About GauchoRico Stock Investing & Personal Finance

The purpose of this site is to provide information that will improve financial literacy of ordinary people and their families. The public education systems in the United States (and in other countries as well) generally do not provide adequate instruction to enable young people to acquire the skills, knowledge, and financial discipline needed to make financial choices that lead to financial freedom. Without that education from the beginning, many adults aren’t equipped to guide their children either. This site is an open and free resource. The operator of this site neither gains financial benefit nor plans to personally gain in the future. Nothing is being sold here, and the author has no agenda other than to share his experience and knowledge.

About GauchoRico

GauchoRico is the penname of an individual investor who currently invests primarily in high growth companies that are listed on the major U.S. public stock exchanges. GauchoRico has been sharing ideas, opinions, and analyses on public blogs for a more than a decade. His previous name on The Motley Fool (TMF) was GauchoChris. In early 2014, GauchoRico “met” Saul Rosenthal just a few days after Saul started his own discussion forum called “Saul’s Investing Discussions” on TMF. Saul’s self-professed 25-year stock portfolio returns starting from the early 1990s seemed almost unbelievable. Yes, Saul’s stock investing returns were on par or even a little better than Warren Buffett’s legendary returns. Skeptical that anybody could achieve such amazing returns, GauchoRico began to study Saul’s opinions and thought processes, and pay close attention to his buys/sells and portfolio management. After several months of observation and investigating, it became clear to GauchoRico that Saul possessed an incredibly rare and exceptional set of skills that make him remarkably adept at stock picking and investing. At that point, GauchoRico considered Saul his investing mentor. Saul and GauchoRico also developed a friendship that eventually crossed from the digital world to the real world. GauchoRico remains eternally grateful to Saul for sharing his ideas, thoughts, and methods.

GauchoRico decided to start his own blog because there are topics of financial interest that are not taught in schools, even at the university level, and are considered off-topic on Saul’s forum. Personal financial literacy is severely lacking in the United States and around the world, and to make matters worse there is so much bad advice thrown around and so much so-called “conventional wisdom” that make it incredibly difficult for people to assess for themselves how to make good financial decisions. GauchoRico would like to share what he has learned with the hope that some of his writings shared on this blog will help others.

GauchoRico is just a regular dude (yes, Gaucho is in reference to his alma mater’s mascot: the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos) who from a very young age paid close attention to financial matters. He was born in Puerto Rico and, as a result, his father wanted to name him Rico (mother responded with a very firm “NO!”). Unlike the man behind the name, GauchoRico was born only recently, and while the name sounds Spanish, trying to converse with GauchoRico in Spanish will only get you blank stare in return. In the 6^th grade, GauchoRico was introduced to stocks and the stock market through a class assignment of picking and tracking a stock for a period of time. Back then the only way to get a stock quote was to check in the newspaper on the following day. The interest stuck all those years until in 1992, several weeks after graduating from the university and beginning his first “real” job, GauchoRico opened his first brokerage account. When someone tells you that they have 28 years of stock investing experience, don’t be, not even for a second, impressed. The number of years’ experience on its own is virtually meaningless when considering someone’s skill at anything. While he learned some valuable lessons during the first two decades, the most valuable learnings happened after GauchoRico met Saul in 2014. Ideally, the learning never stops. If one keeps an open and flexible mind and has a tendency to think in terms of shades of gray rather than black and white, then important learnings and lessons take root in a way that can be financially beneficial. Nuances are so very important, and investing is one of those things where dogmatic thinking can be very detrimental to the results. It’s also important to try new things and to experiment without betting the farm, as these experiences can lead to new insights and methodologies. It is inevitable that mistakes will be made and that there will be setbacks; while they may seem unfortunate when they occur, they can provide valuable lessons and opportunities for further learning. Thus, it is also important to not be too hard on yourself.

Hopefully, this blog can be useful to others who have an interest in learning more about finances and investing. Again, GauchoRico is just a regular dude sharing thoughts, opinions, and personal experiences. All the content in this blog is being made available at no charge, and nothing written herein should be considered as advice. The readers of this blog are responsible for making and owning their own decisions, financial and otherwise.