AAPI Heritage Month: Ryan’s Story
In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we are featuring our Director of Investments and Trading, Ryan Balderian. Ryan is passionate about his work at Quantum, as he believes applying his analytical and critical thinking skills to Quantum’s investment philosophy is the best way he can show care for our clients.
While Ryan’s passion for finance started at an early age when his father bought shares of Toys R’ Us stock for him at his request, netting him a handsome $500 gain, it wasn’t until much later in life that he would make the connection between money and his values.
Ryan was raised in Rancho Palos Verdes, an affluent beach community in Southern California. Growing up Ryan enjoyed what he called “a very comfortable lifestyle”, surrounded by lush golf courses and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. A good student, he was accepted into NYU’s Stern School of Business and was looking forward to trading his views of the Pacific Ocean for views of Central Park!
That was until a twist of fate landed him not in the classroom at Stern, but 8,600 miles away in the rural community of Tabontabon in the Philippines. Instead of views of Central Park, he had views of rice paddies and water buffalo, and instead of sleeping in, he was awakened by the sounds of squealing pigs and crowing roosters as most of the town’s inhabitants were farmers.
His family had started a non-profit university in Tabontabon, Philippines, population 11,902. The university was completely funded by his family, but when personal financial difficulty struck, Ryan was left with a difficult choice. As with many Asian families where familial loyalty is not negotiable, Ryan found himself enrolled in the school’s entrepreneurship program. Once Ryan was able to overcome his initial shock of living in Tabontabon for the foreseeable future, he began to observe a different way of life, which he would have never had the opportunity to experience living in the United States.
When asked about a poignant moment, he recalls a father who would bike 20 miles everyday to bring lunch to his daughter. Along the way he would sell snacks to passersby to make just enough money to buy his daughter lunch. He had limited means, but valued education as this would be his daughter’s ticket to a better life. A better life would ultimately mean that she would be able to get a job overseas and send money to the family. In fact, “Filipinos working overseas sent home a record $31.4 billion cash remittances [2021]” , which was approximately 9% of GDP.
Through these experiences, he learned to find the joy in the simpler things in life, such as spending time with his family, enjoying a good home cooked meal, and playing video games with his brother. In addition, he learned from his father that Experience = Wisdom, which beats just being smart. Always encouraging him to be curious about experiences, Ryan, a big fan of Warren Buffett and free from the distraction of frat parties, read every finance book he was able to get his hands on and set his sights on becoming a CFA charterholder. While in school, he also worked in the school’s finance department, where he gained an appreciation for financial planning and analysis.
Ryan is grateful for the experiences he had in Tabontabon and credits his time there to forming his core values of family, intellectual curiosity, and hard work.
Fun fact about the Philippines:
Just like Asian Americans are not a monolith, the Philippines is made up of over 7,600 islands that have their own history and culture. In fact, each town holds a weeklong celebration called Fiesta, similar to Madi Gras or a much smaller-scale Brazilian Carnival.
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