In 2019, I became interested in stocks and trading futures(a kind of derivative), but being young and inexperienced, I found it all very challenging. First, I needed to set up a broker account, but as a 16-year-old with no ID, I used my father's national ID to create the account. However, it was a tedious process because it's difficult to verify Bangladeshi documents with foreign entities. Despite many rejections, I eventually succeeded in making a couple of accounts.

My trading journey began with an MLM marketing scam that required me to pay for courses and other nonsense. I was lost and confused about how to pay for these courses, as I knew little about "dual currency cards" and the requirements to obtain one. I made many calls to people who used such cards, but I lacked the discipline to conduct proper research, and it was all over the place. But eventually, I managed to subscribe to the courses by getting a dual currency card through one of my uncles passport and credentials, a complete mess but worked out fine. $165 was my first ever purchase.

Then came the challenge of setting up an account to receive profits (if any, there was none) from my broker account, which was particularly difficult with only Bangladeshi documents. Although it's not impossible, it requires patience, which I personally found challenging. I went to several banks to figure out how to open an account, but it was not easy. I recall visiting four different banks, but none of them understood why a school kid was coming to open an account with his parents to receive funds from abroad. Looking back, those experiences now make me laugh. I didn't create any bank accounts; I learned that I could apply for a normal bank account and receive funds as a freelancer.

There were many more instances like the one where I had to make my father take selfies to create a Skrill (a payment solution), I had no clue what I was doing, but I did it anyway and learned that I always had to figure things out for myself. One time my payment solution actually sent me some papers to sign where I needed to sign if I was an individual associated with the government or any political activities, my father signed that and I had to mail those back to them, interesting endeavours indeed.

The moral of this story is that, to this day, I have received support from many wonderful people who have helped me through complexities, but I have had to figure the rest out on my own. Eventually, the dust settles, and the storm passes; we will always figure things out.

Arib Rez1

22.04.2023