Mason High School senior Sanjay Swamy compares himself to Daedalus in the Percy Jackson novel Battle of the Labyrinth.
“I’m not too close to the water in the sense that I’m not too afraid to acquaint myself with risk," he says. "But I’m also not too close to the sun because I don’t over-leverage myself and I know my place,” The 17-year old has named his investment company Daedalus Investments after the character.
Swamy hasn’t done too badly for himself and his 15 investors, matching the market and using hedging strategies to soften the impact of any volatility. He has $530,000 under management.
Swamy first got interested in investing in sixth grade and along the way, “I read a bunch of the essays from Warren Buffett, a lot of books definitely helped me in order to figure out what the financial world was,” he says.
Paper trading accounts helped him develop strategies without the risk. Swamy also got in on the ground floor with Robin Hood.
While others are trying to squeeze all the fun they can out of high school, he’s managing money and making YouTube investment videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee9TaZkHHwk&t=22s
He says now that he’s not just managing his family’s money, there's a whole lot more risk and responsibility involved. “When I started this company, I knew that no matter what happened, the blame would be shifted to me, I have no place to let the blame go to.”
The Mason student credits his family and friends for his success.
It’s unclear if he will continue managing Daedalus Investments when he goes to college next fall. He’d like to go to Stanford and possibly study data analytics.