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@vpbuilds

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🐐 Institutional thinking made accessible
💵 Investing • High Finance • Motivation
📍NYC | Aus
📧 [email protected] | UGC & Collabs

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My parents migrated to Australia with almost nothing in the hopes for a better life.

They sacrificed everything to give me opportunities they never had.

Growing up, I didn’t fully appreciate the sacrifices they made. But the older I got, the more I understood.

By 31, I’d built a home for my parents and grown my net worth to over $1 million.

Not because I earned an extraordinary salary from day one, but because I learned to live below my means, invest consistently, and make the most of the opportunities they gave me.

Working in finance taught me how to build wealth. My parents taught me why it matters.

For me, building wealth was never just about having more money. It was about creating freedom, security, and being able to give back to the people who gave me everything.

Now I’m sharing what I’ve learned along the way.

Follow for more on investing, building wealth, and creating financial freedom.

#WealthBuilding #PersonalFinance #Investing #FinancialFreedom #FirstGeneration taken in New York City by @vpbuilds

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3 days ago

US$1 trillion was just wiped from the US stock market from cpi figures coming in slightly hotter than expected.

When the market undergoes a correction huge opportunities arise and it’s important to stay rational and resilient.

Here are three things I do when there’s elevated volatility in markets:

1. Don’t panic-sell

A small number of days drive most returns. Over the 30 years to January 2024, missing the S&P 500’s 30 best days cut the average annual return from 8.0% to 1.8%.
The best days tend to cluster during bear markets or recessions, so selling into a drop often means missing the rebound.

2. Make sure near-term cash isn’t in equities

This matters more than any market buy or sell. Money you need in the next one to three years shouldn’t depend on where stocks happen to be when you need it. Keeping cash on the side allows you to withstand volatility and buy more undervalued stocks if you have the capacity to. This is a standard planning principle I use to emotionally weather drops in my portfolio. (My portfolio was down an eyewatering 25% or 150k this week 😅).

3. Use the volatility to your advantage

Tax-loss harvesting, and topping up quality positions you already wanted at lower prices is where generational wealth is made in times like these.

I’m keeping my eye on a handful of positions that look to be undervalued so follow along if this is something you want to see. taken in Umana Bali by @vpbuilds

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18 hours ago

The first ETF I bought back in August 2024 is NYSE:SOXX. It’s now up 165% as of October 11, 2026, thanks to increased AI infrastructure spending and the memory shortage.

SOXX is the ishares semiconductor ETF which aims to track a US equity index of semiconductor companies with an expense ratio of 0.33%.

AI infrastructure runs on chips. The AI build-out is widely described as possibly the biggest investment boom in American history, and chips sit at its core.

The second ETF I’m heavily invested in is NYSE:DRAM, which I bought in May 2026, a month after it listed.

DRAM is the Roundhill Memory ETF, a US-listed fund that invests only in memory chip companies. It’s actively managed, has a higher management fee of 0.65% and currently has three core holdings that make up 75% of the etf (MU, Samsung and SK Hynix).

As AI moves to multi-step autonomous tasks, memory bandwidth has become the binding constraint, so hyperscalers are locking in supply, driving up demand for memory companies and stocks.

Not financial advice, do your own research.

My full portfolio in my bio, follow for more investing and finance content.

#memorystocks #dram #soxx #semiconductorstocks #aistocks taken in Bangkok, Thailand by @vpbuilds

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5 days ago

I’ve worked in several buy-side investment funds and have screen over US$1 billion of different investments to purchase for the fund. Although some investments initially look attractive, they inevitably fall through. Top reasons below and how you can apply to your personal negotiations:

1. Valuation gap
Buyer and sellers can’t agree on price. A KPMG survey found disagreement over valuation was the most common reason deals failed to complete, with 36% of respondents naming it as the primary cause. Earn-outs, deferred payments and other contingent structures are often used to close that gap.

The next time you disagree on pricing try to come up with solution to meet in the middle (eg different payment structures, a coinflip and let chance decide on who’s pricing to go with etc).

2. Due diligence surprises
Diligence can turn up late surprises such as undisclosed liabilities, regulatory problems, or customer and vendor risks. That leads to lost confidence or repricing.

