Young Investor, the 12 year old stock trader

Disclaimer: This article is about a child, a 12 year old. My intent of writing this article is to document his public videos and tweets (approved by his parents).

Zachary Cox aka Young Investor is a 12 year old (as of 2020) who in the last week has taken the internet by storm. He tweeted at Chamath Palihapitiya, a very well-known investor who currently runs Social Capital and was a vital member of the early days of Facebook. Zach tweeted at Chamath and Chamath actually responded.

Remember the kid is 12 years old so this article will be mostly focused on his content and his current spike in publicity climb. Again, he is 12. He’s a child, if you want to know about his childhood, reconsider your why and no this article will not discuss it. Furthermore, he’s literally living it so there’s not much to talk about.

If you want to support the kid, watch his YouTube videos and subscribe to follow his journey.

Humble Beginnings

Zach started uploading his videos to YouTube in September 2020, his first video is titled “Is It Time To Buy Virgin Atlantic Stock?” and as of this writing has about 550 views. His latest 4-5 videos have more than 1,000+ views.

Not a lot when you look at other big creators on the platform. But what he did very well is he stayed consistent. One look at his channel, you can tell he uploads regularly and consistently. When it comes to building any type of habit, consistency over time is the way to achieve results. Zach has done just that and I hope he continues and does not get caught up in the rat race of views or subscribers.

Many content creators try to make clickbait thumbnails. Heck, my previous article is about David Dobrik, the king of clickbait. So much so, he actually made merchandise that had the word clickbait on it. Zack is the antithesis of that, his titles and thumbnails are not misleading in the slightest, they’re straight forward and to the point. Job well done Zack.

Looking at his content, they’re incredibly informative about what stocks to buy as well as what positions to take. His videos are typically about his different positions on stocks and how much he makes on a few different trades. He is also incredibly fluent at speaking especially for a 12 year old. As far as I can tell as a viewer, he’s not using a script or reading off of a paper, he’s talking from actual knowledge and research which is highly commendable and awesome.

You may be wondering “does this 12 year old have fun?” Great question.

He does, as he mentions on this podcast with , he does have homework, he does go to school, he does have friends that he hangs out with but he also does this on the side in the UK.

So What Happened?

So, a few days ago, Zach (aka Young Investor) sent this tweet out to Chamath to talk about SPACs. What is a SPAC? According to Wikipedia, a SPAC is a “blank check” shell corporation designed to take companies public without going through the traditional IPO process. SPACs allow retail investors to invest in private equity type transactions, particularly leveraged buyouts. Usual stuff that kids learn about.

From this tweet, you can tell his ask is innocent, it’s a simple request and builds some credibility in the first line. After some time Chamath responded via Twitter and after a few tweets back and forth, didn’t ultimately talk to Young Investor due to COPPA laws about some investing vehicles.

But the wheels were already in motion for Zach, the tweet responses got the attention of Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, a well-known podcaster, substack writer and investor. He currently runs Morgan Creek Digital Assets and is a prominent voice when it comes to investing.

After this tweet, Pomp reached out to his parents and shortly had the Young Investor on his podcast, The Pomp Podcast for a brief 20 minute conversation. You can watch the whole podcast here:

Before coming on the podcast, Pomp sent the tweet out while it was night time in the UK and the internet did it’s thing. Young Investor’s twitter follows increased drastically almost overnight along with getting a few hundred YouTube subscribers.

Many brands would love this type of overnight growth for anything they were doing. Overall, he went from having less than 1K followers on Twitter to over 20K and on YouTube, he went from having around 100 to almost 3K. Insane growth for any channel and individual. The best part? Zach genuinely seems like he likes investing and is just having fun talking directly to his Dad’s iPad when he’s recording the videos and uploading them.

Personally, I’ve loved this story. It’s the story of a creator who stayed consistent, talked about something they care about and as far as I can tell, he’s kept a level head especially because everything he does is approved by his parents.

To check out more of his videos, subscribe to his YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter.

He frequently reminds viewers something very important and I thought I should remind you here. He’s 12.

He’s not a financial adviser, so take anything he says and invest at your own risk. As anyone should, do your own research before making investment decisions and only allow enough risk with what you are comfortable losing.

This is the second edition of the Creator’s Digest.

I’ll dive deep into a single creator on a weekly basis and look at things like their schedule, business model, and provide some links on their content.

This is an ever-changing experiment and my first take at long-form writing, so please if you have any feedback, feel free to DM me on any platform @shardulgo.

BIG thank you’s & Credits to:

Terri Hanson Mead (proofreader)

Casey Golden (proofreader)