Ryan Krueger Is An Intentional Investor

Now, if the first thing I tell you is about how you’ve got to meet this guy who bought a dive bar across the street from an elementary school, you might shoot me a look. 

A long, inquisitive, “say what now?” type of look. 

But hear me out. 

Hear Ryan Krueger out. 

He didn’t come from much. His grandfather was a blind entrepreneur. The kind who didn’t want anybody to know he was blind or wasn’t self-sufficient in any way. The kind who trains himself to always look people in the eye (or at least make it look like he was). The kind who acquires a special tool to help him shave his face and square off his sideburns so nobody else would need to help him. 

It instilled something in young Ryan. The stories. The vibes. 

At 12 he got his first job. He started in a baseball card shop. He was into sports and numbers, the owner saw the passion, and put him to work sorting cards for sale/resale with other shops across the country. 

The trading operation opened the door to fantasy baseball (“Rotisserie leagues”). 12-year-old Ryan would be at home booking trades on his parents landlines. They let him do it. Weird, but the adults calling sounded serious, so…And then he won the league. 

The prize money was big. He used it to make his first stock investment. 

(Ryan’s rotisserie winnings and Wes’ Big Red - how’s this for an Intentional Investor theme?!)

The business and life that follows - you have to hear it. 

Talking his way into another job, without a resume, that lands him in New York in a Wall Street training program. 

Building a career as a portfolio manager, managing his money the way he managed clients, sending them personalized, hand-written notes for years. 

Having his increasingly growing Wall Street firm tell him to STOP talking about how he managed his own money or sending the notes. 

Leaving the big firm, as a personal, ethical, and authentic stance, to start his own. 

And, buying that dive bar across the street from the elementary school. 

Because it was the perfect location for a first office. 5 minutes from home, 5 minutes from his kids school, and for the most part, most of the old patrons figured it out quickly enough they weren’t serving drinks in there anymore. 

There’s so much LIFE in this story. 

If you ever worked for a big company and yearned to reconnect with smaller values, 

If you ever wanted to know how two generations back could inspire two generations forward, 

If you wanted to know what finding true freedom in life sounds and feels like - 

This is why Ryan Krueger is an Intentional Investor. 

Come listen to him talk with me on the Epsilon Theory YouTube channel. It’s special. 

Ps. Before you press play(!), Ryan wants you to make a bet about how long into the episode he will get all choked up for the first time. Pick a number between 1 minute and an hour and fifteen minutes. Play at home, let us know if you won or not in the YT comments.