Before agreeing to buy anything, try to price in some contingency for unexpected surprises.

3. Time.
Long processes give markets, financing and the target’s performance room to move, and that can reopen price discussions.

If you want to close a deal, acting fast will almost always work in your favour.

Save this for the next time you need to negotiate your close something (house, rent, car or salary etc).

Follow for more money content.
#negotation #highfinance #mergersandacquisitions #buyside #lifeadvice taken in CHAGEE Thailand by @vpbuilds

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8 days ago

Investing on margin is a high risk high reward strategy that’s definitely not for everyone. Here’s three reasons why I’ve taken out debt to invest even when the market is currently at all time highs:

1. More exposure without more savings. Borrowing lets me own more of the market than my cash alone would buy. Gains are amplified, and so are losses. I’m hoping that the investments I made will have a higher return than the cost of debt.

2. I don’t have to sell what I already own. Instead of selling existing holdings to fund new buys, I borrow against them and stay invested. This is great for when certain investments need time in the market and good opportunities arise.

3. The interest can be tax deductible. In the US, margin interest generally counts as investment interest expense. The catch: you have to itemize, and the deduction is capped at your net investment income for the year.

The downside I respect: if the market drops hard, a margin call can force me to sell at the worst possible time.

Time will tell whether or not I’ve made the right call.

Not financial advice, for education purposes only.

Follow along for the investing journey.

#margininvesting #marginloan #investing #highriskhighreward taken in Bangkok, Thailand by @vpbuilds

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9 days ago

When Donnie Trump, Nancy Peloski, Peter Thiel and the CEO all make an investment into the same company, it’s almost always worth looking into.

Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST) is one of the largest US competitive power companies, operating about 44 GW of generation, mainly in natural gas, coal and nuclear.
Fundamentals wise, Vistra has strong earnings & cash generation, an attractive forward PE of ~13.6x but has a significant (somewhat eyewatering) amount of debt.

VST is essentially a leveraged exposure to the emerging U.S. power shortage. Its existing nuclear and gas plants become more valuable as data centers increase demand while new dispatchable generation remains difficult to build.

Whether or not electricity prices increase in JPM
(Vistra’s main iso) is up for debate, but I’d rather capitalise on it than stand on the sidelines.
Not financial advice, do your own research.

#vistra #vst #energystocks #vistracorp #fundamentalanalysis taken in Bangkok, Thailand by @vpbuilds

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14 days ago

ETFs or individual stocks?

There’s a big difference between owning one company and owning a fund that holds many investments.

Individual stocks can offer more upside, but they also come with more company-specific risk. ETFs can make diversification easier, but not every ETF is actually diversified.

If you’re in your 20s or 30s and trying to build long-term wealth, understanding what you actually own is more important than chasing the next “10x” stock.

Personally, I’m of the opinion that concentration builds wealth but diversification preserves it.

Let me know what you think otherwise save this for the next time you’re deciding what to invest in.

For educational purposes only, not financial advice.

#indexfunds #etfs #financialliteracy #investing taken in Bangkok, Thailand by @vpbuilds

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19 days ago

AMD has been on an absolute tear the last few weeks entering the elusive $1t market cap club, up from roughly $250m a year ago. Here’s why I’m going to continue holding despite a large position in my portfolio:

1. AI sentiment seems to have shifted positively post rate hike. Although there has been a minor reset, the AI wave has been aggressively pushing semi stocks through all time highs. I’d rather capitalize on any momentum than sit on the sidelines.

2. October to December months have historically been the best few months of market gains. Although AMDs valuation now sits close to the average analyst price target, if history repeats there’s positive momentum in the market in general, AMD would benefit from this from its high Beta.

3. I believe we the demand for semi conductors will continue to grow in the near future due to continuous hyperscaler data center spending. Although stock prices have run up recently, I believe we’re still at the beginning.

That being said there is limited near term upside according to analyst price targets post run up so I am going to keep a close eye on it and potentially trim my position in the next few months, mainly to rebalance and reduce concentration risk.

Follow for more updates.

Nfa, dyor.

#advancedmicrodevices #amd #amdstock #semiconductors #investing taken in Shanghai, Chaina by @vpbuilds

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22 days ago

My stock investment portfolio mainly consists of high beta semi-conductor and ai driven growth stocks which has been trading sideways only until September 21, post fed rate hikes.

What you don’t see here is the volatility and the large negative swings my portfolio has when sentiment for ai stocks is unfavorable. It’s genuinely hard to stomach unless you have strong conviction on your thesis and investments.

Going forward I think we will continue to see a lot of volatility in the markets, but given the Q3 rate hike is now behind us I’m hoping that we see more days where market sentiment remains positive.

If you’re curious what stocks I currently hold, I disclose it all for free in my bio.

Nfa, dyor.

#techstocks #amd #semiconductors #robinhood #investing taken in Shanghai, Chaina by @vpbuilds

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24 days ago

I bought APPLOVIN (nasdaq:APP) on conviction two weeks ago and today decided to completely 180 and exit my APP position (at the same price I bought in).

So what’s changed my thesis?

Although the company still looks extremely undervalued and has rallied a bit, a few things happened in the last few days that made me readjust my expectations:

- A Class action lawsuit was filed on 17 September for misleading Al usage. I’m not a fan of any companies that have active legal pursuits as it adds negative pressure on prices.

- APP crossed its 50 day moving average, a technical indicator signaling short term bearishness. I’ve been keep an eye on this as it’s difficult to reverse a bear trend.

- We saw growth stocks rally the last few days from increased rates, however APP fell (as with some other saas stocks), which to me indicates it will need a much bigger catalyst for prices to reverse back to fair value.

I still have strong conviction on the company in the long term given its financials, but for me the opportunity cost of holding APP is now too high.

I will continue to watch APP and likely enter back in once the stock has fallen further or volatility subsides. In the meantime I’m intending to redeploy capital elsewhere so stay tuned and follow for updates (likely cybersecurity, saas or a high-beta stock).

#applovin #saasstocks #software #digitaladvertising #technicalanalysis taken in Shanghai,china by @vpbuilds

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a month ago

I bought 120 shares of Micron (NASDAQ:MU) on October 2025 at $167 a share, it’s now trading around $1000 a share as of September 2026, a gain of $100k or ~500% in under one year.

Looking back at the numbers now, three things stand out as to why it had such a great run after reaching all time highs:

1. Forward P/E was ~ 15x, even though trailing P/E was near 30x. The market was still pricing the old MU, not the earnings that were coming.

2. Tariff headlines were crushing the whole chip sector, but Micron had already committed $150B+ to US manufacturing. Different exposure than its foreign competitors.

3. HBM capacity was already sold out through 2026 on Al demand. The “cyclical memory stock” story didn’t match the order book.

Looking back, I didn’t run this analysis before I bought.
This is what the setup looked like after the fact.

Not financial advice. Do your own research.

Follow for more investing content.

#micron #semiconductor #techstocks #investing #aiinfrastructure taken in Shanghai 上海外灘 by @vpbuilds

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a month ago

When looking for opportunities to buy for long term capital growth, I try my best to find the combination of the three key things below:

1. High quality business
A business that is easy to understand, has financial stability (will break this down and what valuation metrics I look at in a future reel) and a supportable moat that is better than its competitors are the key things I assess before deciding to buy in.

2. Great management team
I’ve worked with investment management teams that are amazing and some that are terrible and can personally tell you that this will make or break the future trajectory of a company. A management team that is owner focused is often the most competent. I sometimes stalk linkedin bios to understand the backgrounds of C-suite, and look at prior companies the ceo has been a part of and its growth.

3. Reasonable valuation
Finding a good quality business with a great management team is easy, the difficult part is being able to find this type of quality at a low or reasonable valuation. I often keep my eye on businesses on my watchlist and wait out for large macroeconomic/black swan events that affect the whole market. I generally believe that in the long run the stock market will continue to grow so find that these are the best times to buy in.

I’ll disclose some of my key buys going forward so make sure you’re following if this is of interest.

#fundamentalstocks #investing #valueinvesting #stockmarket #equityresearch by @vpbuilds

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a month ago