🗣️ Investor Talk #40: Joel Bernard

Founder - GrowthRapidly

Welcome to Investor Talk — where we interview successful investors to uncover their journeys, strategies, and the lessons they've learned. Get inspired by real stories and gain valuable insights to sharpen your own investment approach.

Every interview follows the same set of sharp, insightful questions — such as “What is your investment strategy?”, “What are your highest conviction stocks?”, and “What’s the biggest investment mistake you’ve made?”

In this edition, we have the pleasure of interviewing:

Name: Joel Bernard @growthrapidly Age: 38
Residence/Country: United States
Invests since: 2011

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
I'm a trial attorney with 12 years of experience, and while I hold a bachelor's degree in finance, I've never worked in the financial industry.

My interest in investing began in the summer of 2011, between my first and second year of law school, when I was interning at a federal court in Philadelphia. During that time, some of the law clerks were discussing how it was a great opportunity to buy stocks, given the aftermath of the 2008 recession.

A week later, I bought a few shares of Olin Corporation $OLN, only to sell them two weeks later when the price dropped. After that, I didn't invest much, as I was focused on my legal career, though I did hold some index funds with Vanguard and continued learning about investing. It wasn't until 2022 that I started investing in individual stocks on a more regular basis.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆?