — a passive observer more than an active participant. The interest was there, but not yet the framework. What stayed from this period wasn't a trade or a return. It was a developing awareness that markets were worth paying serious attention to.

The March crash was the first real stress test — watching a portfolio drop sharply in real time. The instinct was to sell. The decision was to hold. By year end, the recovery had more than compensated for the drawdown. The lesson wasn't about the trade. It was about what panic feels like, and what it costs when you act on it.

The first year with a genuine thesis — semiconductors as a structural theme, not just a trade. The position was sized with more conviction than anything before. It worked. But the lesson wasn't the return; it was the realisation that having a view and holding it through volatility were two entirely different skills.

The hardest year. A concentrated position in leveraged semis through a brutal bear market. Down significantly for most of the year. Held. The recovery came, but slowly — and the emotional cost was real. What this year built wasn't confidence. It was something quieter: the ability to sit with discomfort without reacting.

The year the approach became more deliberate. More attention to macro context, sector rotation, and the relationship between price action and narrative. Less reacting, more reading. The returns were solid, but the more meaningful progress was internal — a cleaner process, a quieter execution.

The universe widened — not for the sake of it, but because the macro reading had become specific enough to justify it. For the first time, individual names alongside the leveraged ETFs — mega-cap tech, bonds, small caps, financials, and an inverse play on China. Different theses, different horizons, running in parallel. It was also the year of serious reading — first real exposure to technical analysis and the idea of combining it with fundamentals. One of those individual names was entered on a textbook chart pattern. Beginner's luck, perhaps. But the kind that teaches something real. Also tried day trading for the first time. Learned a great deal about myself — emotionally, behaviourally — but ultimately concluded it wasn't for me. More activity rarely means better decisions. Closed the year positive regardless, and ahead of 2023.

The clearest year yet — and the most concentrated. Almost entirely in a single leveraged semiconductor ETF, a theme that had been building in the macro backdrop for months. The ride wasn't smooth — there were moments that tested the conviction — but held through the volatility and came out the other side. The results were the strongest to date, nearly matching everything from the previous years combined. Not without some noise — a brief detour into crypto-adjacent territory that fortunately ended up marginally positive. But the most important decision of the year happened early: stopping day trading. The focus that returned with it made everything else sharper.