Varun Jaitly
ENglish 1S/T
Brian Lewis
Interviewing Jack Barnes
An everyday Conqueror
How does someone interview a man that was picked to be Forbes number one amateur Stock picker? Simply by starting with the basics and building from there. In the Interview Jack and I discuss his upbringing, his time spent in the city, and his coming of age experience. JAck Barnes is one of those individuals who grew up in a time where independence was key, and well taught through handing kids responsibilities despite age. Now he is the successful “Benevolent DIctator” of a website competing with major Financial news sites and runs multiple side operation, for both business, pleasure, and a sense of drive that makes him as unique an individual as they come.
Jack Barnes grew up on a Farm, like many his age during the late 60’s. He worked with his parents and family on this farm during a time in American History when there was genuine uncertainty and it worked in his favor. Mr. Barnes grew up taking on responsibilities that wouldn't even be considered to be given to a child today, and that lack of childproofing helped mature him along. Even when he moved from the small farm to the big city he took on responsibilities that were unorthodox for his age, for instance when he describes handling business for his parents Property management company. “I was sub 12 and I would answer the door and collect rent, and then I would go to the bank and deposit 12,000 dollars, you can’t let a 12 year old do that now.”
This independent and entrepreneurial drive was clearly prevalent at a young age and really displayed the effect that 70’s america had on Kids. A time where kids could do anything parents needed them to and not childproof everything, it was all about toughening your kids up for the realities of life. Also since many people had lived through the dust bowl and other hard economic times, and watched as America struggled to fight a war that was hurting its troops and its economy. Now things are different and parents have developed a self-consciousness for their kids that outweighs their need to build them up and I believe this is a dangerous thing.
As we move along, Mr. Barnes tells us of how he wasn’t the average College student, most college kids had a part time job at a food joint. Even I have a job at a pizza place! Mr. Barnes had a job as a firefighter and used this job to put himself through college. He also wasn't the kind of guy that simply went to school with a goal, a dream job and a desire to simply pass through the school system and out the other end. Mr. Barnes had a need to learn, he was determined to gain knowledge that would help him build something later on, maybe a company or a business, but all he knew was he wanted to learn, to further his knowledge.
Mr. Barnes approach to college is something different than what is observed today by students, he went to college for the sole purpose to expand his knowledge. Not simply to be given a number of qualifications that would get him a job. Today kids would have to come from a very high socioeconomic background to be able to pull that off. That and most kids these days dont think of college as a temple of knowledge as much as a place where they have to endure and overcome hard courses and teachers. To achieve the necessary requirements for a job in a decent field. This thinking is flawed and is why jack barnes did so well later on, he simply wanted to learn and move forward, not to conform and look for a place to stagnate. This idea I think is an older way of thinking that we as teens dont respect. It is, beyond anything a respect for knowledge.
Later on in his life jack realized that he needed a job and that he can not be a firefighter forever, so he worked as a tech guy for E trade, an investment company that worked with retail investments for Amateur traders. he eventually was able to get some money together and started his own Hedge fund that invested in what forbes called “The riskiest parts of the market.” This meant that Jack was battling with the best of them, he wasn’t learning for fun anymore he was lining his pockets with cash, he was able to achieve a ridiculous amount of returns every year. He did this for many years but in the end the inevitable happened, Jack Barnes faced an issue most pro’s can't handle, and thats eventually burning out. You can only be in the ring for so long until you get so worn out and bruised from fighting that you can’t fight anymore. Despite this he ended up coming back to the financial world and starting another project that again, fell more towards the social side of things, he decided to build a website where professional traders could give the regular guys some advice and also trade with them side by side.
Like in the beginning when I mentioned that entrepreneurial drive, he still continues to push forward today, moving forward and continues to grow. There is something to be said about that, since I have noticed that many of my elder relatives have a need to continue working despite their old age, but my younger relatives are not looking to expand as much. I believe this is an aspect of the American dream lost in an older time that isn't reflected in todays society and is lost in todays youth. Whereas we just want to enjoy our current state, the older generation was always looking forward to what is next.
This is one of the things I most enjoyed about interviewing jack barnes, he consistently showed me ways in which his socialization had helped him develop and grow in ways that I knew would be much different than my own in my own time. Right off the back he started off the interview saying how he played pong, then packman, and so on. I believe that there is something intrinsically right about talking to someone older and vastly more different than you. There is something to gain, and something to simply understand, such as how I understand that I will never understand the kind of life Jack lived when he was younger because it is so alien and so foreign to my own upbringing. Yet it is also the key, to the individual, where you can see this forward driven individual and his rots, and me, a regular intern in his larger machine.
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