I was 26 years old, broke, and bored in Bangkok.
And then a retired Thai man I'd never met before invited me into his home for lunch.
Back when I was living in Bangkok in my mid 20s, money was tight.
So I had to get creative with how I spent my free time.
One of my favorite things to do was hop on the BTS, Bangkok's elevated subway system — and get off at a stop I'd never visited before.
No plan or agenda. Just curiosity and the need to get my 10k steps in.
One day I rode all the way to the end of one of the lines.
Way out in the sticks, to the point where I was the only foreigner on the train.
As I stepped off and started wandering around, an older Thai man… probably late 60s, noticed me looking around like I'd landed on another planet. He walked over and asked what I was doing out there.
So I told him the truth, I was just exploring.
He smiled, and for the next hour, he walked around with me telling me how that neighborhood had changed over the decades.
What the streets looked like before the city swallowed them up and how the urban sprawl had developed.
Then he invited me back to his house for a home-cooked lunch made by his wife.
I'll never forget that day for as long as I live.
And I've thought about it a lot since.
Because if I'd had more money back then, I probably would've just gone to a nice restaurant or done something "safe" with my day.
Instead, limited options forced me into an uncomfortable situation, which turned into one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
The lesson I took from it is that sometimes the most valuable things happen when you put yourself somewhere unfamiliar.
That's exactly why I created Investormania.
Most people consume financial content alone. They read an email (hopefully this one), watch a video, maybe browse a forum. And they stay stuck inside their existing frame of thinking.
But there's something that happens when you get a room full of serious investors together in person. You hear an idea from someone else that completely rewires how you think about your own portfolio. You have a conversation over coffee that shifts your strategy in ways no newsletter ever could.
The Bangkok subway ride taught me that the best experiences rarely announce themselves in advance. You just have to show up somewhere new and stay curious.
Investormania is that place for your financial life.
Oliver