Back in the early aughts, when I was in my mid-20s, two things were going on. First, I had a small investment account with Charles Schwab, nothing to write home about. My holdings were some of the most popular high-tech stocks at the time: Cisco, Siebel Systems, JDS Uniphase, Oracle, and so on. It was an embarrassingly concentrated portfolio. Yet every morning, I would login to the Schwab website and look at some charts that would remind me how undiversified my portfolio was. I was not day-trading. I was not buying anything new or different. There was absolutely no reason for me to look at those charts and graphs because I was not doing anything to fundamentally change them. Yet I did. It was addictive. 

The second thing happening was a huge investment (arguably, overinvestment) in my personal wardrobe. Don’t get me wrong, I think investing in a solid wardrobe, especially while young and trying to make an impression in the workplace, is a sound investment. But just like a stock portfolio made up of 100% tech stocks might be unwise, my individual purchase decisions were not resulting in a healthy, diversified wardrobe. To wit, I owned some interesting sport jackets and there was nothing I liked better than to hit my favorite men’s store and pick out a dress shirt and tie or two that would coordinate well with the coats I owned. I bought them at the expense of staples I should have owned. I owned dress shoes in 10 different shades of brown, but didn’t own a pair of casual black shoes. Didn’t own a pair of jeans. What I needed was someone to slap me across the face and stop me from buying dress shirts and ties, and instead, diversify so I’d be more prepared for more occasions. What if there was an app for that? 

The wrinkle in this origin story is that the daily checking of colorful charts in Schwab did not compel me to diversify my stock holdings. But it was a very conscious choice at the time. With my clothing, it was much more insidious because I had no way to visualize what I owned or didn’t own. I honestly believe if something like Wardrobe Portfolio had existed back then, I’d still have bought too many shirts and ties because I liked to, but I would have done better at buying the things I needed, too.

Wardrobe Portfolio…coming to life in 2021.